Home Field Advantage Works for Walthall

Home Field Advantage Works for WalthallBy Bill RosenbergerThe Fury Florida Amateur Tour hit Lakeland, FL, on October 23-24, and Larry Walthall used the home field advantage to take first place. Walthall works at Wally's Billiards, the host location for the weekend event, and showed the 32-player field whose house it was.Early on, Walthall was cruising, until he met up with Jim Sandaler in the quarterfinals of the winners' bracket. Sandaler pulled away in the end for the 7-4 win, forcing Walthall to come back the hard way. Walthall first ousted Tim Wotherspoon 5-4 and then knocked out last week's winner, Robert Noon, by the same score. He solidified his spot in the semifinals and waited for an opponent.Sandaler and Tony Plescia earned their spots in the hot seat match and competed in a tough contest. After Sandaler took an early 1-0 lead, both started to play defensively. Plescia got some breaks and went up 3-1, but it wouldn't stand. Sandaler knotted the score up at 4-all and then took off, winning 7-5.Plescia headed over to face Walthall in the semifinals, and both players seemed ready for a showdown. Walthall opened up the match by breaking and running out for the 1-0 lead. Plescia broke and then made the 1-9 combo to tie the score. The two traded a few games, putting the score at 3-all. Walthall played almost flawless the rest of the way and took the match 5-3. The finals pitted Sandaler and Walthall in a rematch, and Walthall was eager to protect his poolroom. Both played excellent throughout the entire match, but Walthall just seemed to have a better stroke. Early in the match, though, it was Sandaler who had the 3-1 lead. That's when Walthall staged his comeback. He broke and ran a couple of racks and got the score tied at 4-all. Walthall then grabbed a two-game lead and never relinquished it, winning the match and the tournament 9-7.Results:1st Larry Walthall $4302nd Jim Sandaler $2603rd Tony Plescia $1704th Robert Noon $1405th Tim Wotherspoon, Fred Alexander $507th Wayne Hutter, Jose Ybarra $40 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the sport of billiards and pool.

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