Some real heavyweights showed up in Atlanta at Mr. Cues II to play in the Seminole Pro Tour stop this past weekend. National names like Corey Deuel, Gabe Owen, Mike Davis, Earl Strickland, Stevie Moore, Ronnie Wiseman and John Schmidt went up against locals as strong as Paul Song and the matches got tougher and tougher as the weekend went along. The final eight on Sunday were all capable of pulling off the win. In that round of eight Strickland ended the run of Paul Song (8-5) while Ignacio Chavez used the same score-line to send Ronnie Wiseman back to Detroit.
On the winner's side John Schmidt handed Gabe Owen his first loss at 8-6 as Mike Davis did the same for Mitch Yarbrough 8-4. Then both Strickland and Chavez were knocked out to claim 5-5th. Gabe Owen sent Earl home 8-3 and Mitch Yarbrough beat Chavez 8-6. In the next round Gabe Owen forced Mitch Yarbrough into fourth (8-1) while the two winners battled for the hot seat. Mike Davis got that seat by sending John Schmidt over to face Gabe Owen by sliding past Schmidt on the hill (8-7).
The battle for third was a great one with both men displaying top form. But Owen slowly pulled away and earned the right to face Davis for a rematch in the finals when he bested Schmidt 8-6. The final battle between Davis and Owen began super-tight. Neither player could gain any momentum over the other and they wound up tied at 5 apiece in the race to 9. Then Gabe again methodically worked himself out into a lead he would not surrender and he won the title over Mike Davis 9-6.
