Hamlet Holds off Pureza

Hamlet Holds off Pureza
Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour / Fuquay Varina, NC

by Rock City Promotions
On The Snap Billiards in Fuquay Varina, NC, hosted the January 19-20 stop of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour. A field of 42 players braved the cold weather and threat of snow for the $1,000 guaranteed added main event, in which Arnold Hamlet held off a much younger Brandon Pureza in the final match.
To kick things off, an early bird tournament was held on Friday night, where Pureza defeated Craig Wolfe 7-2 in the final match. In the junior tournament Sunday, Jackson Jeffries defeated Andrew Coley 9-5 in the final match. Also on Sunday, a second-chance tournament was won by Robert Ray, who managed a 7-6 win over Chris Vollmar.
In the main event, Hamlet drew a bye but then had his work cut out for him. He scored wins over Shane Winters 7-5, Paul Scarboro 7-3, and Jeff Pruitt 7-5 before losing to Rodney Strickland 7-4. On the one-loss side Hamlet defeated Johnny Griffin 7-6 and Mike Davis 7-6 to set up a rematch with Strickland, this time finishing on the positive side 7-1.
Meanwhile, Pureza ran through his first five opponents with little difficulty, defeating Deamon Dawson 7-2, Mae Beale 7-1, Anthony Barrington 7-3, Johnny Griffin 7-3, and Michael Fuller 7-3. Then, in the hot seat match, Strickland took Pureza to the hill before falling 7-6.
The final match saw Hamlet take an early 5-1 lead before Pureza finally got a break—an empty one for Hamlet. Pureza ran the rack and was poised for a comeback. Midway through the eighth rack, however, Pureza missed a crucial 5 ball, and Hamlet cleaned the table. Pureza then locked up a 2-ball in the ninth rack to give Hamlet a 7-2 lead.
In the tenth and eleventh racks, Pureza pulled to within three games by taking advantage of Hamlets’ misses, which included a 9 ball left in the jaws of a corner pocket. A dry break put Hamlet back in charge, and he inched his way to a 9-5 win.
Results:
1st Arnold Hamlet
2nd Brandon Pureza
3rd Rodney Strickland
4th Mike Davis
5th Michael Fuller
Johnny Griffin
7th Anthony Barrington
Ron Park
9th Larry Faulk
Jeff Pruitt
Robert Ray
Sam Monday