by Lea Andrews

Horace “Groundhog” Goodwin overshadowed each opponent that crossed his path in the August 8-9 Great Southern Billiard Tour stop, taking home first place and the lion’s share of the prize money. The $1,500-added A/B event drew 56 players to The Pool Room in Duluth, GA.

Having sent Sean Davis left 9-4, Goodwin arrived in the hot seat match to meet David Rice, who was coming off a 9-3 win over Matt Reed. Goodwin’s solid 9-6 victory sent Rice west to try to earn a rematch.

On the one-loss side, while Robert Frost was cutting down Arlo Walsman 9-4 and Chris Davis 9-2 before ultimately falling to Davis 9-4, Benny Conway, Jr. was making his way steadily through the bracket, notching up three 11-5 wins in a row over Billy Tyler, Aaron Frady, and Reed meet up with Davis in the quarterfinals. Conway’s win there was even stronger and he moved into the semifinals 11-4. That’s where Conway’s hot streak ended, though, as Rice held him to eight games, putting himself back up against Goodwin in the finals.

Goodwin was the first to hit the string in the true double-elimination finals, though Rice wasn’t far behind. The two battled back and forth, knotting up at 3 and 5 games apiece before Goodwin pulled ahead 6-5 and, with a break and run, 7-5. Pushing for the second set, Rice managed to get the match to hill-hill, but he couldn’t close it out. After coming out on top of a safety battle in the final rack, it was Goodwin who sunk the final 9.

Horace “Groundhog” Goodwin overshadowed each opponent that crossed his path in the August 8-9 Great Southern Billiard Tour stop, taking home first place and the lion’s share of the prize money. The $1,500-added A/B event drew 56 players to The Pool Room in Duluth, GA.

Results:
1st Horace Goodwin $1,000
2nd David Rice $500
3rd Benny Conway, Jr. $350
4th Sean Davis $200
5th Matt Reed $120
Robert Frost
7th Aaron Frady $60
Chris Zayas
9th Billy Tyler $35
Wes Davis
Arlo Walsman
Jesse Middlebrook