Bill Pulver returned from a short trip to the loss side to meet and defeat hot seat occupant Don Purdy and capture the Saturday, February 16 stop on the Western New York Tour. The event drew 16 entrants to Camelot Billiards in Rochester, NY.
They met first in the hot seat match. Pulver had sent Rich Fontenez west 6-4, as Purdy was busy surviving a double hill battle against Ed Torres. Purdy got into the hot seat with what would turn out to be his only match victory against Pulver 5-3.
Torres and Fontenez moved west and met up with Fran Imburgia and Brett Fenstermaker, respectively. Imburgia had won back-to-back double hill matches against Shane Wheeler and Jerry Sullivan. Fenstermaker had downed Mike Miller 5-4 and Kurt Foley 5-3. Torres and Fontenez were handed their second straight losses in double hill matches that allowed Imburgia and Fenstermaker to move into the quarterfinals. It was Imburgia advancing to the semifinals against Pulver, following his 5-3 win over Fenstermaker.
Pulver dropped Imburgia into third place 5-3, and turned for his second shot against Purdy. Pulver took the opening set of the finals 5-3. He went one better to win the second set 5-2 and claim the event title.
