(l to r): Mike Lear, David Grossman, Randy Jordan & Mike Zingale (room owner)
Randy Jordan and David Grossman battled twice to claim the 2018 Florida State Open 10-Ball Championship title. Jordan won both battles, hot seat match and finals, to claim the event title. The $3,500-added event, held on the weekend of March 3-4, drew 55 entrants to Zingale’s Billiard Room & Sports Bar in Tallahassee, FL. A Second Chance event, which drew 31 entrants, was won by Steve Chaplin.
As the headline story played out, you couldn’t help but think, as it got close, that a lot of people in attendance at this year’s 10-Ball Championships were looking ahead to a potential match between Tommy Kennedy and Johnny Archer, who were the last two men standing in the US Open 9-Ball Championships, 26 years ago (1992). It was Kennedy’s first US Open, and he not only defeated Archer, he did it twice to claim that title. They’d played each other on the road numerous times before they got there, and countless times since, so the potential re-match at this event carried some history weight to it. As Jordan and Grossman advanced to their hot seat match, Kennedy and Archer were on the loss side; Kennedy, earlier, having been sent there by Jordan, and Archer having just been sent there by Grossman. They came within a match of meeting up in the quarterfinals.
Moving into the winners’ side semifinals, Jordan had given up only 11 racks in 39 games. He’d give up 10 in his next 24. He faced Tobias Hoiss in one winners’ side semifinal, as Grossman faced Archer in the other one. Jordan got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 win over Hoiss, while Grossman was sending Archer over 7-4. Jordan downed Grossman in their first matchup 7-5 and waited on his return.
Over on the loss side, Kennedy was chalking up wins on his way to a six-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d most recently downed Wayne Catledge 7-2 and in a double hill fight, defeated Nick Applebee. This set Kennedy up for a match against Hoiss. Archer drew Anthony Meglino, who’d won the season-opening stop on the AllOutPool Tour a week earlier, and in this event, working on the loss side, had shut out Kristian Dimitrov, and eliminated Francisco Diaz 7-4 to face Archer.
Kennedy did what he had to do to earn a match against Archer by defeating Hoiss 7-2. Archer, though, more than likely to the consternation of those anticipating an Archer/Kennedy match, fell to Meglino 7-4. In what was described as a quarterfinal, double hill “thriller” by tour representatives, Kennedy and Meglino battled it out for advancement to the semifinals. Kennedy won it, and took his shot at Grossman.
Grossman spoiled Kennedy’s bid for a re-match against Jordan, defeating him 7-5 in those semifinals to earn his own re-match. Jordan spoiled that re-match, getting out to an early 4-1 lead in the finals. A few back and forth games brought things to a 6-3 lead for Jordan, after which he took three in a row to claim the Florida State Open 10-Ball title.
Tour representatives thanked the Zingale family and staff for “an excellent job at (their) brand new location and great hospitality over the two-day event.” They also thanked sponsors Simonis, Aramith, Stroke-It-Wear, Crosby’s Billiards and Darts, and XL Press Co. Stop #4 on the Florida Pool Tour, scheduled for April 21-22, will be hosted by Capone’s in Spring Hill, FL. Players can enter online at http://www.floridapooltour.com.
