In Saturday’s matches, Larry Nevel, Charlie Williams, Niels Feijen, and Earl Strickland composed the first round.  Feijen was the first to earn a skin by winning three games in a row, but the match went into sudden death elimination when no o­ne won another skin.  The remaining money, $16,500, carried over and was the prize.  Nevel and Strickland were paired up for the first of the elimination rounds, and when Nevel sent the cue ball flying off the table o­n his break, Strickland quickly cleared the table.  Williams, matched with Feijen, won the lag and broke and ran out.  The final two players, Williams and Strickland, played for the $16,500.  Strickland won the lag and began to run out but hooked himself for the 4.  He kicked and hit it, and Williams was forced to play safe, sending the 4 to the end rail.  Pocketing the 4 o­nly hooked him o­n the 5, and Strickland made contact but left Williams an out.  With Williams’ score, he and Feijen progressed to the finals.

The second match of the day put Keith McCready, Luc Salvas, Rodney Morris, and Thorsten Hohmann together.  Morris won the lag and started off winning the first three games in a row, earning a skin worth $3,000.  McCready kept the crowd entertained but couldn’t string three together, and at the end, there was $18,000 in unclaimed money in the eleventh game.  If no o­ne won the next three, it would go into sudden death again.  Hohmann first played Morris and won, then Salvas, and then McCready in a gut-wrenching match that saw McCready miss a tough 8 ball.  Hohmann and Morris went o­n to the finals with their wins in the semifinals.

The finals started off with “Rocket” again taking the first skin, worth $13,000.  Four games went by with no o­ne winning more than o­ne, and then Feijen defeated Morris with a break-and-run and then Williams after a safety battle.  With Hohmann as “the stopper,” the German pushed out after his break.  Feijen played safe behind the 7, and when Hohmann hit the 1, he left Feijen a somewhat difficult out, which he captured for a win of $35,000. 

Only $6,000 remained in the pot after that, and after the match went into sudden death to see who would earn it, Morris was the lucky winner, adding that to his winnings to end up with the second highest amount at the event.

Results:

Niels Feijen $42,500

Rodney Morris $25,000

Thorsten Hohmann $22,000

Charlie Williams $21,500

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