The Seminole Pro Tour has only held an event outside of Florida on one occasion before their most recent stop at Fast Eddie's Billiards in Goldsboro, North Carolina, over the weekend of August 8th-10th and that was in early April at Mr. Cues in Atlanta. Ironically enough, the North Carolina trek was also won by a current residence of the state – “Iron” Mike Davis.
The $9000 added tournament pulled a total field of thirty-nine of the toughest competitors in not only the area, but from the immediate surroundings including professional names and top players such as Gabe Owen, Larry Nevel, Robb Saez, Tommy Kennedy, Sylver Ochoa, Ronnie Wiseman, Sparky Ferrell, and ultimate champ, Mike Davis.
At the conclusion of Saturday night, the last four players holding on undefeated were Mike Gulyassi, Larry Nevel, Mike Davis, and Tony Watson. On the one-loss side, eight remained including Robb Saez, Demetrius Jelatis, John Ditoro, Gabe Owen, James Roberts, David Vaughn, Keith Bennett, and Jon Pinegar.
When play began on Sunday, the competition was quite fierce with both winner's side matches pushing the limits with hill-hill matches. Both Davis and Gulyassi came out of their matches breathing a sigh of relief. The two proceeded into the hot-seat match where Davis overcame Gulyassi by a five game margin, ending 8-3.
On the one-loss side of the board, the men fought it out to the very end. Owen and Nevel eventually came through the field and were pitted together to determine the fourth place finisher and in this instance, Owen was just too much for Nevel to handle as he booted him with a score of 8-3.
Although the semis were a bit closer than the quarter-finals, the end result was the same – Owen bested Gulyassi 8-5 for his chance at the grand prize. Owen's presence in the final round was not at all what was anticipated and it was obvious to all that after playing five matches throughout the day (and with Davis playing only two), Davis had the advantage and the pep. Davis had remained in stroke the entire day and eventually took down Owen in front of a fantastic and supportive crowd ending the weekend as champion with a 9-5 decision.
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