Yarbrough Captures Fury Georgia Finale

By Bill Rosenberger

The chase for the points in the Fury Georgia Amateur 9-Ball Tour concluded in a thrilling final event o­n Saturday, October 2, in Atlanta, GA.  Mitch Yarbrough battled through the o­ne-loss side to come out o­n top, overpowering a small but strong field.

The tournament, which was held at Mr. Cues II, was competitive throughout the entire day.  Yarbrough was sent to the left side early but showed resilience in coming back.  First, in the quarterfinals, he faced Tony Miller in a hill-hill match in which Yarbrough pulled out the 5-4 victory.  Floyd Reasons, who lost to Jim Jennings in the hot seat match, matched up against Yarbrough in the semifinals for the opportunity to go to the finals to compete for first place.  Reasons couldn't get his game going, and Yarbrough ran away with the match 5-2.

The final between Jennings and Yarbrough was extremely tight, with each playing many safeties in the first few games of the race-to-9 finale.  After trading the first seven games, Jennings led 4-3.  He took a 5-3 lead, but Yarbrough battled back.  The match went 6-6, with Yarbrough winning to tie it up.  He then carried the momentum to an 8-6 lead.  In the very next game, Yarbrough sank the 9 ball off the break for the 9-6 tournament win.

Tournament director Steve Jennings described the winning shot as very polar to the way the match went.  "There were o­nly three games in which the person who broke actually ended up winning the game.  They were winning off each other's breaks."

This was the final tournament in which competitors could earn points before the final championship event in mid-November.  Matt Buflin, who finished fifth, walks away as this year's Fury Georgia Amateur 9-Ball Tournament Points Champion.   

Results:

1st Mitch Yarbrough $380

2nd Jim Jennings $225

3rd Floyd Reasons $150

4th Tony Miller $85