Ferrell Takes Seminole Billiards Tour Opener

by Rick Davis

Sparky Ferrell

As usual, the Seminole Pro Tour, formally known as the Florida Pro Tour, drew in an incredibly stacked field of top competitors. On the winners’ side “Rocket” Rodney Morris was an early favorite as he breezed through his first three opponents 7-1, then drilled Monica Webb 7-2, and then nearly shut out Jason Miller 8-1 to reach the hot seat match without breaking a sweat. Nearby, tour veterans Adam Wheeler and Dave Grossman matched up where Grossman edged out the win 7-5. Cleaning up perhaps the roughest portion of the winners’ side, Ferrell defeated Steve Moore 7-6, Corey Deuel 7-5, and Ronnie Wiseman 7-2 before dropping the axe on Grossman 8-1. That set up the hot seat match, in which Ferrell was able to keep control and ward off Morris with an 8-6 win to own the winners’ side.

Late on the one-loss side there was a WPBA matchup as Helena Thornfeldt faced Webb and defeated her 8-5 and then went on to eliminate Grossman double-hill.  At the same time Wiseman was making a smooth comeback by ousting Wheeler 8-4 and Miller 8-5 before he was shut down by Thornfeldt 8-7 in the quarterfinals. Although Thornfeldt looked good in the semifinals, Morris’ fire was nowhere near out, and he knocked out Thornfeldt 8-3 to earn a final crack at Ferrell.

With the finals set, a single race to 9 separated Morris and Ferrell, who totally dominated the event. Neither player could keep much of an edge as the match got rolling until Ferrell made a final surge in the end and came up a 9-6 win over Morris to take the top spot.