Brown's Billiards in Raleigh, North Carolina hosted the 13th stop on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour August 9-10, drawing a field of 25 players for the $1000 guaranteed added Main Event. Sidney Champion defeated three-time winner on this year's tour, Michael Fuller, in the final match, earning $1000 for first place plus entry into the 2008 Carolina Open, courtesy of Fast Eddie's in Goldsboro, NC. The 2008 Carolina Open is set for October 7-12 at Fast Eddie's and will immediately follow the season finale of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour on October 4-5.
To kick things off, an Early Bird Tournament was held on Friday night. Johnny Griffin defeated Daniel Hill (7-4) in the final match. Results for this event were: 1st Johnny Griffin - $115; 2nd Daniel Hill - $60; and 3rd Brandon Pureza - $25.
In the Junior Tournament on Sunday, first place went to Ian Holt who defeated Jackson Jeffreys in the final match (7-4) to take the first place prize of $40. Jeffreys settled for second place and $10.
Also on Sunday, a Second Chance Tournament was won by David Brown who defeated Shane Thompson (7-4) to take the first place prize of $110. Final results: 1st David Brown - $110; 2nd Shane Thompson -$60; 3rd and 4th Tony Morrison and Mike Doucet - $25 each.
In the Main Event, Champion drew a bye and then took down John Trinh (7-2) in his first match. Next, Champion squeaked by Fuller (7-6), who is on pace to finish as Jacoby Tour Player of the Year. Jeff Pruitt was Champion's next opponent to be sent to the west side (7-3). Finally, Champion defeated Brandon Pureza (7-5) to take the hotseat and await his opponent in the final match.
Meanwhile, Fuller breezed through his first two opponents, Michael Meeks (7-2) and Guy Jagodinski (7-1), before his hill-hill loss to Champion. A hard-earned, hill-hill win over Robert Ray was Fuller's only threat on the one-loss side as he fought off Brad Shearer (7-3), David Brown (7-2) and Jeff Pruitt (7-3). A white-washing of Brandon Pureza (7-0) set up the rematch with Champion.
The final match – a single race to 9 – began with a break-and-run for Fuller. After a scratch on the following break, Champion took ball-in-hand and evened the score. They traded the next two games to remain tied at two games apiece.
In the fifth rack, Fuller left the door open after a failed safety attempt. Champion cleared the table to take a 3-2 lead. Making three balls on the break, Champion missed the 2-ball and scratched. When Fuller hung the 7-ball in the corner, Champion capitalized on his second chance and went up 4-2. A break-and-run for Champion made it 5-2.
Fuller won the eighth rack, but lost the next two by hanging the 6-ball in the ninth rack and, after being snookered in the tenth rack, giving Champion ball-in-hand. Down 7-3, Fuller won the next two games, but scratched on the break in the thirteenth rack. Champion cleared the table to go on the hill 8-5.
Fuller managed to win one more game, pulling to within two games at 8-6 by converting a 1/3 combination on a pushout. In the fifteenth rack, Fuller attempted to shoot safe after the break, but Champion ran out to win the match by the score of 9-6.
Congratulations to Josh Leone who was the lucky winner of a Limited Edition $750 cue raffle from Jacoby Custom Cues.
Rock City Promotions wishes to extend special thanks to the staff and ownership of Brown's Billiards and to OB-1 Cues for supporting the Jacoby Tour.
The next stop on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour will be September 6-7 at Sharks-N-Shooters in Rocky Mount, NC. The event will guarantee $1000 added with $1000 for 1st place plus entry into the 2008 Carolina Open, courtesy of Fast Eddie's.
