Tommy Kennedy brushed aside a near miss in the hot seat match to claim the hot seat from John Gore, and then, in the finals defeat him a second time to capture the April 6 event on his own Tiger SE Open 9-Ball Tour. The $500-added event drew 23 entrants to The Corner Pocket in Green Cove Springs, FL
As Kennedy was busy sending Jesse Engel to the west bracket 7-4, among the winners' side final four, Gore had his hands full with his first of three double hill matches. He prevailed in the first against David Grossman to face Kennedy, but dropped the second, leaving Kennedy in the hot seat.
Engel moved over to pick up Mark Coats, who'd gotten by Jason Clark and defeated Bobby Garza 7-5. Grossman drew Trevor Moore, who'd been sent to the loss side by Engel, and defeated Larry Warf and Tomo Ito 7-4. Coats and Moore handed Engel and Grossman their second straight loss, both by 7-4, and moved on to face each other in the quarterfinals.
Moore then downed Coats by the same 7-4 score, and locked up in a double hill battle against Gore (his third in a row) in the semifinals. Gore dropped the final 9-ball for a second shot at Kennedy in a single, extended race-to-11 final. No double hill struggle for Gore this time, as Kennedy took the single match 11-5 to claim the event title.
Kennedy thanked room owners, Laurie and David Rigsby, and their staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Tiger, Mueller Products and Simonis Cloth.
1st Tommy Kennedy $485
2nd John Gore $350
3rd Trevor Moore $250
4th Mark Coats $150
5th Jesse Engel $75
David Grossman
