Stevie Moore
The second stop in this year's Seminole Pro Tour was held at Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville, Florida. The $7,000 added prize fund drew a field of fifty-three high class players, including the first two ladies of this year's tournament, Amy Chen and Kathryn Fairchild. The draw produced some very interesting matches that did not disappoint with dramatic finishes and surprising results.
The highlight match of the first round had to be Johnny Archer, (Champion of the previous tour stop at Mr. Cues Atlanta), versus Keith Bennett. In Atlanta, Archer got the better of Bennett, ousting him from the tournament. In Jacksonville, things would be different. Bennett's sharp shooting helped him advance and move Archer to the left side of the bracket, where he would face another tough opponent in Mike Davis. Davis' accuracy was laser-like in this match as he prevailed, sending Archer to an early exit from the tournament.
2009 Seminole Pro Tour Player of the Year, Tony Crosby, saw his first action of 2010. Crosby came out of the gates strong by quickly beating Todd Anderson, but his draw would get increasingly more difficult throughout the day. Crosby would then be matched up against Hunter Lombardo, a player that has until recently been enjoying tremendous success and improvement. Crosby overcame great play by Lombardo and advanced to face, and beat, David Ross to position himself in the guaranteed money.
Day one saw not only some skilled players exit early, but also some dark horses emerge to the money matches. Players like Javier Chirino, Jerry Calderon and Jeff Crawford had some solid play to finish the day on the winner's side of the bracket.
Day two matches - like Corey Deuel verses Charlie Williams and Tommy Kennedy against James Roberts - were highlights in the first wave of money matches.
When Deuel and Williams square off, it is always a great match to watch. This weekend it would be Deuel who would get the better of Williams, eliminating him from play by a count of 8-5. Deuel would move on to play John Rouse. Rouse took advantage of some mistakes made by Deuel and was able to combine that with some excellent shooting to advance and send Deuel to a 9-12th place finish.
The battle for the hot seat came down to Stevie Moore and Keith Bennett. Both players had been in the zone and tearing through their opponents over two days of competition. Bennett would get the better of Moore with an 8-3 score, sending Moore to do battle with Tony Crosby, who had been doing some sharp shooting of his own on day two. Both shooters pulled off some amazing shots, but it would be Stevie Moore who would come out on top with an 8-4 victory. Crosby finished in third place and collected a $1,500 prize.
The championship match would be a rematch between Stevie Moore and Keith Bennett. Bennett would strike first in the single race to 9 and took a 1-0 lead. Moore came right back to tie at 1-1. Each player would never get a lead larger than 1 as they went back and forth until the score was 8-7 in favor of Bennett. With only the nine and ten ball remaining, Bennett was left with a sharp cut on the nine in the corner pocket. His shot rattled the pocket, but did not fall, leaving the door wide open for Moore to capitalize. Moore would finish the rack to tie at 8-8 and win the following rack as well to defeat Bennett and to seize the championship trophy.
We want to thank the room owner, Jeff Scott, for being such a gracious host for this event. Come out and try your luck against the pros at our next tour stop at Hollywood Billiards in Los Angeles, California.
