Kennedy Takes Long Road to Billiards Victory
J. Pechauer Southeast 9-Ball Tour / Savannah, GA
by Skip Maloney
Tommy "TK from FLA" Kennedy lost his round but won every round afterwards to win the J. Pechauer Southeast 9-Ball Tour stop.
Tour director Tommy Kennedy was defeated in the opening round of play on his J. Pechauer 9-Ball Open stop the weekend of September 27-28 but proceeded to battle through ten opponents to capture first place. The $1,500-added event drew 46 players to the Southside Billiard Club in Savannah, GA. A second chance, $500-added tournament on Sunday drew 28 entrants and was won by Chad Stokes.
In the open event, as Kennedy was working his way back to the finals as Butch Croft, Walter Blacker, Michael Newsome, and Neil Fujiwara were the last four standing on the winners’ side. Croft defeated Blacker 9-3, as Fujiwara moved Newsome west 9-5. Croft sent Fujiwara to the semifinals with a 9-6 victory in the hot seat match.
On the one-loss side, Kennedy and Ron Park emerged from among the final 12, dropping John Swope and Josh Williams into seventh place, respectively, before facing Blacker and Newsome. It was Kennedy and Park advancing to the quarterfinals, with Kennedy winning that match 9-4. Kennedy improved on his 9-4 habit with a 9-3 defeat of Fujiwara in the semifinals.
Early on, it looked as though Kennedy’s streak was going to be halted. Croft had a 6-2 advantage going into the ninth game. A combination shot that sunk the 9 ball early gave Kennedy that game, which he turned into a six-pack that put him up 8-6. They maintained that two rack distance to the nineteenth game, when Croft took advantage of a missed bank shot by Kennedy on the 8 ball to pull within one at 10-9. Croft broke for the chance to tie it but missed on an early 1-9 combination that he left for Kennedy. Kennedy made that combination and secured the first-place win.
Results:
1st Tommy Kennedy
2nd Butch Croft
3rd Neil Fujiwara
4th Ron Park
5-6th Walter Blacker
5-6th Michael Newsome
7-8th John Swope
7-8th Josh Williams
9-12th David Crocker
9-12th Red Sale
9-12th Bobby Gaza
9-12th David Tootle