Larry Nevel came back from the one-loss side to defeat Shawn Putnam and win the Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour's One Pocket event at Cornfed Red's Billiards in Columbus, OH.
Nevel lost to Putnam 3-1 for the hot-seat, but came back with a 3-2 win over Jason Miller to earn his second shot at Putnam in the finals.
The final set saw both players take turns running 8 balls off of each other's break for a 1-1 tie after two games. Nevel scratched on the break in rack three and watched Putnam run six balls. A miss by Nevel then allowed Putnam to make his last 2 balls for a 2-1 lead. The players swapped safeties in game four before Putnam ran 8 for the 2-2 tie. Rack five lasted longer than previous racks as both players concentrated on safety play. Nevel ran five balls and played safe, ran two more and played safe and them made his last ball to force the second set.
Putnam jumped into the lead again in the second set when Nevel missed a shot in rack one and Putnam ran eight. Rack two was the closest rack to a typical one-pocket game of both sets. Both players fought for any ball they could and eventually it was Nevel winning the rack 8-7. Rack three appeared to be the turning point of the rack as Putnam broke poorly and left a ball that was makeable and shape to break open the rack. Nevel pounced on the opportunity and ran eight to get to the hill. Rack four turned into a safety battle until Putnam scratched on a shot and was forced to sit and watch Nevel run eight for the victory.
Nevel collected $1740 for first, while Putnam settled for $1100 in second place prize money. Jason Miller and Danny Basavich filled out the top four spots.
The one-pocket event was only a warm-up, as the $5000 added regional championship will get underway at Cornfed Red's on Saturday morning. All of the one-pocket talent is ready for 9-ball and other 9-ball players, including Santos Sambajon, are starting to make their way to Columbus.
Photo courtesy of Mark Whiteside
Complete Results:
1st Larry Nevel $1740
2nd Shawn Putnam $1100
3rd Jason Miller $800
4th Dan Basavich $500
5th/6th Dee Adkins, Corey Deuel $200
7th/8th Mike Lipani, John Coleman $100
