Seminole Pro Tour Hits Hot-lanta
by Skip Maloney
The second event of the Seminole Pro Tour kicked off Friday at Mr. Cues II billiards in Atlanta, GA, and now heads into its final day with 12 players returning to battle it out for the $8,000-added prize purse.
In a first-round upset, Nevel won double-hill over Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer 7-6, sending Archer to the one-loss bracket early. Nevel followed him there in the next match after facing the winner of the tour’s opening event in Palm Harbors, FL, last month, Sparky Ferrell, who bested Nevel 7-5.
Suddenly Nevel and Archer were on the opposite ends of a new bracket, where they both worked their way through 4 opponents and prepared themselves for a possible rematch among the final 12.
On the winners’ side, Ferrell went on to defeat Louis Ulrich 7-5 before running into the hot cue of Jeremy “Double J” Jones, who, after narrowly defeating Clint McCullough 7-6 in the opening round, lost only 3 of the next 17 games he played on his way to the face-off against Ferrell, whom he then defeated 8-2.
Corey Deuel, in the meantime, last year’s Player of the Year on the Seminole Tour, was on something of a hot streak as well. He drew a bye in the opening round and then proceeded to best his first three opponents—Paul Song, Gabe Owen, and Jason Richko—by a combined score of 22-6. Deuel and Jones are set to square off Sunday morning. They are joined on the winners’ side by Mitch Yarborough and Jonathan Pinegar, both of whom also drew first-round byes.
Nevel will try to get by Jason Richko in his opening round Sunday, while Archer will take on Dave Grossman, who got by his first four opponents before running in to Mitch Yarborough, who defeated him 8-4. After a 7-6 win over Duane Bourgeois in the opening round, Tommy Kennedy dropped his second-round match to Tony Crosby double-hill and will face Ferrell.
Jesse Middlebrooks, who lost a second-round match to Johnny Mattowa 7-2, will meet Steve Moore, who had worked his way through three opponents in the winners’ bracket before falling to Pinegar 8-3.
The $8,000-added event ($6K from the sponsoring Seminole Tribe and $2K from Cues II billiards) will hand the winner $3,000. Second place will earn $2,200.
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Ferrell Takes Seminole billiards Tour Opener
by Rick Davis
The 2008 season of the Seminole Pro Tour kicked off over the March 7-9 weekend at Strokers billiards in Palm Harbor, FL, where a 64-player field matched up for the lion’s share of the $8,000 added prize fund. After three solid days of play in the 10-ball, double-elimination format it was Sparky Ferrell who came through seven matches undefeated to claim the season’s first honors.
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.

Open Results:

1st
Sparky Ferrell

2nd
Rodney Morris

3rd
Helena Thornfeldt

4th
Ronnie Wiseman

5-6th
Jason Miller

Dave Grossman

7-8th
Adam Wheeler

Monica Webb

9-12th
Tony Crosby

Hunter Lombardo

James Roberts

Jose Del Rio

13-16th
Steve Moore

John DiToro

Raul Alvarez

Justin Hall

Morris Rockets to Winner’s Circle

by Rick Davis
The final day of play at the Seminole Pro Tour ended with billiard player “Rocket” Rodney Morris going undefeated and taking down the $11,000 top prize at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.
The day started with Mika Immonen and Louis Ulrich in the quarterfinals, which stayed even through a 3-all score. From there Immonen caught a gear and ran three racks for a 6-3 lead. After trading the next few racks Ulrich scratched on the break, leaving Immonen to run out from the hill and claim the match 8-5.
Over to the winners’ side the hot seat match featured Corey Deuel and Morris in a safety showdown nearly every rack. Morris was able to adjust and capitalize on his chances faster, and before long he sent Deuel west 8-5.
Immonen started with a great lead up 4-2 against Deuel in the semifinals. After a smattering of scratches, safeties, and misses from both players, the score was tied at 5-all. Deuel took that as his cue to wake up and broke and ran the next two racks to reach the hill. Hammering the nail into his own coffin, Immonen came up short on a safety, which allowed Deuel to run out and take the match.
View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour Finale image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/FLProFinale/)
In the finals Morris shot out to an early 4-0 lead before he traded racks with Deuel to reach the hill 8-4 in the single race to 9 finals. Deuel managed to play defense and make a few runs to keep in the game and finally got within a rack with the score 7-8. But in the last rack Deuel rattled the 9 ball in the corner for what should have been an automatic shot. After the shock wore off he shook his head and went to shake Morris’ hand, conceding the match with the 9 and 10 balls hanging in opposite corners. A happy and relieved Morris said, “I made a mistake or two, and he was playing good. I was trying not to give it away at the end. I thought the pool gods must smile on you sometimes. When it’s your chance you have to earn it. There are no gifts, even though it looks that way sometimes.”

