Florida wunderplayer Tony "The Sniper" Crosby and Tommy "The Juggler" Kennedy were among the best, mixing at the Pechauer SE Open event I visited this weekend.
Dear folks Art and Dana Rogers, who own the Art of Billiards poolroom in Gainesville, Florida, put on quite a show in conjunction with Kennedy's excellent and integritous work furthering the J. Pechauer Southeast Tour. $1,000 was added to the kitty and the shootout winner would receive $800 cash for surviving the two-day double elimination format event.
The 9-Ball play was outstanding. I watched as Crosby dropped several "three-packs" (three games run without a miss) on his hapless opponents, seemingly at least once every match. His aim was sure and steady.
Local Trevor Moore slipped by him twice, the second time in this pool open's semi-final race to 9 games, after Crosby battled back to beat "New Yawker" and road player Ronnie Park, who was down South to keep his buddy Kennedy company, having traveled by car over 24 hours from Indiana.
Ron had made incredible safeties to keep The Sniper involved, also banking a memorable 8-ball in to get on the nine to keep the match close. During another game, Park rolled at a challenging 6-9 combination, just missing the nine and leaving the cue ball safe behind the seven, invisible to the six. Crosby sized his options, then quickly jumped the cue ball into the six near the cushion to bank it on a wide angle, one rail into the side pocket for the runout. Powerful!
Kennedy never lost a match and went home with some cool winnings and good memories again of the Gainesville, Florida crowd. As he explained to me on the sidelines, "I played better than have for quite a while. As a result, I took some chances on challenging shots and still ran the table, despite not always having the best shape for the cue ball."
A Kennedy shot clinic and trick shot show rounded out the weekend's activities for this gala pool open tournament.
