The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour and Sporty's Nightlife and Sports Bar in Greenville, South Carolina (owned by Jimmy Hodges) hosted yet another double header the weekend of November 3rd and 4th. The open division drew a total of forty players for the $1000 added tournament, and the $500 added amateur division had forty-one players. Spectators lined the rail to watch some of the top players in the field compete against one another in a bid for first place and they were not disappointed as the weekend proved to be quite exciting with some of the match-ups.
Larry Nevel took the reigns and preceded to roll through the top half of the bracket undefeated. Nevel drew a bye the first round and continued that momentum with sending many players to the one-loss side beginning with Kevin Ferrell 9-0; Mike Bumgarner 9-8; and Skip Coffey 9-2 on Saturday. On the bottom half of the chart Jeff Abernathy defeated Wayne Butler 9-7; Paul Steinhauser 9-1; Sam Brannon 9-4; and Ignacio Chavez 9-4 all on Saturday. Another top match to see on Saturday was between Shawn Putnam and Sparky Ferrell. Ferrell pulled off a great beat over Putnam with a final of 9-8. By the end of the day, the open divisions had shrunk down to only eight players for the Sunday rounds.
Those remaining on Sunday that had not had a loss included Larry Nevel v. Jeff Bumgarner and Jeff Abernathy v. Sparky Ferrell. The one-loss side held Ignacio Chavez v. Shawn Putnam and Skip Cofey v. Dennis Killough. As the day progressed, Nevel beat Bumgarner 9-2, while Abernathy sent Ferrell to the one-loss side 9-7 putting him in place to play Nevel for the hot seat. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, Nevel sent Abernathy to the one-loss side with a score of 9-3.
On the one-loss side, Ignacio Chavez ended Shawn Putnam's weekend on the hill 9-8, and Dennis Killough bested Skip Cofey 9-4. The matches then set up Chavez v. Bumgarner and Killough v. Ferrell; with Ferrell 9-5 and Chavez 9-5 advancing on in the brackets. The quarter-finals pitted Chavez and Ferrell together only to have Chavez take down Ferrell handily 9-1. Chavez then moved on into the semi-finals where he met Abernathy another time. Abernathy took control and managed to send Chavez home with a score of 9-5, sealing his spot in the finals against Nevel once again.
Wanting revenge for his hot seat match loss to Nevel, Abernathy made quick work of Nevel in the first set of the true double elimination format offered by the Viking Tour and defeated him 9-4. This put both players with one loss and one final match between them to see who was going to take down the finals. In the final set, both players exchanged game wins for the first four games with the score tied at 2-2. Then, Nevel took the lead by winning the next four games to jump ahead 6-2. In the ninth game, Nevel came up dry and Abernathy didn't stop winning until he was on the hill and the game score at 8-6 Abernathy. Nevel was only allowed to win one more game before Abernathy took the win at 9-7.
The amateur division got started on Sunday with the players racing to five on the winners side and the same on the one-loss side, true double elimination. Danny Turner made his way through the top half of the chart undefeated. Turner had some tough competition but he fought his way through sending the following to the one-loss side: Tony Crescenzo in the first round 5-1; Luis Tovar 5-2; Steve Cox 5-3; Skip Coffey 5-1; Mike Newsome 5-3; and Ed Killough 5-3 making his way to the finals to face David "Southpaw" Shadden. Both players worked diligently through their respective matches, Turner on the winners side and Shadden on the one-loss side to face each other in the finals where Turner was victorious 5-2.
David Shadden was sent to the one-loss side initially in the first round with a 5-2 loss to Steve Cox. Once on the one-loss side he battled through to remain in the tournament. Along the way, "Southpaw" faced and defeated Rory Dover 5-2; Calvin Le 5-0; Dennis Rose 5-2; Katie Cowan 5-0; Jeff Bumgarner 5-3; Roger Lewis 5-1; Mike Newsome 5-4 and with a battle to the end he came back from behind 2-4 to defeat Jason Turner sending him to the semi-finals where he faced Ed Killough. The players where evenly matched, however, Shadden managed to take the lead defeating Killough 5-3.
To get to the semi-finals, Ed Killough had to work his way through the bottom half of the chart sending his opponents to the one-loss side beginning with Ron Mayfield 5-2; Shannon Kinchen 5-2; Mark Stamey 5-2; going hill/hill he defeated Jim Bumgarner 5-4; Rich Fordunski 5-2; but his winning streak was over when he faced Danny Turner and was sent to the one-loss side with a 5-3 loss in the hot seat to face David "Southpaw" Shadden.
Click here for open division payouts.
Click here for amateur division payouts.
