Mario Cruz bounced back from a loss to Tommy Kennedy early on Sunday to make his way through the one-loss side and win the SE Open 9-Ball Tour stop at World Famous Sports Cafe & Billiards in Delray Beach, FL.
After the win over Cruz, Kennedy went on to lose a close match 9-7 to Claude Marrie. Kennedy had the chance to tie the match at 8-8 but missed a tough 2-9 combo and Marrie finished off the rack.
This lead to the match for the hot-seat and it was another close one. This time, it was Richard Broumpton scoring the 9-7 win over Marrie.
On the one loss side, Marrie lost to Mario Cruz setting up the final match between Cruz and Broumpton.
Mario came out of the gate strong and raced to a 10-2 lead in the race to 11 match. Broumpton kept Cruz in the chair as he rattled off six straight wins to get back to 10-8. Broumpton broke the 19th rack and watched as the cue-ball crept to the corner pocket but didn't fall. Any sigh of relief was short lived as the 8-ball came three rails around the table and knocked the cue-ball into the pocket. 'Ball in hand' was all the opportunity that Cruz needed to finish off the last rack for the 11-8 win.
Cruz collected $705 for first place, while Broumpton settled for $450. Jordan Labbe was the top junior finisher for the $50 bonus and the top female finisher bonus was split between Susan Vlacich and Chrissy Whitfield.
Tour director Kennedy expressed his thanks for Brant Roberts and Ron Park for their able assistance in running this event. The SE Open 9-Ball Tour will be at Katie's Cues and Sports Club in Raleigh, NC on September 4th-5th for their next event.
