My apologies go to Gary Kaye and Randy Epperson as they were inadvertently added incorrectly in the placings, but the story has now been corrected.
The weekend of July 18-20, 2008, kicked off a series of multi-faceted events hosted by Grady Mathews at his home room Grady's in Lexington, South Carolina. The $250 entry nine-ball Senior's Championship was played on nine-foot tables and saw many top names including WPBA superstar Belinda Calhoun, Grady Mathews, T.F. Whittington, John Ditoro, and Mike Gulyassi to name a few. A total field of eighteen players began the event and as the weekend progressed, many fell off the board, but the final four pushed through with great determination.
The eventual winner of the tournament, Mike Gulyassi, took the easy road to the finals in the way of number of matches. Gulyassi started out with a win over Belinda Calhoun, Dave Ross, Bobby Hibbits, and Gary Kaye, before running into John Ditoro in the final round.
John Ditoro's route was a bit more busy. Ditoro bested Arnold Hamlet initially, but suffered a loss at the hands of Dave Ross in the second round, sending him to the one-loss side of the chart. From there, he eliminated Belinda Calhoun, Grady Mathews, Ike Runnels, Bobby Hibbits 11-4, Randy Epperson 11-7, and Gary Kaye 11-4 before succumbing to Gulyassi in the finals in a close match ending with a score of 11-10.
Third place finisher Gary Kaye began the day with victories over T.F. Whittington, Grady Mathews, and Billy Tyler, but a loss to Gulyassi and Ditoro ended his tournament life ultimately. This takes us to the fourth place finisher, Randy Epperson - he started out with a win over Ike Runnels, before Bobby Hibbits sent him packing, but he continued on the one-loss side with wins over Robert Cox, Dave Ross, and Billy Tyler 11-6. Ditoro ended his run in the tournament as noted above.
Results:
1st $1750 Mike Gulyassi
2nd $1250 John Ditoro
3rd $1000 Gary Kaye
4th $500 Randy Epperson
Thanks to Randi Mathews and Matt Dugger for their updates on the event; and to Grady Mathews for hosting another great event!
As mentioned earlier, Grady's will be hosting additional events in the months to come – the basic details for them are as follows – for more information, contact the venue directly at (803) 957-7665 or stop into the website at www.gradysbilliards.com
B/M Promotions (Amateur) 9-Ball Tournament
August 2 - 3, 2008
$500 added
Players meeting 12pm
Entry Fee $40 (plus $15 green fees)
For More Info: contact the venue or B/M Promotions at (864) 349-7076 or (864) 245-7739
Grady's Charity Event for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
August 30, 2008
$20 donation to play, all money goes to charity (all donations accepted, even if not in event)
Game-bowling on 9 foot tables, handicapped
Grady's 9-Ball Open
August 15 - 17, 2008
Entry $125, played on 9ft tables-9ball (payout $10k based on 70 players)
Grady's Legends of Bank Pool
September 26 - 28, 2008
Entry $125, played on 9ft tables (payout $10k based on 70 players)
Grady's Bar Table Championships
October 31 - November 2, 2008
Entry $125, played on bar tables-9ball (payout $10k based on 70 players)
Grady's Legends of One-Pocket
December 5 - 7, 2008
Entry $125, played on 9ft tables(payout $10k based on 70 players)
