The purse was $1,500 added, $50 entry, 100% payout, no hidden fees. Starcade Billiards does it right every single time. The format was double elimination, with 9 ball express rules in effect. Winner’s brackets matches were races to nine and loser’s bracket matches were races to seven on Saturday and race to nine for both sides on Sunday.
The Jordan “Cash” team was in top form from start to finish, with both brothers making it to the final four of the undefeated bracket. Jamie Baraks beat Jeff Jordan 9-5. But Randy Jordan easily bested local favorite, Josh Hillard, by a lop-sided score of 9-1. And then Randy proceeded to beat Jamie 9-5 to capture the hot seat.
Meanwhile, on the final four of the one loss side, Pablo Matheu eliminated Denny Singletary, and Stoney Stone gave Denny Fox his marching orders, as well. Then Jeff Jordan sent Pablo to the bleachers, and Josh Hillard handed Stoney Stone his marching orders. This left Jamie Baraks waiting for the winner between Jeff Jordan and Josh Hillard, with Josh besting Jeff 9-6.
So then there were only three…
Out of the three remaining, Jamie Baraks had 5 top 3 finishes, being the runner-up twice. And this time we would crown a new champion. All defending title holders had been eliminated. So Jamie squared off with Josh, and the winner would earn a rematch with Randy Jordan and another title attempt. Josh would earn the opportunity to redeem his previous title attempts with a 9-4 victory over Jamie. And these two have been knocking on the winning door for quite some time now.
Over the last two decades, I have personally witnessed Josh Hillard play in the finals of this tournament at least 3 times, possibly 4, losing to Tommy Kennedy, David Broxson, and Pablo Matheu – making this his 4th attempt to capture the much coveted title.
The championship match would be an extended single race to twelve. This time, however, Josh was holding the winning ticket with some really solid play and defeated Randy 12 to 7.
The purse was $1,500 added, $50 entry, 100% payout, no hidden fees. Starcade Billiards does it right every single time. Robert Harris, Harris Cues, co-sponsored the event and raffled off a beautiful $1,500 cue and awarded another cue to the Champion, as well. The format was double elimination, 9 ball express rules were effect, winner’s brackets races to nine and loser’s bracket races to seven on both days. However, this was the first time the Magic Rack was implemented. So it’s safe to say that many balls were made on the break, which amounted to many break-and-runs and some very lop-sided matches.
Mike Davis captured the hot seat basically uncontested, and it’s worthy to mention he skunked Tommy Kennedy 9-0, allowing him only one shot the entire match!
Meanwhile, Jamie Baraks and Nathan Rose were in dead stroke. Mike was waiting for the winner of the Rose-Baraks match, and it was Rose who prevailed this time. Baraks made it to the finals the past event in February this year where Davis also won, but this time had to settle for the 3rd place envelope of cash.
The final match was a single race to 12. Mike took the crown undefeated by a score of 12-3 over Rose.
Tour director Tommy Kennedy had no idea who Jared McGee was until he faced him in the quarterfinals of the July 20-21 stop on Kennedy's Tiger Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour. Kennedy knows who he is now, because McGee, in the midst of a five-match, loss-side streak when they met, defeated Kennedy and went on to defeat hot seat occupant, Bucky Souvanthong, to claim the event title. The $1,000-added event drew 34 entrants to Pockets in Dothan, AL.
McGee and Kennedy were moved to the loss bracket in the same, winners' side final eight round; McGee, by Scotty Townsend and Kennedy, by Max Oliver. Townsend moved on to face Souvanthong, as Oliver drew Matt Bulfin. Souvanthong sent Townsend west 9-5, and in the battle for the hot seat, met Bulfin, who'd defeated Oliver 9-7. Souvanthong got into the hot seat 9-6 over Bulfin, and waited on McGee.
Townsend drew Kennedy, who'd defeated Stoney Stone, and then, Scotty Townsend's son, Michael; thus denying father (Scotty) and son (Michael) an opportunity to compete. Oliver had the misfortune of picking up the man he'd sent west, one match before – McGee, who'd gotten by Josh Hillard and Denny Singletary.
Kennedy followed his defeat of the Townsend son, by defeating the Townsend father 9-7. He was introduced, in the quarterfinals, to McGee, who'd eliminated Oliver 9-2. Kennedy learned all he needed to know about McGee, when the younger man allowed him only a single rack in the quarterfinals.
McGee moved on and defeated Bulfin in the semifinals 9-5. In the single, race-to-11 final, Souvanthong put up a fight, but McGee edged ahead to win it by two, 11-9, and claim the event title.
