Big Bubba Batting 1000 on Jacoby Tour
Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour / Rocky Mount, NC
by Lea Andrews
Shawn “Big Bubba” Putnam, who made his first appearance—and first win— on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour at last season’s finale, made his second appearance and second win the weekend of December 12-13. Putnam was among the small but talented field that gathered at Sharks-N-Shooters in Rocky Mount, NC, for the $1,000-added event.
Putnam chose to take a detour on his way to the finals, falling 7-4 to Glenn Russell on the winners’-side final four. Russell moved on to the hot seat match, where he met Delton Howard, who’d edged out Michael “Bulldawg” Fuller 7-6. Howard clinched the hot seat 7-3, sending Russell west to try to make his way back.
On the one-loss side, Bill Duggan breezed past Willie Simpson 7-2 and moved on to another lopsided match, though he was on the wrong end of this one. Fuller allowed him just one game to face Putnam, who’d allowed Chip Klein just two games. Against Fuller in the quarterfinals, Putnam found himself down 5-3, but he notched four straight games to advance to the semifinals 7-5. There, he once again faced Russell, who’d made it to the hill in their last match before Putnam had marked up his first game. This time, it was Putnam who got up 6-0, and he put Russell in third 7-1.
In the single race-to-11 final match, Putnam and Howard started off fairly evenly, trading racks and near-perfect play to tie up at 2 games apiece, but from there, Putnam began to pull away, taking advantage of a couple of misses to go up 7-2. Howard made it 7-3 after Putnam scratched on the break, but Putnam took the next two to make it 9-3. On his way to a break and run in the rack following, Putnam scratched on the 5 ball, allowing Howard a fourth game, but Howard’s miss on the 5 in the next rack put Putnam on the hill. After Putnam left a thin cut on the 8 hanging, Howard managed another game, but “Big Bubba” had a big lead and he wasn’t giving it up. Howard played safe on the 7 ball after a 7-8 combination, leaving Putnam a long, difficult shot, but Putnam nailed it and got position on the 9 to earn his second win 11-5.
Shawn “Big Bubba” Putnam, who made his first appearance—and first win— on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour at last season’s finale, made his second appearance and second win the weekend of December 12-13.
It wasn’t Putnam’s only win this weekend—he also earned $100 for his 7-1 victory over Ken Hendricks in the finals of the early bird tournament Friday night, and though he had enough luck on his side to get his name drawn twice for a crack at the break and run pot (a name is drawn again if the first player doesn’t cash), that’s where his luck ran out. He managed to pocket balls on both breaks, but was left without an opening shot twice, upping the jackpot to $61 per ball at the next event. Another player with two wins this weekend was Dylan Letchworth, who took first in both the second-chance tournament and the juniors’ division, while Jacki Duggan topped the ladies’ division.
Results:
1st Shawn Putnam $1,000
2nd Delton Howard $450
3rd Glenn Russell $100