Roberts Romps in Great Southern Billiard Tour

Roberts Romps in Great Southern Billiard Tour
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Sumter, SC

by Skip Maloney

Josh Roberts romped through a field of 32 players at the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop the weekend of July 26-27. He defeated Michael Newsome twice; once in the hot seat match and again in the single-set finals to take first place in the $1,500-added event at Stroker’s Billiards.

Earlier Sunday, Newsome, who’d sent both Shannon Daulton and Larry Nevel west in earlier matches that went to double-hill, faced Jeremy Melber among the winners’ side final four, as Roberts faced B.J. Hucks. Roberts and Newsome advanced to meet each other in the hot seat match, won by Roberts 9-3.

On the one-loss side, Hucks and Melber would eventually face each other in the quarterfinals, having dropped Boyd Bouknight and Larry Nevel into a tie for fifth place. Melber went on to win the quarterfinal match 9-6 and then face Newsome in the semifinals. Newsome dropped Melber 9-3 and moved back for a second crack at Roberts.

Roberts, playing in what used to be his home room before shifting to Grady’s in Columbia, SC, lost little time in jumping out to a lead in the first, and as it turned out, only set of the true double-elimination finals. He defeated Newsome by the same 9-3 score he’d recorded in the hot seat match and claimed the first-place prize.

In a $250-added second chance tournament that drew 16 entrants, it was Roger Jesscoat defeating Zeek Gomez 9-7 in the final match.

Results:
1st Josh Roberts
2nd Michael Newsome
3rd Jeremy Melber
4th B.J. Hucks
5th Larry Nevel
Boyd Bouknight
7th Christy Norris
Greg Dix
9th Zeek Gomez
Phil Irick
Casey Stone
Brian Timmons

Pinegar Tells “The Truth” on Great Southern Billiard Tour

Pinegar Tells “The Truth” on Great Southern Billiard Tour

Great Southern Billiard Tour / LaGrange, GA
by Skp Maloney

Jonathan “Hennessee from Tennessee” Pinegar went undefeated on the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop the weekend of July 19-20. He did so at the expense of frequent tour winner Larry “The Truth” Nevel, besting him in the hot seat match and in the finals by identical 9-4 scores. The $3,500-added event drew 48 entrants to Chalk It Up in La Grange, GA.

It was the second time this year that the two had met in the finals of a GSBT event. In Knoxville, in May, Pinegar had fought back to the finals from the one-loss side only to be defeated in a hill-hill battle. This time, the two were among the winners’ side final four on Sunday morning. Pinegar sent Randy Vaughn west with a 9-5 victory, as Nevel was sending Billy Peay over 9-3. In the hot seat match that followed, it was Nevel who was forced to the one-loss side to battle in a semifinal match, as Pinegar waited for his return.
On the one-loss side, Randy Jordon, Josh Roberts, and Tony Stone defeated Billy Holmes, Eddie Little, and Jeff Jordon, respectively, by identical 9-3 scores, as Jason Heyward finished Sparky Ferrell’s tournament with a 9-2 victory. Roberts and Heyward dropped Randy Jordon and Stone into a seventh-place tie before ending up themselves in fifth place when they ran into Vaughn and Peay, over from the winners’side. Peay defeated Vaughn in the quarterfinals 9-5 and then fell to Nevel 9-4 in the semifinal match.
In the true double-elimination finals that followed, Pinegar jumped out to an early 4-0 lead that he never relinquished. Nevel fought back, but every step he took was matched by two or more from Pinegar, who ran out racks at every opportunity that was presented to him and made it a single-set win.

Results:
1st Jonathan Pinegar
2nd Larry Nevel
3rd Billy Peay
4th Randy Vaughn
5th Josh Roberts
Jason Heyward
7th Randy Jordon
Tony Stone
9th Billy Holmes
Eddie Little
Jeff Jordon
Sparky Ferrell

