Grossman Hangs on in Marathon Billiard Final

J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour / Gainesville, FL

by Skip Maloney

Early birds were chirping in Florida when Dave Grossman sunk the final three balls in the J. Pechauer Southeast Tour billiard stop on the weekend of May 10-11. Grossman bested Tommy Kennedy in a double-elimination final that featured two hill-hill games and lasted until 3:30 a.m. Monday morning. The $1,000-added event drew 44 entrants to The Art of Billiards in Gainesville, FL.

Grossman and Kennedy had their first meeting in the hot seat match, where an in-house electric panel shut down and the lights went out, forcing a delay that contributed to the subsequent early morning finals. When play resumed, Grossman completed a 9-6 win, sending Kennedy to the west side of the bracket.

Bob Moore and Chris Walls faced each other in the quarterfinal match. In a back-and-forth contest that went hill-hill, Walls advanced to face Kennedy in the semifinals. Walls jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, but Kennedy fought back to tie it at 6. The match worked its way to Walls’ second consecutive hill-hill contest, but it was Kennedy advancing to the finals for a second crack at Grossman.

It looked as though Grossman was going to make it a single set in the finals. He was on the hill and up by 4 when Kennedy rallied to win the next five games and force a second match. The back-and-forth struggle that ensued saw the two tied at 5 and 6 apiece before Grossman won two in a row to reach the hill first, but Kennedy caught up with him to make it double-hill. The two jockeyed for position through seven balls until Grossman took advantage of an open position to sink the final three.

Results
1st Dave Grossman
2nd Tommy Kennedy
3rd Chris Walls
4th Bob Moore
5th Jason Richko
Neil Fujiwara
7th Livrago
Danny Wascom
9th Walter Blacker
Steve Foster
Adam Crawford
John Dykes