KF Cues Tour / Tampa, FL
by Lea Andrews
It was the amateurs’ turn to shine on the KF Cues Tour as their season of one-day tournaments culminated in a two-day finale August 29-30, but it was David Uwate who rebounded from an early loss to outshine the rest. Uwate was among the field of 70 that gathered for the $2,500-added event, which was held at Strokers II in Tampa, FL, and also boasted for the winner, courtesy of the Seminole Tribe, $500-entry into the $40,000-added Steve Mizerak Championship event to be held in November at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL.
Floyd Milsap, the person responsible for Uwate’s third-round 7-6 loss, arrived in the winners’ side final four following a 7-4 win over Mike Delawder. Milsap’s next obstacle was Bobby Moore, who’d just edged out Walter Blacker 7-6. After taking care of Moore 7-4, Milsap fought for the hot seat against Trey Jankowski, who’d squeaked past Jeff Mabry 7-6.
Meanwhile, Uwate was storming through the left side of the bracket. After blowing past John Souders 6-1, he took care of Chip Dickerson 6-4 to meet up with Todd Anderson, who was coming off a 6-3 win over Richard Fox. Anderson’s score got reversed on him as he fell 6-3 to Uwate, who welcomed Moore to the B-side by handing him a 6-2 loss, which put Uwate into the quarterfinals against Delawder. Delawder, having steadily made his way past Dan Whitten 6-4, George Saunders 6-1, and Jeff Mabry 6-1, couldn’t mark up that final game against Uwate, and he landed in fourth with a score of 6-5, as Uwate went on to the semifinals against Jankowski, who’d managed only 3 games against Milsap in the hot seat match.
Both men had a score to settle with Milsap, but it was Uwate who’d spent all day and most of the day before in the precarious left side of the bracket because of Milsap, and it was Uwate who closed out the win 6-4 to earn his revenge.
In the finals, a single race to 9, Uwate got the first taste of victory, but Milsap tied it at one apiece. Uwate came back with 3 in a row to make it 4-1. The two then went back and forth a bit, and the score went to 4-2, 6-2, 6-4, and 8-4. Needing just one more 9 ball, Uwate was so close to the big win, but Milsap held it out of reach twice, getting the score to 8-6. But when Milsap broke dry in the fifteenth rack, Uwate’s opportunity was there and he took it, negotiating a tricky table layout to run out for the victory.
Results:
1st David Uwate $1,100 + $500 entry
2nd Floyd Milsap $800
3rd Trey Jankowski $600
4th Mike Delawder $450
5th Jeff Mabry $325
Bobby Moore
7th George Saunders $200
Todd Anderson
9th Walter Blacker $150
Chip Dickerson
Dan Whitten
Richard Fox
13th Jarred Schlauch $100
Bill Delisle
John Souders
Taz Naravane