Kennedy Ably Wins Atlanta Billiard Event

Kennedy Ably Wins Atlanta Billiard Event
J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour / Atlanta, GA
by Skip Maloney
After the dust cleared, Tommy “TK” Kennedy went undefeated at his own tour’s June 14-15 stop, hosted by Mr. Cues 2 billiards parlor in Atlanta, GA. The J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour brought in 42 entrants to this $2,000-added event in which Kennedy came back from a defeat by Jonathan Pinegar to take the title.
Positioned among the final four on the winners’ side, Kennedy sent Clint McCullough to the one-loss side, as Jesse Middlebrooks was doing likewise to Henry Cofer. In the hot seat match that followed, Kennedy moved out to a slim 3-1 lead that he never relinquished, in spite of attempts by Middlebrooks to catch up. Middlebrooks got within a game twice, but at 7-6 Kennedy took command, winning the next two.
On the one-loss side, Pinegar was working his way back to the finals through Ed Roldan, John “Stoney” Stone, and Cofer, which brought him to a quarterfinal match against Steve Moore. Moore had, for the second time in the tournament, defeated Kim Davenport, and then Clint McCullough to get to Pinegar. In a hill-hill match, Moore looked to be in the driver’s seat until, in the deciding game, he missed a shot at an open 4 ball, which ultimately cost him the match, sending Pinegar into the semifinals against Middlebrooks. Pinegar dispatched Middlebrooks 9-5 and turned to face Kennedy.
In the opening set, the two struggled back and forth to a 7-7 tie, with Pinegar reaching the hill first. With an opportunity to force a hill-hill game, Kennedy missed an easy shot on the 6-ball. Pinegar capitalized and it was on to the second set. Kennedy wasted little time and jumped out to a 6-0 lead that, combined with what he called “a couple of decent rolls” and a few untimely scratches by Pinegar, led to a second-set, championship 9-3 victory for Kennedy.
Results:
1st Tommy Kennedy
2nd Jonathan Pinegar
3rd Jesse Middlebrooks
4th Steve Moore
5th Clint McCullough
Henry Cofer
7th Kim Davenport
John Stone
9th Jason Richko
Tim Kearns
Ed Roldan
Jim Jennings