The tour stopped in to Great Slates in Cambridge, MD on April 1/2nd for event #3. This is one of the premier East Coast billiard rooms with fine dining, a large bar with plenty of big screen TVs, live band and a tournament room with eight 9 ft Gabriel tables with a matching set of 7 ft bar tables up front. Room owner and player John Moody Sr is a huge supporter of pool and always makes sure the players have excellent tournament conditions including making this a $2000 added event. Professional player Dennis Hatch made the most of his guest appearance while tour rising star Pamela Treadway won the ladies division.
63 players entered the Open Division on Saturday keeping the 8 tables in constant action for over 12 hours. An extra air of excitement started when Dennis Hatch and Sparky Ferrell signed up to play. There were some marquis matches early Saturday evening. WPBA pro Liz Ford took Matt Clatterbuck to the hill but had the pocket for the last 8 ball partially blocked by the 9 ball leading to a disheartening 6-7 loss. Top Tiger Tour player Shaun Wilkie took on Sparky Ferrell and came away with a 7-5 win. Dennis Hatch turned a 4-5 deficit into a 7-5 win over fellow pro player Mike Davis. By 1:30 am the field had been trimmed down to 24 players all in the cash.
On Sunday, Wilkie continued his winning ways overcoming Hatch 9-6. Brett Stottlemyer was having a fine tournament and fought back against Wilkie to win 9-8. Matt Clatterbuck came into Sunday very focused and easily advanced to the hot seat match to face Stottlemyer. This match turned out to be more of the same with Clatterbuck winning easily 9-4.
In the elimination bracket, road player Ferrell found himself facing current points leader Jerry Slivka. Ferrell won this contest 7-3 and continued on to advance past John Moody Jr, Joey Ryan and Josh Brothers all by close scores. Ferrell gained his revenge over Wilkie 7-5 but then had to play Hatch. A few minutes later it was Hatch advancing 7-1. Hatch also defeated Stottlemyer 7-5 to get to the final with Clatterbuck. Hatch raced out to a 5-1 lead in the single set final to 11 games. This lead extended to 8-2 before Clatterbuck began shooting his way back into the match. The score reached 10-8 in favor of Hatch before a long costly 3 ball hung up in the corner. Hatch ran out to collect $1000 for 1st place while Clatterbuck settled for $700.
The Sunday Women's division had a twist as the 16 ladies played their event on Gabriel bar tables. The change of table size seemed to work out well for 2005 Tiger 8 Ball Tour player of the year Kathleen Lawless. She defeated newcomer Sherry Ingram, Sueyen Rhee, Pamela Treadway and current points leader My-Hanh Lac to reach the hot seat. Treadway recovered in the elimination bracket to take out Amy Foster and Teresa Savage. A close match with Lac put Treadway into the final with Lawless. The final extended race went to Treadway with a 9-4 score.