Jordon Wins Big in Chattanooga Great Southern Billiard Tour

Jordon Wins Big in Chattanooga Great Southern Billiard Tour
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Chattanooga, TN
by Skip Maloney
Randy Jordon won his biggest event ever by defeating Billy Young in the finals of the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop the weekend of July 12-13. The $1,500-added event drew 35 players to the Great Diamond Billiard Club in Chattanooga, TN, including Larry Nevel, in search of his seventh straight win on the tour.
Jordon started Sunday morning among the final four on the winners’ side. He started that day by defeating tour director Shannon Daulton 9-6 and then faced Jessie Middlebrook, fresh off a forfeit victory against Mark Nanashee, in the hot seat match. Middlebrook went west following a hard-fought 9-7 victory for Jordon.
On the one-loss side, Young and Nevel were on a collision course to the quarterfinals, besting Nanshee and Daulton, respectively, to get there. Nevel reached the hill first before scratching on the subsequent break, allowing Young to knot it at hill-hill and then win the final game.
Young then moved into a second straight hill-hill battle that was decided when Middlebrook scratched while shooting at the 4 ball. Young capitalized on the ball in hand, finishing the rack and moving into the true double-elimination finals against Jordon.
In what was a single set, Jordon, building on a habit that had been developing throughout the tournament, was sinking three or four balls when given the opportunity to break. Though not a pre-tournament favorite to win, he defeated Young 9-4, winning the biggest tournament of his career.
Results:
1st Randy Jordon
2nd Billy Young
3rd Jessie Middlebrook
4th Larry Nevel
5th Shannon Daulton
Mark Nanashee
7th Adam Wilson
Billy Bailey
9th David Yap
Josh O’Neal
Dave Crockett
Jimmy Dempsey

Third Straight Billiards Win for Nevel

Third Straight Billiards Win for Nevel
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Hickory, NC
by Skip Maloney
Larry “The Truth” Nevel picked up his third straight and eighth overall win on the Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of June 28-29 by defeating J. R. Rossman twice. The $1,500-added event drew 45 total entrants to Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
Earlier Sunday, Nevel had sent Eddie Little to the one-loss side with a commanding 9-1 victory before facing Rossman in the hot seat. Rossman, who’d sent Peaches Fuller west with a 9-6 victory in his previous match, fell to Nevel 9-3 to face Mike Davis in the semifinals.
On the one-loss side, Davis and Mark Parlier had worked their way through Darrel Caldwell and Brian Capps, respectively, before dropping Fuller and Little into a fifth-place tie and facing each other in the quarterfinals. Davis advanced with a narrow 9-7 win before ending up in third place in a semifinal match that went to hill-hill before Rossman advanced for a second try at Nevel.
Rossman had hopes of bettering his 9-3 hot seat defeat, but Nevel wasn’t interested. “The Truth” went from the final four on the winners’ side to first place having lost only 5 games of the 32 he played, including his final 9-1 defeat of Rossman.
Results:
1st Larry Nevel
2nd J. R. Rossman
3rd Mike Davis
4th Mark Parlier
5th Eddie Little
Peaches Fuller
7th Brian Capps
Darrell Caldwell

Nevel Notches Another Billiards Win

Nevel Notches Another Billiards Win
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Rock Hill, SC
by Skip Maloney
Larry Nevel chalked up his fourth straight victory and his seventh overall on the Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of June 14-15. Sent to the one-loss side by Mike Davis in the hot seat match, Nevel returned and bested Davis twice in the finals. The $1,500-added main event was hosted by Breakers Sports Bar in Rock Hill and drew 40 entrants.
Earlier Sunday, Nevel, who’d opened his tournament bid with a commanding 9-0 defeat of tour director Shannon Daulton, did the same to Roy Payton in the final eight winners’-side match-ups. Davis, in the meantime, sent Billy Holmes westward with a 9-2 victory. Matt Reed and Eddie Little sent Josh Roberts and Sparky Ferrell left and then followed them there on the heels of defeats at the hands of Nevel and Davis, respectively, setting up the hill-hill hot seat match that sent Nevel to the semifinals.
On the left side, Daulton was positioned among the final eight and struggled back through Ferrell, Reed, Holmes and finally Josh Roberts in the quarterfinal match to play in the semifinals against Nevel, who’d sent him to the one-loss side in the opening round. The two struggled back and forth in an error-prone match that went hill-hill before Nevel prevailed and turned back to face Davis in the finals.
While it was the second time that Davis and Nevel had met in a GSBT hot seat match this year, it was the first time on the tour that they’d met in the finals. Before, it was Nevel who’d sent Davis to the semifinals, where he’d been defeated by Daulton. This time around, it was Nevel on the one-loss side looking to redeem his hot seat defeat at Davis’ hands and doing so at the expense of Daulton. The Davis/Nevel final was a struggle for both, with Nevel winning the opening set 9-7 and struggling to a hill-hill victory in the second set.
Results
1st Larry Nevel
2nd Mike Davis
3rd Shannon Daulton
4th Josh Roberts
5th Eddie Little
Matt Reed
7th Norris Brady
Billy Holmes
Second Chance
1st Adam Pendley
2nd Mike Basha
3rd Antonio Tovar
4th Brian Snipes

