"Korean Dragon" Top Pro in Florida

"Korean Dragon" Top Pro in FloridaBy Bill RosenbergerCharlie "The Korean Dragon" Williams bested a field of 53 players on October 23-24 to capture the Florida State Championship held at Planet 9 Ball in Tampa, FL. Williams prevailed with an undefeated weekend to wrap up his title in the last Florida Pro Tour event of the year.Tournament director John Ditoro was extremely pleased with the event, which had a total prize purse of over $18,000. Ditoro also competed and finished in a tie for seventeenth in the weekend event that drew an excited crowd.There weren't many hill-hill matches, but that didn't mean a lack of excitement. on Saturday night, Florida resident Tony Crosby sent U.S. Open runner-upThorsten Hohmann to the left side 9-6, and on Sunday, Hohmann stared elimination right in the face. Ben Conway Jr. built a 6-0 lead against him, but Hohmann managed to claw at the lead, eventually taking nine games in a row to win the match and launch into the semifinals.In the winners' bracket, Williams was steadily worked his way up the ladder to the hot seat to face Young Hwa Jeong, who had won the last Florida Pro stop in Orlando. Early on, the match was back and forth, but Williams grabbed an early lead and kept adding to it, winning the match 9-6.Jeong headed to face Hohmann in the semifinals in what would be one of the few hill-hill matches of the day. Ditoro described the match as strategic, with both players choosing to play defensively. They battled to the hill, with Jeong breaking in the decisive game. After no balls fell, Hohmann took to the table and didn't stop shooting until he sunk the 9 ball for the 9-8 win.On paper, it appeared the finals would be a tight and close match, but Williams saw to it that Hohmann's night ended early. In stunning fashion, Williams took a quick 8-0 lead and never looked back, playing an offensively aggressive match, winning 13-5.Results:1st Charlie Williams $5,0002nd Thorsten Hohmann $3,0003rd Young Hwa Jeong $2,0004th Troy Frank $1,6005th Ben Conway Jr., Tony Crosby $1,1507th Tommy Kennedy, Julio Aquino $8509th Steve Knoll, Mario Cruz, Charlie Bryant, Robb Saez $60013th Dave Grossman, Wayne Catledge, David Broxton, Trevor Braymore $40017th C.M. Lee, Bill Ferguson, Edgardo Ramirez, John Ditoro, Brian Yi, Rodel Morales, Jason Richko, Jose Delrio $175 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the sport of billiards and pool.

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