It was a long trip, on a four-rung ladder.
James Adams finished 2014 with a third place finish in the Florida State Amateur 9-Ball Championships in December, at Zingale's in Tallahassee, FL. Sent to the loss side by the eventual winner, Jeff Abernathy, he made it back to the semifinals, before Justin Gilsinan denied him a second shot at Abernathy.
Two months later, at Stroker's in Palm Harbor, Adams got into the hot seat of the Florida Pool Tour's 2015 season opener. Jason Sheerman, though, capping a 10-match, loss-side run, defeated him in the finals. That same weekend, Adams signed on to a concurrently-run Super 16 Open event, and for the second time, found himself in the hot seat match. Tommy Kennedy sent him to the semifinals, where in a double hill match, he defeated Raymond Linares for a second shot at Kennedy. At 6-6, Kennedy pulled ahead to hand Adams his second straight runner-up finish.
"Failure," he told Billiards Digest in an interview a short time later, "is part of the process of success."
Eight months later, on the weekend of October 24-25, back at Zingale's, which was hosting the $4,000-added, 2015 Florida State Amateur 9-Ball Championships for the fourth time, Adams put it all together and proved the point. He went undefeated through a field of 89, winning his first title, and completing that long trip on the short 3rd-2nd-2nd-1st ladder.
For the third time in just under a year, Adams made it to the hot seat match. He sent Dennis Strickland to the loss side 7-4 in a winners' side semifinal, as Mike Delawder sent Brandon Beatty over 7-3 in the other one. Adams claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Delawder and waited on the return of Kyle Bova, whom he'd defeated once already in a winners' side quarterfinal.
On the loss side, Bova defeated Bobby Hicks and J.R. Rossman, both 6-4, to draw Beatty. Strickland picked up Stephen Richmond, who'd gotten by Jose Del Rio 7-3 and Lee Sanders 6-5. Bova and Richmond advanced to the quarterfinals, both 6-4, over Rossman and Sanders.
Bova earned a second shot at Adams in the hot seat with two more 6-4 wins; over Richmond in the quarterfinals, and Delawder in the semifinals. Adams, though, defeated Bova a second time, 9-6 in the finals, to claim the 2015 Florida State Amateur 9-Ball Championship title.
In a $1,000-added, 54-entrant Second Chance tournament, Derek Fowler defeated David Uwate (13th in the main event) in the finals. Nathan Rose finished third, and Michael Laney finished fourth.
In about three weeks (November 21-22), Capone's in Spring Hill, FL will host the $5,000-added (with full field of 32) Super 32 Open 10-Ball Championships. Two months later (January 16-17, 2016), The Florida Pool Tour will be back at Zingale's for the $5,000-added Florida State Open 10-Ball event.
