Matlock Flies High at Midwest 9-Ball Stop

David Matlock ruled the roost at the Golden Eagle Casino stop of the Midwest 9-Ball Tour June 25-27, 2004.  Gliding through the field of 124 players that descended o­n Horton, KS, Matlock was undefeated until he reached finals where he was dealt his o­nly defeat of the day by Shane McMinn.

Shocking almost everyone was the drubbing Mark Rogers took at the hands of Gabe Owen in the quarters.  Owen moved o­nto the semis by shutting out his opponent with a 9-0 win.

Left standing o­n the winners' side were Matlock and McMinn, where they battled for the hot seat.  Traveling to the west side of the chart after a defeat by Matlock, McMinn would have to face a zoning Owen to see who would move o­n.With neither player being able to pull ahead to gain a comfortable cushion over the other, McMinn and Owen battled it out rack for rack.  Reaching the hill first, McMinn pulled ahead of Owen o­nly by o­ne.  The next rack again went to McMinn, giving him the win with a final decision of 9-7.

With hopes of avenging his earlier defeat, McMinn went to face off against Matlock in the finals.  McMinn would have to defeat Matlock twice to clinch first place since this was a true double-elimination format.  After starting the first set with a 3-1 lead, Matlock began to lag as McMinn pulled in the next five racks, taking the score to 6-3.  Not allowing Matlock any more racks, McMinn took the win in the first set with a score of 9-3.  Dashing McMinn's hopes of the ultimate win, Matlock rallied himself in the second set to reach a final decision of 9-4.

Results:

1st David Matlock 

2nd Shane McMinn

3rd Gabe Owen

4th Mark Rogers

5th James Baraks

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