Snooker Champ Williams Leaves Trophy in Driveway
Snooker’s most important trophy went missing when the world champion accidentally left it in his driveway overnight. World number one Mark Williams left the Embassy World Championship trophy outside his home in Cwm, South Wales after taking it out of his car last Tuesday night. A neighbour spotted the 73-year-old trophy and took it indoors for safe-keeping before returning it to the grateful star. Williams’ manager Ian Doyle said today: “The trophy is unharmed. Mark had been to have some photographs taken with it at his local golf club. He was unpacking his car when he got home when he was interrupted by a telephone call and left the trophy by the car.” Keen to keep the trophy in his sight, football fan Williams will parade it at Old Trafford on Sunday before Manchester United’s home game. A spokesman for snooker’s governing body, The World Snooker Association, said it was insured for L15,000. The incident topped a difficult week for the 25-year-old Welshman. Earlier he was injured when his pet Rottweiler Megan bit his left hand as he was trying to feed her. It had been feared that the injury could force the left-hander to miss the start of the season. But his manager said today he would be back at the snooker table tomorrow. Mr Doyle said: “His hand is as right as rain now. He will be cueing tomorrow without any problems and will be playing in the Champions Cup in Brighton later this month.”
Irish eyes are smiling
Although the 2000 World Pool-Billiard Association World 9-Ball Championships in Quebec City, Quebec, Nov. 14-19, brought together the best women players in the world, the finals came down to the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s two top Irish imports. After a difficult route to the final, Julie Kelly topped WPBA No. 2-ranked Karen Corr to capture first place and her first major tournament title since coming to the United States in 1999.
Kelly, currently ranked No. 18 on the WPBA’s Classic Tour, twice knocked off defending champion Shin-Mei Liu (9-8, 9-6), then Jeanette Lee (9-7), before defeating her countrymate, 9-8 in the final match. Corr reached the final match with a victory over Lee in the quarterfinals (9-5) and a convincing win over three-time World Champion and WPBA No. 1-ranked Allison Fisher (9-2).
All stars in Lexington
John Brumback, a consistent finisher on the Viking 9-Ball Tour, came up with an All-Star performance, holding off Alex Pagulayan, 11-5, in the final of the Lexington All-Stars Championship, in Lexington, Ky., Nov. 15-19. The victory earned Brumback $7,000, while Pagulayan left with $4,400.
Without a tournament victory to speak of this year, Brumback took down Troy Frank and George “Ginky” SanSouci before suffering his first loss of the tournament to Dee Adkins. On the one-loss side, Brumback defeated Jon Kucharo, SanSouci again and Adkins for a date with Pagulayan in the final. Two weeks after finishing second to Nick Varner in Grady Mathews’ “One Pocket Championship of the World,” Pagulayan once again fell in a championship match. Adkins finished third, worth $3,300, followed by SanSouci, who collected $2,300.