Brad Guthrie (Erwin Dionisio)
After a day one that was devoid of any real upsets, the fans in attendance at the Turning Stone Classic XXXII got a couple big upsets on day two.
The upsets got underway in the noon round when Michael Yednak faced Donny Mills. According to Fargo calculations, Mills (Fargo 756) was a 92.5 % favorite to defeat Yednak (Fargo 656). Yednak quickly proved why they have to play the matches though, as he defeated Mills in a one-sided 9-4 match.
Four hours later, Canadian Brad Guthrie outdid Yednak. According to Fargo, Guthrie (Fargo 639) had a 1.8% chance to defeat his opponent Mika Immonen (Fargo 786). Guthrie came out strong and took a 4-1 lead. He then held that lead to the hill at 8-5. A missed 3-ball by Guthrie in the 14th rack gave Immonen a new life and he took advantage of it to run back to hill-hill. In the final game though, it was the same 3-ball that Immonen missed, allowing Guthrie to run out for the 9-8 win.
Another match that had fans talking was the winner’s side battle between Shane Van Boening and Johnny Archer. Van Boening led the match at 6-4, with Archer running out in the 11th rack when Van Boening called Archer on a foul when his shirt touched a ball. There was some discussion over whether the incident occurred before or after Archer had struck the cue ball, and instead of continuing the debate, Archer unscrewed his cue and gave the match to Van Boening.
Saturday will feature another full day of action, with free online streaming courtesy of Upstate Al, online brackets and real time scoring.