Daulton Tallies First Great Southern Billiard Win

Daulton Tallies First Great Southern Billiard Win
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Greenville, SC
by Skip Maloney
In his eighth attempt, tour director Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton picked up his first win on his own Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of May 31-June 1. In so doing, he snapped a three-week winning streak by Larry “The Truth” Nevel, defeating him in the hill-hill finals. The $1,500-added event drew 34 entrants to Palace Billiards in Greenville, SC.
Earlier Sunday, Daulton sent Brad Black westward with a 9-5 victory, while Steve Moore was ending Helena Thornfeldt’s day on the winners’ side with a commanding 9-1 victory. In the hot seat match that followed, Daulton jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, before missing a 9 ball and watching Moore win five in a row. Daulton regained the lead and hung on to win 9-6.
Nevel, already on the one-loss side, faced off against Mike Laney in the quarterfinal match, defeating him 9-3, to move into the semifinal against Moore. The final two matches of the event were close from start to finish. In the semifinals, Nevel and Moore battled their way one game at a time to a 7-7 tie, at which point Moore scratched on the break. Nevel ran the rack and repeated that performance for the 9-7 win and a chance to pick up his fourth event victory in a row.
In the double-elimination finals, Daulton moved out to a slim 6-4 lead. Nevel fought back to go ahead 7-6 before Daulton surged to the hill. Nevel followed suit before Daulton closed it out.
“You kind of get your stroke back a little,” Daulton said, “and it gets you playing again.”
Results:
1st Shannon Daulton
2nd Larry Nevel
3rd Steve Moore
4th Mike Laney
5th Brad Black
Helena Thornfeldt
7th James Bearden
Josh Roberts
9th Monica Webb
Jeff Tibet
Jonathan Pinegar
Boyd Bouknight

Nevel Captures Third Straight Great Southern Billiard Tour Win

Nevel Captures Third Straight Great Southern Billiard Tour Win
Southern Billiard Tour / Knoxville, TN
by Skip Maloney
“The Truth” Nevel picked up his third straight victory on the Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of May 17-18 in Knoxville, TN. He defeated Jonathan “Hennessee From Tennessee” Pinegar in the final match, adding to a string of six victories on the tour dating back to the finale of last year’s tour in January. He’s defeated six different opponents in the finals on the tour and has been defeated only twice. The $1,500-added event drew 40 entrants to Breakers Sports Bar Grille.
The hot seat match that followed between Nevel and Daulton was the second time in a week that the two had squared off in a critical Great Southern Tour match. Once again Nevel prevailed, defeating Daulton.
On the one-loss side, bank champion John Brumback faced off with Pinegar in the quarterfinal match. Brumback put up a fight, forcing the match to hill-hill before Pinegar closed it out and turned to face Daulton, who’d sent him to the one-loss side earlier in the day.
In the semifinals, “Hennessee” jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Daulton came back to tie it. They fought back and forth beyond the tie to a 6-5 Hennessee lead. They traded the next two racks before Pinegar won two to drop Daulton into third place.
Pinegar brought some of his semifinal momentum with him to the true double-elimination finals against Nevel. He took a 5-0 lead, but Nevel was not to be denied. He took the next five to tie it, and after a seesaw round of six games that took the match to hill-hill, Nevel won the seventh and last game.
Results:
1st Larry Nevel
2nd Jonathan Pinegar
3rd Shannon Daulton
4th John Brumback
5th Randy Vaughn
Robert Green
7th Tony Smith
Curtis Blevins
9th Janet Atwell
Scott Eller
Ricky Patterson
Wes Covington

Nevel Chalks up Fifth Billiards Tour Win

Nevel Chalks up Fifth Billiards Tour Win

Great Southern Billiard Tour / Sanford, NC
by Skip Maloney
Larry “The Truth” Nevel picked up his fifth victory on the Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of May 10-11, his second straight victory on the tour. The $1,500-added event drew 38 players to Speak Eazy Billiards in Sanford, NC.
Earlier in the day, Nevel and Mike Davis advanced on the winners’ side with victories over Jeff Pruitt and Ron Park, respectively. In the hot seat match that followed, Nevel took a commanding 6-1 lead over Davis, running five racks and allowing Davis only two more wins in the 9-3 victory.
Tony Morrison handled Jeff Park 9-2 before turning his attention to tournament director Shannon Daulton and a grueling quarterfinal match that was tied initially at 3-3. Daulton took the next five to reach the hill. Morrison won the next game before Daulton closed it out at 9-4.
In the semifinals, Davis jumped out to an early 5-1 lead before Daulton surged back with seven straight to reach the hill. Once again, Daulton allowed his opponent one more victory before closing out the semifinal at 9-6.
Daulton once again fell behind in the finals against Nevel before knotting the match at 4 apiece. Nevel took the next four to reach the hill, and this time, he was the one who prevailed in a “one each” final two games that completed his undefeated weekend with a 9-5 victory.
Results:
1st Larry Nevel
2nd Shannon Daulton
3rd Mike Davis
4th Tony Morrison
5th Ron Park
Jeff Pruitt
7th Mike Fuller
Nathan Pulkingham
9th Younger Chapman
Eddie Little
Jackson Jeffreys
Shawn Ray

