Pendley Pounds the GSBT Field
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Duluth, GA
by Lea Andrews
Adam Pendley, who recently finished second to Johnny Archer at the Carolina Open, showed the crowd that he has the heart of a winner by bouncing back from an early loss to Eugene Browning to take down the field at the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop October 24-25. The $1,500-added amateur event drew 61 players to The Pool Room in Duluth, GA.
Following his loss to Browning, who’s returning to the scene he once dominated following a ten-year hiatus, Pendley made his way through the left side of the bracket while the final four on the winners’ side were coming through. Marty Jennings made his way into the hot seat match following a 9-7 win over Ron Gilbert; meanwhile, his father, Jim, was vying to meet him there but came up short against Danny Smith 11-6. The elder Jennings, who’d been racing to 9, moved west, while his son fought a tough hill-hill match against Smith but fell 11-8.
On the one-loss side, Pendley was clearing a steady path to the finals, getting past Jeff Tabet 9-4 to face Alan Wong, who’d edged out AA-ranked Arlo Walsman 7-10. Making a move at the same time was Jason Steman, who got past AA-ranked Scott Lewis 9-8 to face Matt Reed, who’d ousted Browning 9-8. As Steman and Pendley moved past Reed and Wong 9-6 and 9-3, respectively, the two moved on to J. Jennings and Gilbert. Pendley shut out Gilbert, but it was the end of the road for Steman, who fell 9-7 to Jennings. In the quarterfinals, Jennings missed getting a crack at his son in the semis by three games, landing in fourth 9-6, while in the semis, M. Jennings came up four games short of avenging his father’s loss to Pendley and earning a rematch with Smith, finishing in third 9-5.
Pendley, who recently finished second to Archer at the Carolina Open, showed the crowd that he has the heart of a winner by bouncing back from an early loss to Eugene Browning to take down the field at the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop October 24-25.
In the true double-elimination finals, as in the rest of the tournament, Smith was racing to 11, while Pendley was racing to 9. In both sets, though, Pendley maintained an edge and refused to allow the spot to come into play at all, taking first with two strong 9-7 wins.
Results:
1st Adam Pendley $1,000
2nd Danny Smith $600
3rd Marty Jennings $400
4th Jim Jennings $200
5th Ron Gilbert $100
Jason Steman
7th Alan Wong $75
Matt Reed
9th Arlo Walsman $35
Jeff Tabet
Eugene Browning
Scott Lewis