Page Pushes Through for Billiards Victory

Great Southern Billiard Tour / Sanford, NC

by Lea Andrews

After a third-round loss to Cary Dunn, Steven Page took the long way to ultimate victory at the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s August 14-15 stop, which drew 56 players to Speakeazy Billiards in Sanford, NC. The $1,500-added event was sponsored by Nick Varner Cues and Cases, as well as Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, for which tour director Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton is now a player representative.

While Page was pounding his way through the left side of the bracket, tour regular Glenn Russell was making his way through the right side, getting past fellow A-player Dana Hallett 9-7 to arrive in the hot seat match against Hope Gladden. A-ranked Gladden had just held Dunn to four games, but he managed just seven against Russell, who claimed the hot seat as his own while Gladden moved over to the semifinals.

On the one-loss side, A-ranked Chris Adams, who’d taken a first-round 11-1 hit from AA-ranked Jeff Abernathy, ousted B-ranked James Blackburn 9-6 and A-ranked David King 9-5 to face Hallett. Meanwhile, Page was taking down B players Asia Cycak 9-3 and Lay Thammajong 9-3 to meet back up with Dunn. He got his vengeance with his 9-7 victory, plus a spot in the quarterfinals against Adams, who’d put Hallett in fifth 9-5. It was the end of the road for Adams, though, as he finished in fourth 9-6. In the semifinals, Gladden was looking for a rematch with Russell, but Page had his eye on the finals, and he got there by keeping Gladden two racks shy of his goal—Page moved on 9-7.

In the first set of the true double-elimination final match, Page and Russell fought to hill-hill, but when Russell scratched on the 8 ball, the set went to Page. The second set was a virtual replica of the first, stretching out once again to hill-hill, when another error on the 8 ball cost Russell the game, set, match, and tournament. Victory belonged to Page 9-8, his first on the Great Southern Billiard Tour.

Results:
1st Steven Page $1,000
2nd Glenn Russell $500
3rd Hope Gladden $250
4th Chris Adams $170
5th Dana Hallett $125
Cary Dunn
7th David King $75
Lay Thammajong
9th James Blackburn $45
Chris Vollmar
Larry Faulk
Asia Cycak

Tags: Billiard, Billiards, Custom Cues, Daulton, Double Elimination, Final Match, Firs, Four Games, Hallett, Hope Gladden, Hot Seat, James Blackburn, Jeff Abernathy, Nick Varner Cues, Player Representative, Quarterfinals, Reat, Sanford Nc, Tour Director, Virtual Replica