The Great Southern 8-Ball Tour got off to a great start this weekend with the Big Orange Classic V at Breakers Billiards in Knoxville, TN.
While the two top seeds at the start of the event were definitely Earl Strickland and Shannon Daulton, it was Ron Park who came through the one loss side and earned the tournament win.
The story on the winners side all weekend was the impressive play of Nick Vita. Vita knocked both Daulton and Strickland to the one loss side before finally falling to Mike Gulyassi for the hot-seat. Vita took the trip to the one loss side and ran into Park who was definitely peaking at the right time. Park was fresh off a 4-0 pasting of Gabe Apollos where Apollos never got to the table and Vita didn't do much better as he too last to Park.
The true double elimiation final between Gulyassi and Park was close Park edging out Gulyassi in both sets.
Park earned $1200 for first, while Gulyassi settled for $800 in second place prize money. Vita and Apollos filled out the top four spots. Complete brackets for the event are posted online and we have a photo gallery from Diana Hoppe who was at the event.
Complete Payouts:
1st Ron Park $1200
2nd Mike Gulyassi $800
3rd Nick Vita $500
4th Gabe Appolos $300
5th/6th Earl Strickland, Mark Owens $165
7th/8th Russ Edwards, Shannon Daulton $75
