Mojo's Billiards was a welcome retreat from the 95 degree heat in Apex, North Carolina as players met on August 13, 2005 for the latest stop on the Fury Carolina Amateur 9-ball tour. The heat outside soon seemed mild as the players turned up the heat on the tables. Room owner Mike Sutton spent a good part of the day on the patio grilling up delicious burgers and brots to feed the crowd on hand, but the players were just as hungry for victory on the Brunswick 9 footers.
For the second time in a row, Johnny Griffin was the man to beat as he worked his way to the hot seat with an overall 35-23 record including wins over Jim Supples, Michael Dandridge, Adam Davis, Cary Dunn, and Don Lilly. Lilly himself topped Deamon Dawson, Eddie Little, and Dale Russell before falling victim to Griffin. Lilly then had to get past Jeff Pruitt in a hard fought hill-hill semifinal battle for another shot at Griffin. Pruitt and Lilly were both at the top of their respective games for the match, but a couple of small mistakes on Jeff's part were enough to let Lilly get away.
In the final match, Lilly got the first break, but it was Griffin who got the first two games on his side of the string. Lilly came back to take game 3, but Griffin grabbed the next 4 games to pull away to a 7-1 lead in the race to 9. Lilly got one more in game number 9, but it was apparent to all who were watching that Griffin was in control. His steady shooting and cue ball control took him to a 9-2 final score for his second consecutive Fury title.
Results: 1st Johnny Griffin $390
2nd Don Lilly $230
3rd Jeff Pruitt $150
4th Cary Dunn $80
5th/6th Bobby Strandberg, Dale Russell $50
