Bennett Was in it to Win it on Jacoby Tour

Doug Ennis (tournament director), Keith Bennett, Mike Davis, and Billy Wood (room owner)

On The Snap Billiards in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina hosted the sixth stop on the 2008-2009 Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour March 7-8.  A nineteen-player field turned out for the $1000 guaranteed added Main Event in which Keith Bennett defeated Mike Davis, earning $1000 for his first win on the Jacoby Tour.

To kick things off, an Early Bird Tournament was held on Friday night.  Mike Davis defeated Fred Greene (7-0) in the final match.  Results for this event were:  1st Mike Davis, $130; 2nd Fred Greene, $80; 3rd Anthony Arney, $30; and 4th Billy Wood, $20.

On Sunday, there were three mini-tournaments.  First place in the Junior Tournament went to Palmer Richardson, who defeated Tiffany Leonard (7-3) in the final match.  Top honors in the Ladies' Tournament went to Shana Wyant, who defeated Leslie Boulware (7-5) in the final match.  Wyant earned $50, while Boulware settled for $30.

In the last mini-tournament on Sunday, Robert Ray took first place in the Second Chance Tournament, defeating Palmer Richardson (7-6).  Results of this event were:  1st Robert Ray, $70 and 2nd Palmer Richardson, $30.

In the Main Event, Davis had a bye in the first round, followed by victories over Tony Morrison (7-5) and Keith Bennett (7-3).  On Sunday, Davis steam-rolled Cary Dunn and Mark Boren – both by the same score (7-1) – to take the hotseat.

Meanwhile, Bennett started the tournament with a couple of wins over Shane Thompson (7-2) and Chris Vollmar (7-3) before his loss to Mike Davis (7-3) sent him west.  From that point through to the final match, only one player would get more than one game against Bennett.  He chalked wins over B. J. Ussery (7-1) and Sidney Champion (7-5) on Saturday, then smoked Johnny Griffin (7-0) and Cary Dunn (7-0) on Sunday.  Mark Boren proved to be no match (7-1) as Bennett had his sights set on a rematch with Davis.

In the final match, a single race to nine, Davis won the lag and pushed out.  Bennett played a semi-masse to pocket the 2-ball and run out.  Davis ran the last seven balls in the second rack after a poor safety by Bennett, then broke and ran the next two racks to take a 3-1 lead.

Both players made errors in the next four games, but Bennett was able to convert and go ahead 5-3.  Two games later, the score was knotted at 5-5.  Bennett took the next game, but Davis leveled the score, once again, at 6 games apiece.  

Midway through the thirteenth rack, Davis missed and Bennett took control, clearing the table.  Two break-and-runs later and it was over.  Final score:  9-6.

Congratulations to cue raffle winner Ryan Christen, who was the lucky winner of a Limited Edition cue, valued at $850, from Jacoby Custom Cues and to Johnny Griffin, who won the Break Contest.

Rock City Promotions wishes to extend special thanks to the staff and ownership of All Star Billiards and to OB-1 Cues for supporting the Jacoby Tour.

The next stop on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour will be March 28-29 at Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.  The event will guarantee $1000 added with $1000 for 1st place.