Putnam Punishes Carolina Open One-Pocket Field
2009 Carolina Open/ Goldsboro, NC

by Lea Andrews

Shawn “Big Bubba” Putnam, who warmed up for the Carolina Open by running through the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour season finale October 3-4, made a repeat performance in the one-pocket division of the 2009 Carolina Open October 7-8. The $600-added event brought a power-packed field of 12 to Fast Eddie’s Sports Bar in Goldsboro, NC.

Putnam suffered a bit of a setback on the winners’ side final four when he came up against Larry Price, who edged him out 3-2 to move onto the hot seat match. While Putnam went west, Price went up against Larry Nevel, who’d gotten past Cliff Joyner 3-2. Unable to mark up a single game, it was Price who moved to the other side.

On the one-loss side, Earl Strickland put Cary Dunn in seventh 3-1 to face Joyner, while Sam Monday did the same to Ray Vines 3-0 to face Putnam. Monday then found himself on the wrong side of another 3-0 set, while Strickland managed just one game against Joyner. In the quarterfinal match, Putnam got down 2-0 to Joyner but managed to make it 2-2. In the fifth game, Putnam got up 6-1, two balls away from victory, when his opponent began mounting a comeback. Joyner got the count in that rack to 7-6, but it was Putnam who closed it out 8-7 to take the set 3-2. In the semifinals, Putnam got his revenge against Price 3-1 to face Nevel in the finals, a single race to 3. The two were fairly even to start, knotting up at three games apiece, but Putnam notched up two in a row to earn the title.

Aside from the one-pocket event and the main 10-ball event, which is being held October 8-10, there were warm-up 9-ball and one pocket events. Again it was Putnam who came out undefeated at the top of the 9-ball event, which drew 27 players Monday. Putnam got past Dave Hunt 5-3 to meet Price in the hot seat match, who’d just edged out Dave Grau 5-4. Putnam’s strong 5-1 victory landed Price in the semifinals. On the one loss-side, TJ Moore notched a 5-0 win over Dustin Wiley and a 5-2 win over Marcos Candelaria to meet up with Grau, while Shane Winters got his own 5-0 win over Shawn Casey and 5-1 win over Larry Nevel to face Hunt. Moore and Winters fell 5-1 and 5-3, respectively, and earned $45 for fifth. Marking up only three games against Grau, Hunt landed in fourth with $75, while Grau moved on to plant Price in third 5-4, for which Price received $110. In the final set, a single race to 7, Grau managed to get to the hill but no further, taking home $175 while Putnam earned $300 for his big win.

In the warm-up one pocket event, which drew 17 players on Wednesday, Putnam allowed someone else to grace the winner’s circle at Fast Eddie’s: Nevel. The two met up in the hot seat match, which Nevel took 2-1. In the quarterfinal match, Winters fell 2-1 to Grau to take fourth and $25. Putnam then shut out Grau, who landed in third with $75. In the final match, a single race to 3, it was all Nevel, who shut out Putnam, earning himself $200 while Putnam received $125.

One-Pocket Results:
1st Shawn Putnam $850
2nd Larry Nevel $450
3rd Larry Price $200