Morris Bests Saez for First on Florida Pro Tour

Morris Bests Saez for First on Florida Pro Tourby InsidePOOL Staff“Rocket” Rodney Morris took first place on the Florida Pro Tour, held May 6-7 at Planet 9-Ball in Tampa, FL. The fourth stop of this tour, which is sponsored by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, attracted an almost-full field of 63 tough local and professional players.Returning on Sunday in the winners’ bracket, Trevor Braymore bested Troy Frank 8-5 and then advanced over Robb Saez after a double-hill match. Saez started off his day with a win over Richard Broumpton 8-5. Morris sharpened his skills with an 8-2 thrashing of local Neil Fujiwara 8-2, and Butch Croft dealt Tony Crosby his first loss 8-7 but ended up on the wrong end of the bracket after an 8-6 loss to Morris.View the brackets
Morris and Braymore tried to match up for the hot seat, but it was fairly one-sided, as the Hawaiian steamrolled through 8-2, earning the right to rest while awaiting an opponent in the finals.Former U.S. Open champion Jeremy “Double J” Jones eliminated Broumpton after their hill-hill match, going on to face Frank, who had just defeated Jimmy Wetch with a stunning 8-1 score, and be sent home under the same circumstances. Meanwhile, Louis Ulrich sent Charlie “The Korean Dragon” Williams home after their noon match 8-6 and triumphed again over Crosby hill-hill. Gaining momentum, he went on to face down Fujiwara 8-5 only to be stopped by Saez in the one-loss quarterfinals, which went hill-hill. Frank scored a win in the other quarterfinal match over Croft (another double-hill nailbiter) and advanced to meet Saez in the semis. Though the match was close, it was not as close as it could have been, and Saez ended up eliminating his opponent 8-5.Yet another hill-hill match followed in the one-loss side finals between Saez and Braymore, but it was Saez who advanced to meet road partner Morris in the final match. The score was fairly even at the beginning, but a few costly errors by Saez led to Morris edging ahead 3-1. But Saez began to get more comfortable and knotted to score at 4 before he won the following rack, taking the lead for the first time in the match. A bit of luck on a carom saw Morris regain the lead and bring the score to 7-5. Coming up empty on his next break, Morris again got lucky when Saez missed a straight-in 4 ball; he took full advantage to reach the hill in the race to 9. A missed 5 ball in the next rack by Morris gave another game to Saez, who came up dry on his following break. Morris elected to play safe, and Saez gamely tried to do the same but left his opponent a straight-in shot on the 1 ball. Clear sailing in sight, Morris cleared the table easily for the 9-6 win.Results:1st Rodney Morris $3,5002nd Robb Saez $2,0003rd Trevor Braymore $1,4004th Troy Frank $1,1005th Louis Ulrich $850Butch Croft7th Neil FujiwaraJeremy Jones $6509th Chris Bartrum $450Tony CrosbyJimmy WetchRichard Broumpton13th David Broxson $300Charlie WilliamsBen Conway Jr.John Schmidt

Pool Balls and Billiard Balls at LOW PRICES!!!

About the Author:
Inside Pool Magazine publishes billiard news. Definitive Synergy creates pool and billiard management software.