Boynton Beach, Fla. (Dec. 3, 2011) – Amazing grace, great talent and good cheer made for an exciting day of competition at the Flamingo Billiards Tour Holiday Open 9-Ball Event on Saturday at Slate Billiards in Boynton Beach, FL.  At the end of it all, Anthony Meglino edged out David Broxson for his second Flamingo Billiards Tour Open 9-Ball victory.

Competition abounded with notable pro players “TK” Tommy Kennedy and “Iron” Mike Davis in town.  Filling Slate’s holiday décor of familiar South Florida competitors was Meglino, Broxson, John Foster, Randy Epperson, and Javier Chirino.  Topping it all off was the revered, feared, and respected Toby Sweet.   

In one of the day’s great matchups, Meglino went toe-to-toe with Sweet to stay on the winner’ side.  Like a master testing his young grasshopper, Sweet, down 5-1, gave Meglino a few lessons in the art of billiards.  Sweet came back to win the next four racks and just when it looked like Sweet would tie the match, Sweet got a bad roll as the cue ball froze up on the five, leaving Sweet with no shot and a difficult safe that cost Sweet the match.  Meglino continued on, outshooting Randy Epperson only to be stopped by David Broxson, who shot strong through to the hot seat.  

Broxson came up through the winner’s side finishing off another exciting and nail-biting hill-hill match with Tommy Kennedy.  After that, Broxson sent veteran player John Foster west.  Foster later matched up with Meglino in yet another exciting and hotly contested double hill match attempting to make it back to the finals. However, Foster would have to settle for third.

In the final race to 11, Meglino got off to a late start, trailing Broxson 4-0.  Meglino finally got on the score board and Broxson responded equally, giving himself a 5-1 lead.  In game seven, Meglino was faced with a jump shot, and in true form Meglino not only jumped but amazingly jump-banked the one and ran the rest of the rack, score 6-2.  What may have been the turning point in the match, before long Meglino was up 8-7.  Broxson then missed a key five-ball shot in rack 16, giving Meglino a 9-7 lead.  Broxson was left with a kick shot in the next rack which he barely missed, leaving Meglino out and on the hill, 10-7.  However, Broxson wasn’t going to be stopped easily, as he broke and ran the next rack, score 10-8.  Meglino broke next but came up dry.  However, he got back to the table and proceeded to run out, but uncharacteristically overcut the six leaving Broxson a tough long rail shot which he made along with the remaining rack, score 10-9.  It was Broxson’s turn to break and it looked like he would tie the match, as an easy 4-9 combo was begging for attention.  But he didn’t get shape on the three, and left himself with a difficult rail shot because the cue ball stopped just in front of the eight-ball, forcing Broxson to shoot over the eight.  Broxson shot the three and got shape for the combo, but the three bobbled in the corner and refused to drop.  Meglino pocketed the three and proceeded to make the 4-9 combo match-winning shot.

Other notable matches included Mike Davis’ loss to John Foster.  Davis was favored to win the event.  Another upset included Tommy Kennedy’s double-hill loss to Broxson and then being knocked out of the event by Davis.

Some of the event matches can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/flamingo-open-9-ball and http://www.ustream.tv/channel/billiardcommunity-com.

The FBT, a WPBA-Recognized Regional Tour, is the stepping stone to the WPBA for women in Florida who want to qualify for Women’s Professional Billiard Association events.  The 2011 Winter Open was the second 9-Ball event open to both male and female players.

Many thanks to everyone who came out to play, to room owners Mike Bradford and Joe Sistarelli, (www.slatebilliards.com), for being great hosts and to Boynton Billiards (www.boyntonbilliards.com) for their support of the Flamingo Billiards Tour.