 Johnny Archer and Shannon Daulton pay tribute to Tony Ellin |
Shannon Daulton and his Great Southern Billiard Tour brought 52 players to The Shady Lady Lounge in Goose Creek, SC for the Hurricane Open; a $1500 added event honoring the late Tony Ellin.
Top players in this event included Johnny Archer, Shannon Daulton, Larry Nevel, Jonathan Hennessee, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, MIke Staubes, Ignacio Chavez and Josh Roberts.
The marquee matchups were happening all over the room as this event went on. Strickland fell to Hennessee in the 2nd round, but Hennessee then dropped a third round match to Larry Nevel. Shannon Daulton made his way through three rounds unscathed, but another victim to Nevel.
Also in the third round, old friends Johnny Archer and Nick Varner faced off with Varner being sent to the left side of the board. Varner's tournament was brought to an end by Daulton on the one loss side.
The final four players on the winners side were Nevel, Josh Roberts, local favorite Jared McGee and Archer. The two pro players were both sent to the left side by their opponents as Roberts beat Nevel and McGee beat Archer.
After a third round loss to Josh Roberts, Ignacio Chavez scored five straight wins on the left side of the board including a win over Larry Nevel. Chavez's run was brought to an end by Johnny Archer and Chavez settled for 4th place.
McGee went on to take the hot-seat with a win over Josh Roberts, but in the end it was Archer coming through the one loss side with wins over both Roberts and McGee to take first place. over Josh Roberts and Jared Mcgee twice in the finals.
The tournament itself was only a small part of what drew the players on this weekend though. Some of Tony Ellin's friends from Goose Creek were in attendance and everyone gathered at Ellin's gravesite on Sunday morning to a memorial service to remember a great friend and player.
