 Larry Nevel and Scott Rabon |
Karl's Korner in Columbia, South Carolina was the site the weekend of December 8th and 9th for the $1500 added Columbia Cup presented by the Great Southern Billiard Tour. Plenty of the regional heavy hitters stopped into the venue with every intention of taking home top honors. Included in this bunch were names such as Sparky Ferrell, Scott Rabon, Shannon Daulton, Greg Dix, Josh Roberts, Larry Nevel, and Jared McGee.
The early round match-ups put a few of the more well known players against each other first off. Sparky Ferrell and Josh Roberts ran into each other with Ferrell coming out on top 9-6; and Greg Dix was bested by “Baltimore” Buddy Dennis 9-5. Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton jumped ahead on Dave Cook 8-2 before Cooke caught a gear and tied the match up 8-8, only to miss the one in the final rack and allow Daulton a chance at a tough shot, but the win nonetheless.
Throughout the day, the competition was fierce and constant. Jeff Murrah (pool room proprietor of Karl's Korner) provided some exciting sets by offering up a couple of double hill thrillers while coming out on top of both against Greg Nodine and Mike Basha. The top lady finishers had to also have a play-off for the $50 cash prize – Rayanne Harvala and Mary Brazell both had a great tournament, but Harvala was able to pull off the win 9-6.
On Sunday, the brackets held the final sixteen. The winner's side brought back Scott Rabon v. Larry “The Truth” Nevel, Allen Mixon v. Jeff Murrah, R.C. Morris v. Sparky Ferrell, and Buddy Dennis v. Shannon Daulton. Nevel (9-8), Mixon (9-5), Ferrell (9-5) and Daulton (9-6) were able to overcome their opponents to move along in their respective brackets.
On the one-loss side starting out the day, Jason Heyward was matched up against Shawn McIntosh, along with Dave Cook/Tommy Chavis, Carl Gay/Greg Dix, and lastly Jared McGee/Charles Church. When all was said and done, Jason Heyward bested his opponent 9-0, while Cook (9-5), Dix (9-4), and McGee (9-7) finished out their matches victorious as well.
Once the winner's side saw the field narrow from matches including Larry Nevel's win over Allen Mixon 9-5; Shannon Daulton over Sparky Ferrell 9-5; and eventually a 9-5 win by Nevel over Daulton for the hot seat, the feeding frenzy began on the one-loss side.
After loosing his first match to Buddy Dennis, Greg Dix was forced to run through many opponents on the one-loss side including on Sunday, R.C. Morris 9-3 and Jared McGee 9-2 (McGee ended Dennis' weekend with a nail biter 9-8 win prior to playing Dix) before being sent home by Allen Mixon 9-7. Scott Rabon had a tough road ahead of him, but appeared to be quite determined as he took down Dave Cook in a close match 9-8, Jason Heyward 9-2, Sparky Ferrell 9-5, Allen Mixson 9-8, and Shannon Daulton in the semi-finals 9-4.
When the final round came about, Larry Nevel and Scott Rabon were facing each other with Rabon being required to double dip Nevel for the win. Although Rabon put up a great fight, Nevel's powerful break ensured that he was quite a force to be reckoned with. The first set was all that was needed to finish up the event as Nevel took the win 9-5, along with his second consecutive win on the tour and the title of Columbia Cup champ.
Congratulations also go out to J.R. Shealy of Columbia, South Carolina as he was the lucky winner of the Nick Varner cue raffle. Thanks to Mary Brazell for catering her famous chicken bog and homemade chocolate, cherry, almond cake, and to everyone at Karl's Korner for making this a fun weekend. The next $1500 added stop of the season will be the December 15th/16th at Northpark Grill in North Charleston, South Carolina.
