Benny Conway on Roll at Skeeter’s Billiards

The weekend of January 26-27, 2008, J. Pechauer Custom Cues Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour and Skeeter's Billiards in Gulfport, Mississippi, hosted the $1500 added Pechauer Mississippi Open. The event brought out thirty-two participants and was played on nine foot Diamond and Kim Steel pool tables.

The fourteenth stop of the season turned out to be quite special for Benny Conway, Jr. a.k.a. Little Goose. Conway stated prior to the event while chatting with Tour Director Tommy Kennedy that he had not been playing for a while. If that is the case, we can expect to see Conway quite a bit more in the near future as he made sure he was a known gun at this event. He was on a roll the entire weekend.

On Sunday when the field had dwindled down, he strolled into the quarter-finals and stopped Tommy Kennedy with a final score of 9-7. After Ron Park was defeated by Tim Orange in the hot seat match (9-6), Conway was then to face Park in the semis. The semi-finals was again a tight race in its entirety, but “Little Goose” Conway managed to best Park 9-7.

The finals pitted undefeated Tim Orange against Conway in a true double elimination setting. Conway, being the victor of the one-loss side, had to get past Orange twice in order to secure the win. The first set ended with Conway on top 9-6 which forced a second. Orange was unable to hold of Conway as he pushed himself to victory with a final score of 9-4.

In addition to a great finish for Conway and Orange, the highest woman in the event was Annie Mitchell – she received $25 for her efforts; and highest senior was awarded to Billy Towery ($50). A local non-profit charity in Gulfport, Mississippi received a $40 donation as well.

The tour wishes to thank Skeeters Billiards (including Colleen and Beverly) for hosting an event this season as well as for their help and hospitality (and the guys in the kitchen for cooking up awesome cheeseburgers). In addition, thanks go out to the spectators and players for attending; Mike Matsie for helping with the tournament duties; Art Tripp for his support and advice; Tom for all of his help an encouragement at the event; David Adams of Byron, Georgia for his sponsorship and appearance (he is a real trooper); and special appreciation to Ricky and Andy for their generosity in adding an extra $500 to the tournament prize fund.

The next tour stop will be held at Diamond Billiards in Cape Coral, Florida, February 16-17, 2008. This will be a $1000 added event. For additional information on this tour, visit their website at www.southeastopen.com/index.asp