Great Billiards Victory for South
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Duluth, GA
by Lea Andrews
Though Robert South took a bit of a hit in the first set of the finals of the January 9-10 stop of the Great Southern Billiard Tour, he came back when it counted. South topped the full field of 64 that stormed The Pool Room in Duluth, GA, for the $1,500-added A-B amateur event.
B-ranked South earned his spot in the hot seat match with a 7-4 win over A-ranked Denny Singletary, who was racing to 9. Meeting South there was past winner AA-ranked Horace “Groundhog” Goodwin, who’d won 11-4 over B-ranked Chad Royal. South and Goodwin both fought hard to go undefeated into the finals, and they took it to the hill, with South earning the spot 7-10.
On the one-loss side, B-ranked Mike Basha notched a strong 7-6 win over recent winner Adam Pendley, who needed 11 games, to face Randy Jordan, who’d gotten past AA-ranked Brian White 9-7. At the same time, Henry Cofer was making his move towards the finals. His 7-7 win over AA-ranked Benny Conway, Jr., pitted him against Jeff Hooks, who was coming off a 9-8 win over AA-ranked Harold MCAbee. Holding Hooks to six games, Cofer moved on to Singletary, whom he also kept to six games to reach the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Basha had gotten past Jordan 7-7 to meet up with Royal, and the two went hill-hill, with Royal coming out on top 7-6. In the quarterfinal match against Cofer, though, Royal managed just five games to land in fourth, while Cofer moved on to Goodwin, allowing him just four games to reach South.
In the true double-elimination final match, Cofer pushed the second set decisively 7-2, but in the second set, South got off to an early lead, and though Cofer managed to stage a bit of a late comeback, it didn’t take. With the score at 6-4 South, Cofer broke the final rack and ran a few balls, but when he hooked himself, giving up ball in hand, South took over and pocketed what was left to earn first 7-4.
Though Robert South took a bit of a hit in the first set of the finals of the January 9-10 stop of the Great Southern Billiard Tour, he came back when it counted. (L-R) Henry Cofer, Shannon Daulton, Robert South
Results:
1st Robert South $1,000
2nd Henry Cofer $600
3rd Horace Goodwin $400
4th Chad Royal $200
5th Mike Basha $100
Denny Singletary
7th Randy Jordan $75
Jeff Hooks
9th Brian White $50
Adam Pendley
Benny Conway, Jr.
Harold McAbee
13th John Maikee $25
Sean Davis
Jim Jennings
Chris Kendrick