Lavoie Goes UndefeatedKBP Amateur 9-Ball Tour / Holiday, FL
by Rick Davis
Taking place at Hammer Heads Billiards in Holiday, FL, the KBP Amateur 9-Ball Tour drew in a 33-player field over the October 27-28 weekend, and after the dust has cleared it was Dan Lavoie, a regular player on many of the Southern tours, who swept the chart and took the event undefeated.
After a first-round bye and four solid wins Lavoie found himself in the hot seat match facing Trevor Heal, who had an identical run on the winners’ side and was also a tour regular. After a brief showdown Lavoie come out on top 7-4 to earn the king of the hill chair.
On the one-loss side the field quickly shrank as the evening played out. The top half of the bracket showcased two great comebacks. After a first-round loss Peter Richards and Jesse Langston each took five wins before they faced up in the first money round. There it was Richards who stayed in gear with the 5-3 win to advance. On the bottom of the chart Jim Oddy and Billy Moses met after each had a late loss on the winners’ side. Moses was eager to return there, and after drilling Oddy 5-1 he was on his way again.
Moses stayed alive through the next few rounds, eliminating Brandon Byrne 5-0 then Bobby Livargo double-hill in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals another double-hill match unfolded, but this time it was Heal on top knocking out Moses 5-4. With the last match on hand a single extended race awaited the players, and just shy of going double-hill once again, Lavoie took back control in the end to take the match 9-7 and claim the event win.
Results:
1st Dan Lavoie
2nd Trevor Heal
3rd Billy Moses
4th Bobby Livargo
5th Peter Richards
Brandon Byrne
7th Jesse Langston
Jim Oddy