Michael Fuller held off a one-loss side challenge from B.J. Ussery to take first place in the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour stop on the weekend of March 27-28. The $1,000-added event drew a short field of 10 players to Babineau's Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
All three matches played among the winners' side final four were decided by 7-5 victories. Fuller advanced to the hot seat match with a victory over Brad Shearer. Chris Turner joined him with a win versus Johnny Griffin. Finally, Fuller sent Turner west and waited for Ussery.
On the one-loss side, Ussery moved to meet Shearer, after a shutout over Benjamin Bryant, and a 7-3 win over Sam Monday. Griffin squared off against Arnold Hamlet, who'd defeated Antonio Slaydon 7-3 and Keith Crawford 7-4 to get to him. In an Ussery/Shearer re-match from the opening round, which ended in a 7-5 victory for Shearer, Ussery came back to survive a hill-hill contest and move on to the quarterfinals. Griffin joined him after a 7-4 victory over Hamlet.
Ussery ended Griffin's tournament bid with a 7-5 win in those quarterfinals to face Turner. Turner, who'd defeated Hamlet, Monday and Griffin to get into the hot seat match, put up a good fight in those semifinals, battling to double hill, before giving way and sending Ussery to the finals against Fuller.
Fuller jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the finals, which he never relinquished. He would, in fact, add two games to that lead before it was over. Ussery drew within two at 6-4, but it proved to be his last win, as Fuller went on to win five in a row to capture the first place prize.
Monday defeated Griffin 7-2 in the finals of a Friday night Early Bird Tournament, which drew only five entrants. Monday took home $70 for his efforts; Griffin pocketed $30. Sunday's Second Chance tournament drew one less competitor and finished with a 7-4 win by Michael Yingling over Chris Vollmar. Yingling earned $80 for his first place finish in the event. As the only entrant, Lauren Kauffman was declared the Ladies' winner, and Dylan Letchworth was awarded the Juniors prize. Cory Rochelle won the $600, Limited Edition Jacoby Cue raffle.