Morris Rockets to Winner’s Circle

by Rick Davis
The final day of play at the Seminole Pro Tour ended with billiard player “Rocket” Rodney Morris going undefeated and taking down the $11,000 top prize at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.
The day started with Mika Immonen and Louis Ulrich in the quarterfinals, which stayed even through a 3-all score. From there Immonen caught a gear and ran three racks for a 6-3 lead. After trading the next few racks Ulrich scratched on the break, leaving Immonen to run out from the hill and claim the match 8-5.
Over to the winners’ side the hot seat match featured Corey Deuel and Morris in a safety showdown nearly every rack. Morris was able to adjust and capitalize on his chances faster, and before long he sent Deuel west 8-5.
Immonen started with a great lead up 4-2 against Deuel in the semifinals. After a smattering of scratches, safeties, and misses from both players, the score was tied at 5-all. Deuel took that as his cue to wake up and broke and ran the next two racks to reach the hill. Hammering the nail into his own coffin, Immonen came up short on a safety, which allowed Deuel to run out and take the match.
View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour Finale image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/FLProFinale/)
In the finals Morris shot out to an early 4-0 lead before he traded racks with Deuel to reach the hill 8-4 in the single race to 9 finals. Deuel managed to play defense and make a few runs to keep in the game and finally got within a rack with the score 7-8. But in the last rack Deuel rattled the 9 ball in the corner for what should have been an automatic shot. After the shock wore off he shook his head and went to shake Morris’ hand, conceding the match with the 9 and 10 balls hanging in opposite corners. A happy and relieved Morris said, “I made a mistake or two, and he was playing good. I was trying not to give it away at the end. I thought the pool gods must smile on you sometimes. When it’s your chance you have to earn it. There are no gifts, even though it looks that way sometimes.”

Morris Rockets to Winner’s Circle

by Rick Davis
The final day of play at the Seminole Pro Tour ended with billiard player “Rocket” Rodney Morris going undefeated and taking down the $11,000 top prize at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.
The day started with Mika Immonen and Louis Ulrich in the quarterfinals, which stayed even through a 3-all score. From there Immonen caught a gear and ran three racks for a 6-3 lead. After trading the next few racks Ulrich scratched on the break, leaving Immonen to run out from the hill and claim the match 8-5.
Over to the winners’ side the hot seat match featured Corey Deuel and Morris in a safety showdown nearly every rack. Morris was able to adjust and capitalize on his chances faster, and before long he sent Deuel west 8-5.
Immonen started with a great lead up 4-2 against Deuel in the semifinals. After a smattering of scratches, safeties, and misses from both players, the score was tied at 5-all. Deuel took that as his cue to wake up and broke and ran the next two racks to reach the hill. Hammering the nail into his own coffin, Immonen came up short on a safety, which allowed Deuel to run out and take the match.
View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour Finale image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/FLProFinale/)
In the finals Morris shot out to an early 4-0 lead before he traded racks with Deuel to reach the hill 8-4 in the single race to 9 finals. Deuel managed to play defense and make a few runs to keep in the game and finally got within a rack with the score 7-8. But in the last rack Deuel rattled the 9 ball in the corner for what should have been an automatic shot. After the shock wore off he shook his head and went to shake Morris’ hand, conceding the match with the 9 and 10 balls hanging in opposite corners. A happy and relieved Morris said, “I made a mistake or two, and he was playing good. I was trying not to give it away at the end. I thought the pool gods must smile on you sometimes. When it’s your chance you have to earn it. There are no gifts, even though it looks that way sometimes.”