Bobby Chamberlain came back from an early trip to the one-loss side to win 11 matches in a row, completing a 12-out-of-13 run to take first place on the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop on the weekend of August 15-16. The $1,500-added amateur event drew 56 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
Chamberlain got through the event's opening round of play, but moved to the west bracket in the second round. It would prove to be his only defeat in 13 matches, which resulted in his advancement at the end of the tournament from an ‘A' rating to an ‘A++'
Meanwhile, David Ally, Tony Williams, Max Schlothauer and Chuck Cunio advanced through two more rounds to emerge as the final four on the winners' side. Ally moved into the hot seat match with a commanding 11-0 defeat of Williams. Cunio joined him with a 7-5 win over Schlothauer. Ally, with a subsequent 11-4 victory over Cunio, gained the hot seat having lost only four games among his last 26.
Chamberlain, in the meantime, advanced past four opponents on the one-loss side to move into the money rounds, where he defeated Brian Bryant 9-4 and Chris Adams 9-3 to meet Schlothauer. It was Mitch Tranham, following victories over John Lee 9-3 and Reggie Jackson 9-2, who picked up Williams. In one of the two battles for fifth place that ensued, Schlothauer, an A++ player, needed to reach 11 games before Chamberlain reached 9. The actual 9-9 tie advanced Chamberlain into the quarterfinals against Williams, who, with a handicap advantage (B versus A), defeated Tranham 7-8.
Even with the advantage, Williams couldn't stem the tide of Chamberlain's march to the finals, although in that quarterfinal match, he got close. In the A (Chamberlain) versus B (Williams) matchup, the two battled to hill-hill (8-6) before Chamberlain chalked up the eighth of his 11 straight and dropped Williams into fourth place. Chamberlain then made short work of Cunio 9-2 in the semifinals to enter the true double elimination final versus Ally.
Chamberlain, with a two-game, A over A++ advantage over Ally had to reach 9 games before Ally reached 11 and he had to do it twice. He did so handily, defeating Ally 9-6 in the opening set and 9-4 in the deciding match that finished at around 3 a.m. on Monday morning.
Previously, on the weekend of August 8-9, Horace Goodwin completed an undefeated weekend with a hill-hill win over David Rice in the finals of the $1,500-added event which drew 56 entrants to The Pool Room in Duluth, GA. Benny Conway, Jr. finished in third place and Sean Davis took fourth.