Great Southern Billiard Tour Win for Archer

Great Southern Billiard Tour Win for Archer

Great Southern Billiard Tour / Marietta, GA
by Skip Maloney
Johnny Archer cut through a field of 56 entrants in a Great Southern Billiard Tour stop held at the Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta, GA, on the weekend of April 19-20. Archer and his business partner, Kim Davenport opened the Marietta Billiard Club ten months ago and ended up facing each other twice in this event—once for the hot seat and again in the finals—in the first major event their club has hosted.
To get to the finals, Davenport had to defeat tour director Shannon Daulton, who’d fallen to “The Scorpion” earlier in the day. Daulton moved into the semifinal match against Davenport on the heels of a strong comeback against Larry “The Truth” Nevel, who’d taken a 6-0 lead in the quarterfinals only to drop the next 9 racks. Nevel had moved into the one-loss bracket with a shut-out defeat at the hands of Archer.
In the semifinals, Davenport and Daulton fought back and forth to a 6-all tie before Davenport went up 7-6 and then dropped the 9 on the break to reach hill. Davenport broke for the match win, but after sinking the first two balls, he missed the 3. Daulton, though, was hooked, and while he made a difficult jump shot to sink the 3, he wedged the cue ball right up against the 6, leaving him no shot on the 4. Daulton kicked and scratched, and Davenport ran out to move into the finals.
Archer took a 4-0 lead in the final match before Davenport fought back with two racks. Archer surged again, winning three of the next four games, making it 7-3. Davenport won the next game, but it proved to be his last. Archer broke at 8-4 and ran the table for the event victory.
“I scratched three times on the break,” said Davenport, “so it made it pretty easy for him.”
Results:
1st Johnny Archer
2nd Kim Davenport
3rd Shannon Daulton
4th Larry Nevel
5th Randy Vaughn
Tom Kennedy
7th Monica Webb
Paul Song
9th Mike Laney
Mark Gregory
Jonathan Pinegar
George Rothrock
13th Steve Moore
Louis Ulrich
Victor Bagley
Mitch Yarborough

Nevel Notches Another Billiards Win

Nevel Notches Another Billiards Win

Great Southern Billiard Tour/Greenville, SC
by Skip Maloney
Larry “The Truth” Nevel scored yet another win on The Great Southern Billiard Tour the weekend of April 12-13, defeating former U.S. Open champion Jeremy Jones in the finals. This $1,500-added event drew 51 players to Gametime in Greenville, SC, including top Southern players such as Steve Moore, Jonathan Pinegar, and Louis Ulrich.
In the only hill-hill match of the day, Johnny Archer surged ahead in the quarterfinals against Jones, reaching 8-6. Jones missed a shot on the 9 ball but left the cue ball right up against it when he stepped away. Archer couldn’t make the subsequent shot, and Jones took full advantage. He sunk that 9 and broke and ran the next table to force the hill-hill game. Jones took the final break, ran the table up to the 6 ball, and left Archer without a clean shot. Archer missed the 6 and turned the cue ball over to Jones, who sank the final four balls for the win.
Jones faced Moore in the semifinals, dropping him into third place with a 9-3 win before turning his attention to the undefeated Nevel. “Double J” took an early 4-1 lead, but Nevel fought back to win four of the next five racks, knotting the match at 5 apiece. Nevel ran the next three to reach the hill, but he failed to make a ball on the subsequent break. Jones capitalized to pull within two at 8-6, but then failed to make a ball on his break and Nevel capitalized, closing it out at 9-6.
Results:
1st Larry Nevel
2nd Jeremy Jones
3rd Steve Moore
4th Johnny Archer
5th Jonathan Pinegar
Eddie Little
7th Josh Roberts
Louis Ulrich
9th Garrett Harsey
Rich Cole
Shannon Daulton
Tony Watson

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