Shannon Daulton, Joe Blackburn and Corey Morphew
On the weekend of May 17-18, Joe Blackburn, 69, became the oldest player to ever win a stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour. He came from the loss side to do it, defeating Corey Morphew in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 39 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Blackburn and Morphew met first in a winners' side semifinal, as Corey Sykes met up with Jerry Vernado in the other. The two Coreys advanced to the hot seat match; Sykes 9-5 over Vernado and Morphew surviving a double hill battle. Morphew then defeated Sykes 9-6 and waited on Blackburn.
On the loss side, Blackburn picked up Jay Miller, who'd defeated Daniel Autry 4-3 and Scott Howard 4-4; Howard racing to 7. Vernado drew Brian Bagwell, who'd eliminated Borderline Billiards owner Janet Atwell and James Miracle, both 7-4. Once Blackburn had eliminated Miller 7-2 and Vernado had downed Bagwell 6-3, they faced each other in the quarterfinals.
Blackburn and Vernado locked up in a hill-hill quarterfinal that eventually advanced Blackburn to face Sykes in the semifinals. Another hill-hill victory, over Sykes, gave Blackburn a second shot against Morphew.
Morphew failed to chalk up a single rack in the opening set of a true double elimination final. He rallied in the second set, but racing to 9, fell a game short of forcing a deciding game against Blackburn, who completed his loss-side run with a second win (7-7) to claim the event title.
Tour director Shannon Daulton thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards, as well as sponsors Nick Varner Cues & Cases, Delta-13, Ozone Billiards, Tiger Products, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Lomax Cues, and Universe Clothing. The next stop on the GSBT, scheduled for the weekend of June 21-22, will be hosted by Legends Billiards in Inman, SC.
