Fury Carolina Tour Kicks Off 2005 Season

By Bill Rosenberger and Steve Jennings

Babineau's Billiards in Raleigh, NC, was the site of the 2005 Fury Carolina 9-Ball Tour's opening event, and a strong field showed up for the tough competition.  But it was David Slawter who really slaughtered his opponents to earn the victory.

The January 15 event brought many of its players from out of town, adding to the depth of the field, but Slawter breezed through most of his matches, compiling a 35-5 overall record to earn the first spot in the final match. 

Cary Dunn and Jeff Pruitt were also playing well, but Dunn stood out with his overall record of 28-8.  However, a few of his dropped matches came against Slawter in the hot seat match.  Until then, his play had been extremely solid. 

Pruitt, who was bested by Slawter in the third round, rebounded nicely to reach the semifinals against Dunn.  While the score was tight throughout, the decisive match was decided by a mere inch.  Pruitt seemed assured of a victory as he confidently ran out the final rack, but the cue ball came to a stop by the point of the side pocket, leaving him to play a safe o­n the 5.  Dunn took advantage and ran out the rack to win 5-4.

Dunn got another chance at Slawter in the race-to-9 final match.  It was nip and tuck through the first seven games, with Slawter clinging to a 4-3 lead.  He then grabbed the next two racks to stretch his lead to 6-3, but Dunn came back with three straight wins to knot it up at 6 apiece.  However, o­nce Slawter got back to the table, he never relinquished it, taking the final three games for a 9-6 win.

Results:

1st David Slawter $415

2nd Cary Dunn $250

3rd Jeff Pruitt $165

4th Steve Lee $90

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