Capone’s 5th Labor Day Classic, held this past Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3-4), is in the books and the undefeated winners are Tommy Kennedy in the $500-added Open event and Rhyan Hunter in the $1,000-added Amateur event, which was open to competitors with a Fargo Rate of 640 and under. Both events yielded full fields; 64 in the Amateur event and 16 in the Open event at Capone’s in Spring Hill, FL.
Hunter was the only player in the Amateur event having to give the entire field a single game on the wire, which wasn’t enough for anyone to come close to him. His precision shooting and heart gave him the victory in every match. He opened with a shutout over JT Russell and advanced through victories over Justin Logan 7-3, Justin Ward 7-3 and another shutout, versus Dan Mello, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Andy Crews. In the meantime, eventual runner-up Ameet Kukadia, slowly becoming a regular at Capone’s events, advanced to the other winners’ side semifinal versus (unrelated to Dan) Mike Mello, who was playing in his first event at Capone’s.
Hunter defeated Crews 7-3, as Mike Mello sent Kukadia to the loss side 7-4. Hunter claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Mello and waited on Kukadia’s return.
On the loss side, Kukadia drew Dan Mello, who’d survived a double hill match against Jamison Daniels and shut out Justin Logan to reach him. Crews picked up Justin McNulty, who’d also survived a double hill match, against Benji Estor, and came within a second straight double hill match, downing Litos Davila 6-4.
Kukadia and McNulty advanced to the quarterfinals; Kukadia, 6-2 over Dan Mello and McNulty, 6-4 over Crews. Kukadia defeated McNulty in those quarterfinals 6-3 and then won his redemption match versus Mike Mello 6-2 in the semifinals.
To claim the title, Kukadia needed to win two matches against Hunter in the finals that followed. Hunter completed his undefeated run with a 7-2 win in the only set necessary.
Tommy Kennedy (File photo)
Kennedy weathers ‘challenge’ storms to go undefeated in Open event
The Open event had its share of past champions, including Jason Richko (2019) and Tony Crosby (2021). Not present was the Labor Day Classic’s 2020 Champion, Donny Mills, who was ‘laboring away’ at Turning Stone in New York state over the weekend.
“He was doing damage up there,” said TD Carrie Vetrono, “and finished as runner-up. Congratulations to Donny.”
Tommy Kennedy was a former champion, as well (2019), and his undefeated run through the Classic made him the first competitor to have his ‘name up in lights’ as winner of the event, twice. It was not an easy journey for TK.
Of the five matches Kennedy played to claim the Labor Day Classic’s 2022 Open title, two went to double hill and two more came within a game of it. He opened with an 8-6 win over Marcus Murillo and a double hill win over Richard Broumpton, which set him up in a winners’ side semifinal against one of the former champions, Jason Richko. In the meantime, Lee Heuwagen and Tony Crosby were working their way to their meetup in the other winners’ side semifinal; Crosby arriving with a 16-3 aggregate score against Zee Zee Green (0) and Ross Webster (3), Heuwagen arriving with a 16-4 aggregate score against Bobby Jones (3) and Guy Jones (1).
Kennedy got into the hot seat match 8-6 over Richko. Heuwagen joined him after a commanding 8-2 win over Crosby. TK grabbed the hot seat 8-4.
Crosby wanted the trophy and came back from the loss-side, knocking out Sandeep Swain 7-5, Ross Webster 7-1 in the quarterfinals and this time, victorious over Heuwagen in their semifinal rematch 7-5.
Kennedy and Crosby locked up in what was Kennedy’s second double hill match. After a long day of shooting, Crosby fell short, giving way in the 15th rack and handing Kennedy the title.
TD Carrie Vetrono thanked everyone that participated and helped make Capone’s 5th Annual Labor Day Classic the tournament that it was.
“Without everyone’s help we could not do this,” she said. “Special thanks to Rocco-Rocky McElroy and his Capone’s staff for all they do, as well as Joel Vetrono and Anthony Fisher for helping send matches out on the amateur event.”
The next event at Capone’s, scheduled for the weekend of October 8-9, will be an Open Handicap event that will play out on the venue’s 9-foot tables.
Johnny Archer, Rodney Morris, Rocky McElroy and Tony Crosby
Meglino goes undefeated to claim Amateur title
After a double hill battle that left Rodney Morris in the hot seat, Florida Pool Tour director, Tony Crosby kept a semifinal appointment with Johnny Archer, defeated him and came back to down Morris in the finals. The $1,000-added Super 16 event ($500 to winner in the form of paid entry to the Tornado Open), was held on Sunday, April 24, and actually drew 22 entrants to Capone's in Spring Hill, FL.
In a $1,000-added, Amateur event, held on Saturday, April 23 (same location), Anthony Meglino went undefeated through a field of 83 to claim that title.
The first of the Crosby/Morris battles followed two 7-4 wins by them in the winners' side semifinals. Crosby, defeating Mike Delawder, and Morris, sending Tommy Kennedy to the loss side. Morris won the double hill, hot seat fight and waited on Crosby's return.
On the loss side, Kennedy picked up long-time rival/former road partner Johnny Archer, who'd eliminated Richard Broumpton 7-4 and Donnie Mills 7-5 to reach him. Delawder drew Meglino, who'd already won the Amateur event and here, sent Jason Richko (7-4) and Han Berber (7-3) home. Delawder and Meglino locked up in a double hill battle that eventually sent Delawder to the quarterfinals against Archer, who'd defeated Kennedy 7-2. Archer advanced a step further with a 7-4 victory over Delawder, but had his bid for the title ended by Crosby 7-4 in the semifinals.
