(l to r): Billy Burke, David Grossman and Tommy Kennedy
Competitors who think that there aren’t enough tournaments in which to compete might want to consider a conversation with a few tour directors, who deal with short fields of entrants at their events, when there are more competitive area tournaments on a given weekend, than there are players to compete in them. Case in point: the Sunday, January 20 stop on Tommy Kennedy’s Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour. Normally, tours communicate with each other about dates, but on occasion (like this one), events get stacked up, leading to, in this case, a field of 12 entrants. The $500-added event was hosted by Park Ave. Billiards in Orange Park, FL.
Kennedy and David Grossman opted out of a final match in this one and split the top two prizes. Kennedy, as hot seat occupant, claimed the official event title.
Kennedy faced Jim Sandaler in one winners’ side semifinal, as Grossman met up with Jordan Burden in another. Kennedy downed Sandaler 7-2, as Grossman navigated his way through a double hill fight against Burden that eventually put him in the hot seat match with Kennedy. Kennedy shut Grossman out to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Burden picked up David Williams, who’d defeated Ash Chewcoskie and Kevin Arvin to reach him. Sandaler picked up Billy Burke, who’d lost to Kennedy earlier, and eliminated Bobby Garza, and Dale Stanley.
Burden got through a double hill match versus Williams to advance to the quarterfinals. Burke joined him with an almost-double-hill (7-5) win over Sandaler. Burke took the quarterfinal match against Burden 7-4, and survived the semifinal (though final) match of the event 7-6. Kennedy and Grossman opted out of the final to split the top two prizes.
Kennedy thanked the ownership and staff at Park Ave. Billiards, as well as sponsors J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Mueller Recreational Products, BilliardBuzz.com, and David Adams. The next stop on the Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, January 27, will be hosted by Waldo’s Billiards in Daytona Beach, FL.
