Jeff Peele (owner of Kylie's Sports Bar), Glenn Russell, Josh Newman, & Shannon Daulton
Josh Newman came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to win both sets of an early morning double elimination final and take home the first place prize in the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop on the weekend of May 22-23. The hot seat match was just getting underway as Sunday night was turning into Monday morning, and there were still four players competing on the one-loss side. The $1,500-added amateur event drew 46 entrants to Kylie's Sports Bar and Grill in Cornelius, NC, which had six tables.
Newman got into the hot seat match from among the winners' side final four with a 9-4 win over John Sandifer, as Glenn Russell was busy sending Ron Park over 9-7. In the hot seat match that followed (as with all matches, broadcast live via UStream), Russell prevailed 9-7 and waited for what turned out to be about an hour and a half for Newman to come back from the semifinals.
First up for Sandifer on the one-loss side was Mike Baumgarner, who'd defeated Matt Reed 9-7 and Riley Myers 9-3. Park met up with Rick Roper, who'd gotten by Bob Ruffalo 7-3 and Jeff Abernathy 7-9 (Abernathy needing to reach 11). It turned out to be Baumgarner versus Park in the quarterfinals as Baumgarner advanced 9-6 over Sandifer and Park defeated Roper 9-3.
Park survived a double hill encounter against Baumgarner to advance to the semifinals against Newman. Newman then made short work of Park 9-2 to commence the finals. Needing to win two, and no doubt anxious to beat the dawn, Newman ended up in two straight lengthy struggles against hot seat occupant Glenn Russell. He won them both 9-7 to capture the top slot, and did, indeed, just manage to beat the dawn. Tour director Shannon Daulton, however, who had something of a distance to travel before he slept, did not.
