Since January, only five players have won the 12 stops on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour. The finals of all 12 stops in that time have featured a battle that included either Michael Fuller, B.J. Ussery or Keith Bennett. Together, they've won all but two of them; the first of the 12, in which Earl Strickland defeated Fuller in the finals, and a July matchup, won by Stevie Moore, over Bennett in the finals. In a stretch of five stops on the tour between February and May, Fuller won them all, defeating Ussery in the finals. In June, Bennett broke the streak of Fuller victories and Fuller/Ussery finals by facing and defeating Stevie Moore (Ussery finished third, and Fuller, fourth).
Fuller and Ussery were back at it in the finals in July, when Fuller chalked up his sixth victory on the tour. Stevie Moore came back to defeat Bennett in the finals later that month (again, with Ussery finishing third and Fuller, fourth). Last month (August), Bennett was back on top, defeating Sam Monday in the finals. At a tour stop on the weekend of September 10-11, Bennett won his second straight on the tour, defeating Ussery in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 8 entrants (Fuller was not among them) to Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.
Bennett, Ussery, Adam Stanton and Jeff Pruitt won their opening rounds, sending (respectively) Carey Nealey, Bradley Burton, Tony Morrison, and Trevor Jefferson to the battles that would determine seventh and eighth place. Bennett drew Stanton among the final four winners, and Ussery picked up Pruitt. Bennett downed Stanton 8-5 and Ussery sent Pruitt west 8-4. Ussery then sent Bennett to the semifinals with an 8-6 win that left him in the hot seat.
On the one-loss side, Pruitt drew Morrison, who'd defeated Nealey 8-3, as Stanton picked up Burton, who'd defeated Jefferson, also 8-3. It was Morrison and Stanton advancing to the quarterfinals; Morrison with an 8-3 win over Pruitt, and Stanton downing Burton 8-5.
Stanton won his last of the day, defeating Morrison 8-5 in the quarterfinals, and then fell to Bennett in a double hill struggle. It was on to the 13th straight Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour final, featuring either Fuller, Ussery or Bennett; this time, it was Ussery/Bennett.
In the single, extended race-to-11 final, the two battled early to a 4-4 tie, before Bennett won two in a row, establishing a lead he never relinquished. At 6-4, they traded racks to 7-5, before Ussery pulled within one at 7-6. Bennett won two more to establish his largest lead at 9-6. Ussery closed the gap again, twice. He made it 9-7 and when Bennett reached the hill at 10-7, he won two in a row to pull back within one. Bennett, though, prevailed in the final rack, running out from the 3-ball to take his second straight on the tour.
Tony Morrison's name was pulled twice for the break and run contest, and failed to make a ball. The current jackpot for this mini-event rests at $668. Wayne Briles was the winner of the $500 Limited Edition Jacoby Custom Cue in the event's raffle.