Things weren't looking too good for Crosby when the finals opened with three straight racks for Morris. But Crosby responded, not only tying it at 3-3, but chalking up three more for a three-rack lead, which he'd never relinquish. At 6-3, they both won two more racks, and Crosby had the title.
In the Amateur event, Meglino advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Raymond Linares, while Kyle Bova and Dan Marchini squared off. Meglino and Bova advanced to the hot seat match, both 7-2, over Linares and Marchini. Meglino then defeated Bova 7-3, and waited on what turned out to be an opponent he'd sent to the loss side in a winners' side quarterfinal, Francisco Diaz.
Diaz had moved to the left bracket and defeated Mike Kohn 5-2 and John Souders 5-3 to draw Marchini. Linares picked up Felix Luna, who'd gotten by Justin Stock and Jason Hunt, both 5-3. Diaz then survived a double hill battle versus Marchini, as Luna eliminated Linares 5-3.
Diaz took the quarterfinal match over Luna 5-2 and then denied Bova a re-match versus Meglino with a double hill win in the semifinals.
Meglino completed his undefeated run with a double hill win in the finals. The victory, combined with his later 5th place finish in the Super 16 event, notched his winnings to just over $1,000 for the weekend.
Tour director Tony Crosby thanked Capone's owner Rocky McElroy and his staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Aramith, Simonis, Stroke-It Wear, Florida Pool Table Movers, and Billiards and Darts Supply. A "super-special" thank you went out to Xtreme Pool Challenge for the work and effort that went into their producing one of the best live streams in the country.
The Florida Pool Tour and Xtreme Pool Challenge will be at Park Avenue Billiards in Orange Park, FL on the weekend of May 14-15. The event – Super 32 – will be an Open 10-Ball Championship with a $5,000 first prize. Call 727-488-0536 or 904-200-5843 for more information or to pay your entry fee. You can also visit the tour Website at www.floridapooltour.com.
One man looking very strong on the winners side would be Rick Schau after a tough 9-8 win over Louis Altese in the 2nd round he would go onto beat Jim Dolan 9-2, James Roberts 9-2 and then another strong win over Jason Richko 9-5 to put himself in the winners side final. In the winner side final he would face Tony Crosby who had made his way there with wins over Ke Wu 9-5, Betina Chase 9-1, Prescott Buckwold 9-4 and then a strong win over Richard Broumpton 9-1 to book his winner side final with Schau.
The winners side final would kick off with Crosby coming out strong and taking a commanding 6-2 lead, Schau would win the next two racks to pull the deficit to 6-4, Crosby would then have his chance only to miscue on the 1 balls and this would be his last shot of the match, Schau would run this rack out and leave Crosby sat in his seat as he broke and ran the last 4 racks to take the match 9-6 with a superb performance.
Mike Davis would then navigate his way back through the one loss side with wins over Ke Wu 7-4, Mike Delawder 7-0, ( where he broke and ran the last 5 racks) Jason Richko 9-6 and finally Richard Broumpton 9-5 to meet Tony Crosby in a semi finals match up. The semi final was looking like one way traffic as Crosby would take advantage of some unforced errors to take a 6-0 lead, a bathroom break from Davis turned the match and would claw his way back from 6-0 to 7-3 and then from 8-5 down would find himself tied at 8-8 breaking for the match. The last rack would see him make a ball on the break to leave a very tough 1 ball; he decided to play safe and leave Crosby hooked on the one, Crosby would kick at the 1 ball with speed making contact and fluking a ball in at the same time which would be enough to see him run the balls out and escape into the final.
The final would be a race to 10 with a possible one rack sudden death shootout if Crosby were to win the first set. The first rack would prove critical in this match as Crosby would break and run to the 8 ball, miss and give Schau the opportunity to take the first rack, but he would also miss the 8 which would prove very costly, as Crosby would win this rack and then go onto win the next 9 racks in a row playing strong pool. This would force the one rack sudden death shoot out. Crosby would win the lag and then go onto break and run the last and final rack to be crowned Florida State Champion.
The Poison tour would like to thank Pete Shabo, Hammerheads room owner and his staff for hosting another great event. The tours title Sponsor Poison by Predator cues, Billiardscoop, Delta 13 racks and also all the media Azbilliards, Insidepool, MxmBilliards, StrokeMagazine, Pool and Billiards, Billiards Digest for their great tour coverage.
The Poison Tour will kick off the new season January 28th, 29th, 2012 at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor Florida, dates in February and March will also be posted. We would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
The South East Open 9-Ball Tour held their third event of the year at Wally's Billiards in Lakeland Florida, where Brent Thomas went undefeated including two wins over Richard Broumpton. Thomas defeated Broumpton in the winners side finals and then defeated him again 9-6 in the finals for the win.
Thomas won $690 for first and Broumpton won $500 for second. Chuck White finished in third.
The Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour held an event at Jimmy's Billiards in Orlando Florida and Tommy Kennedy took first by going undefeated including a win over Wayne Catledge in the finals. Tommy won $630 for first while Catledge took $400 for second. Bill Myers and Richard Broumpton filled out the top 4 spots.
