Putnam’s strong play, along with two scratches by Williams opened the door to a quick 5-0 lead, but Williams did what he had done all week long—come back.  Down 8-3, Williams broke and ran the first few balls, setting up the 4-9 combo to get back to within four games. 

In Game 13, Putnam broke and ran out to go up 9-4, followed be another run out to reach the hill and extend his lead to six games.  Williams, though, still didn’t give in, winning three straight games to put himself back in the match.  In Game 18, it looked like Williams was going to put his fourth straight win o­n the board, as he broke and ran up to the 7 ball.  He had about a two-foot shot, with a slight cut o­n the 7 going into the corner pocket, but he just hit it too hard, and the 7 rattled around the pocket.  Three shots later, Putnam raised his stick in victory. 

After he high-fived members of the crowd, Putnam admitted that he didn’t even think he was going to get to the table in the last game.  “I was thinking about the next game, expecting to run out o­n the next break.” 

Williams, too, knew that moment had ended his comeback bid, but he was pleased with his overall tournament performance.  “When I had chances, I made the best of them.”  Williams had advanced to the second round o­n Monday because his first-round opponent forfeited due to illness, but he was sent to the o­ne-loss side by Thorsten Hohmann, and after seven straight wins, Williams had come all the way to the reach the finals. 

In that final match, Williams met his match in Putnam.  “He played very well,” said Williams, “but he got a few rolls.  You have to get a few rolls, though.”

Putnam not o­nly thought his final opponent was tough, but he said most of his matches were against people who had beaten him before.  “Early o­n after my first win, I dubbed this my ‘revenge tour,’” referring to the laundry list of champions that he had to go through to get his first major win.

Putnam also has a message about playing o­n his home turf.  “I don’t let no dogs come in my backyard and win.”  And if the pro tour comes back through Pittsburgh in 2006, neither Putnam nor anyone else will forget it.

Results:

1st Shawn Putnam $6,000

2nd Charlie Williams $3000

3rd Tony Robles $2,500

4th Mike Davis $2000

5th Johnny Archer, Santos Sambajon Jr. $1,500

7th Jeremy Jones, Corey Deuel $1,150

9th Niels Feijen, Danny Basavich, Max Eberle, Thorsten Hohmann $850

13th Rodney Morris, Jeff White, Robb Saez, Gabe Owen $570

17th Evan Broxmeyer, Troy Frank, Frank Alvarez, Luc Salvas, Brandon Ashcraft, Tony Crosby, Brian Mahan, Charles Blank $250

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