The preceding featured match between Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer and last year’s runner-up, Jose Parica.  Archer, the 2003 Player of the Year, was clearly off his game.  Shooting pocket speed, Parica capitalized o­n every mistake his opponent made to get a 9-4 lead.  He came up empty o­n the next break, and Archer cleared, but that was the last rack he claimed.  He scratched o­n the break, and Parica ran the table to take the hill.  Though he made nothing o­n his next break, Archer scratched after a Parica safety, and the “leader of the Filipino invasion” ran out to win 11-5.

Buddy Hall and Shannon Daulton had a great hill-hill match.  Hall retained the lead at the outset, but Daulton was able to stage a comeback.  At 10-10, Daulton broke and was looking good until he corner-hooked himself for the 3 ball.  Flustered, he studied the table and opted for a two-rail kick, but he fouled.  With ball in hand, Hall cleared the table for the victory.

Other hill-hill winners’ bracket triumphed were past champ Ralf Souquet over Rodolfo Luat, Tyler Edey over fellow countryman Luc Salvas, and BCA Open champion Tony Robles over John Macias.  Dave Bollman advanced with his 11-7 win over Keith Bennett; former world champion Thorsten “The Hitman” Hohmann won 11-6 over Jason Cruz; Niels Feijen was the victor 11-6 over Chris Loar; Merek Derek won his match 11-9 over Donnie Mills; Ronnie “Everything’s Funny When You’re Winning Big Money” Wiseman won 11-6 over Young Hwa Jeong; Finland’s Mika Immonen defeated Nashville’s Bobby Pickle 11-1; “Rocket” Rodney Morris won 11-5 over Troy Frank; Gabe Owen bested Danny Kolacz 11-5; Nicholas Guimond sent Italian champ Fabio Petroni to the o­ne-loss side 11-8; and Francisco Bustamante won over Frankie Hernandez 11-9.

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