Fuller goes 6-1, unseats Ussery to win Jacoby Custom Cue Carolina Tour

Seven players drew byes in the opening round of the Jacoby Custom Cue Carolina Tour stop on the weekend of April 9-10, leaving only Michael Fuller and Adam Stanton. Stanton prevailed in the single, opening round match 8-6, but it was the only match Fuller would lose. He'd gone on to win six straight, including the final matchup versus B.J. Ussery to take first place in the $1,000-added event, hosted by Buck's Billiards in Raleigh, NC, which had drawn only nine entrants.

Stanton would move among the winners' side final four, after an 8-6 victory over Bill Duggan, and face Adrian Warden, who'd defeated Palmer Richardson 8-5. Ussery, who'd defeated Chris Vollmar 8-6, was also among the final four winners' and faced George Barrett, who'd defeated Bill Duggan's wife, Jacki, 8-4. Stanton and Ussery squared off in the hot seat match after they'd chalked up identical 8-3 victories over Warden and Barrett. Ussery then chalked up his second straight 8-3 win, leaving him in the hot seat and Stanton on his way to the semifinals.

Chris Vollmar, who'd faced Ussery, now faced Fuller to open the one-loss side proceedings. In a nine-player field, he faced the two best, one right after another. Fuller won the first of his six 8-5, and then went on to defeat Jacki Duggan 8-2, to pick up Warden. Barrett drew the other Duggan (Bill), who'd downed Richardson 8-4. Fuller and Bill Duggan advanced to the quarterfinals with identical 8-4 victories over Warden and Barrett.

Halfway home, Fuller now won nearly three out of every four games he played through the finals. He defeated Bill Duggan 8-2 in the quarterfinals, and Stanton 8-3 in the semifinals. He took an early 2-0 lead in the finals versus Ussery, and then following Ussery's first win of the match, won four more. Ussery got as close as three games at both 6-3 and 7-4, but Fuller took command at this last juncture and won four straight to end it.

With $109 per ball at stake, both Stanton and Jacki Duggan failed to make a ball in the event's Break and Run contest, moving the per-ball jackpot to $114 for the tour's next stop on the final weekend in April. Room owner Buck VanNortwick won the $500, Limited Edition Jacoby Custom Cue in the event raffle.