Paula's Prowess Earns First Place

Paula's Prowess Earns First Place Nomar Paula went through a tough field and a long day before he arrived in first place on the Fury Florida Amateur 9-Ball Tour. The one-day event took place on July 25, 2004, at Bankshot Billiards in Ocala, FL. With 54 players participating in the $500-added event, Tour Stop 12 was an event to watch as the players composed one of the strongest amateur fields this season. Tour owner and promoter Kay Higgins of Kings Bay Promotions attended the event in order to train a new tournament director. With plans of adding more tours next season, the Fury Tour recognized the need for more directors and is grooming Karen Alford to take over those duties on one of the new tours.Owned by Mike and Linda Kohn, Bankshot Billiards in Ocala, FL, has been in business for 10 years. The room is set up in tournament style with partitions placed around the play areas to separate spectators from players. The room is equipped with seventeen 9-foot tables, one 8-foot table, a full pro shop, cue lathe for on-site cue repairs, and pool table sales and service. There is also a full bar and restaurant available, as well as a nightclub on the first floor of the building. Getting in on the action, Kohn, played some of the tour's top players. His third match of the event was against last weekend's champion, Bobby Moore. Moore shot out to a 6-3 lead, Kohn fought back until he claimed the 7-6 victory. Determined to make a comeback, Moore knocked tour points leader Larry Walthall out of the tournament with a 5-0 shutout before going on to win against Steve Foster 5-4 in the quarterfinals.Jim Sandaler and Paula were the two left standing on the winners' side, bringing them together to face off for the hot seat. Controlling the match from the beginning, Paula jumped into the lead and stayed there. Sandaler was trailing at 3 when Paula sailed to the victory, shipping his opponent to the one-loss side with a 9-3 final score. Sandaler next met Moore in the match to determine third place. Although both players were exhausted from the long day, their play was still sharp enough for each to come through with many safeties and great shooting. But the final score showed that Sandaler was still on his game when he won with a 5-3 victory.Paula and Sandaler battled it out late into the night in the race-to-9 final match. Paula took the lead 6-3, but Sandaler fought back, bringing the score to 6-4. The matches continued, with Paula holding the lead and reaching 7 while Sandaler trailed by two racks. Even though Sandaler kept on his heels, it wasn't enough to get past Paula. Wrapping the match up as last call was announced, Paula claimed first place with a 9-6 win.Results:1st Nomar Paula $5502nd Jim Sandaler $3203rd Bobby Moore $2204th Steve Foster $1405th Mike Kohn, Larry Walthall $757th Julio Aquino, Pat Butler $609th Richard Murray, Wayne Hutter, Marty Linzy, Brent Preston $40Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

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