Reyes Shines at Derby City
Reyes like what he saw on the table at Derby City.
A 24-hour, 9-day pool orgy for both gamblers and serious tournament players, the Classic kicked off on Jan. 16 with a $30,000 ring game between Cory Deuel, Jimmy Wetch, Alex Pagulayan, Earl Strickland, Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams. Deuel eventually outlasted Pagulayan for the $30,000 prize in a match that went well past five hours. The event proved so popular that Derby City organizers hastily assembled a six-man cast for the next night for another $30,000. In that six-hour tilt, BD Player of the Year Johnny Archer bested Pagulayan, Reyes, Ralf Souquet, John Schmidt and Jose Parica.
More than 300 players entered each of the three main events at Derby City this year. Jason Miller of Dayton, Ohio, took the 9-ball bank pool crown and its $8,000 first prize after besting undefeated John Brumback twice in the true double-elimination final (Derby City players with one loss can buy back into the tournament once in each division). Reyes mopped up Chicagoan Marco Marquez in the one-pocket final, 3-0, after his foe failed to take advantage of a commanding lead in the first game.
Pocketing the $9,000 one-pocket prize, Reyes then plowed through the 9-ball field, only to meet the similarly undefeated Souquet in the final. Souquet took the first match, 7-2, and after Reyes bought back in, “The Kaiser” toppled Reyes again by an identical score. The win brought a $13,000 payday for the German, who entered all three events this year without ever having played bank pool or one-pocket in a serious tournament setting.
Scorpion Tops Dragon in D.C.
Johnny Archer registered a come-from-behind 9-8 victory in the 9-ball final of the Capital City Classic on Jan. 27 to win $6,500 for first place. The inaugural event marked the third straight major tournament of the 2002 season, following the Derby City Classic (Jan. 4-12) and Music City 9-Ball Open (Jan. 19-20).
Derby City one-pocket runner-up Jose Parica captured the one-pocket division at the Capital City Classic, topping Pete Fusco, 5-3, in the final to claim $6,000.
Charlie Williams led for most of the final against Johnny Archer, but Archer rallied to claim the victory. Williams settled for the $4,000 second-place check. Allen Hopkins finished third, worth $3,000.
Team USA Captures Sixth Sraight Mosconi Cup
After Team Europe drew first blood in the 2001 Mosconi Cup, Team USA won the next 12 matches to claim its sixth straight Mosconi Cup title at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England, Dec. 20-23. The 12-1 victory for Team USA is the most decisive win in the eight-year history of the annual Ryder Cup-style event, which Team USA has now won seven times.
Only the pairing of Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen was able to scratch the scoreboard with a 5-3 triumph over veteran U.S. duo Johnny Archer and Nick Varner. But from then on, Team USA dominated play. The young American pair of Charlie Williams and Cory Deuel built Team USA’s lead with two convincing victories over Steve Knight and Marcus Chamat by a combined score of 10-3. Archer and Varner then closed out the event by redeeming themselves from the Day 1 loss with a 5-1 win over Immonen and Team Europe captain Ralf Souquet.
Morris returns in Reno
After a long hiatus, Rodney Morris returned to his old form at the Sands Regency Reno Open, Dec. 4-9, topping Nick Varner in the final to claim $12,000.
Morris had been away from the game to serve a prison sentence for a narcotics-related conviction. Morris, who also competed in the Tokyo 9-Ball International Billiard Tournament the previous month, earned his last major victory by capturing the 1996 U.S. Open.
Varner collected $5,600 for second place, while Johnny Archer earned $3,700 for third.
Mosconi Cup Lineup Set
Matchroom Sport released its Team USA and Team Europe rosters for the popular Mosconi Cup, held at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England, Dec. 20-23. The two six-man rosters were respectively selected in consultation with the Billiard Congress of America and European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Five-time Player of the Year Earl Strickland will return as captain of the American squad, which is rounded out by Corey Deuel, Johnny Archer, Jeremy Jones, Nick Varner and Charlie Williams. All but Varner and Williams were members of last year’s Cup-winning team.
Team Europe is comprised of captain Ralf Souquet (Germany), Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Steve Davis (England), Niels Feijen (Holland), Mika Immonen (Finland) and Steve Knight (England).
Chao bounces back on Monday
Defending champion Fong-Pang Chao recovered on Monday with a pair of wins at the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales, moving into the last qualifying spot in Group 1 with one day of round-robin play remaining. Chao topped Brazil’s Fabio Luersen, 5-0, and England’s Andy Battams, 5-4, on Monday to tie Ramil Gallego and Quinten Hann for second place in the group with eight points, two behind undefeated group leader Chris Melling of England.
Players also undefeated through Monday’s action include Hao-Ping Chang (5-0), Dmitri Jungo (5-0), Radoslaw Babica (6-0), Ralf Souquet (6-0), Steve Knight (5-0), Johnny Archer (5-0) and Leonardo Andam (5-0).
The top four qualifiers in each of the 16 groups will advance to the round of 64, which begins on Wednesday.
Billiard Congress of America’s Pro 9-Ball
Defending Champion Johnny Archer will have to do it the hard way if he is to repeat at the Billiard Congress of America’s Pro 9-Ball tournament in Las Vegas. Archer was upset by Canadian Mario Mora, 11-8, in the opening round of the men’s division, Sunday. The double-elimination format makes it “sudden death” for Archer from this point on.
The 2000 women’s division winner, Gerda Hofstatter, got by Ann Gray easily, 9-1, to stay in the hunt.
The 64-player men’s and women’s divisions are competing for twin $80,000 prize funds. The event runs through Saturday, May 19, and will be broadcast on ESPN later in the summer.
Cannon blast
Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton tore through a deep field to earn his second Music City Classic championship at J.O.B.’s in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 9-14. Daulton, who twice knocked off defending champion and recent Mosconi Cup teammate Johnny Archer to claim the top spot, collected $2,500 for his efforts.
On the women’s side, Swedish transplant Helena Thornfeldt edged Monica Webb in the final for first place worth $670. Thornfeldt, who finished the 2000 Classic Tour season ranked No. 3, closed out the season with five straight top-four finishes, including back-to-back runner-up honors in August and September.
U.S. Surge, Regain Mosconi Cup
Unleashing its arsenal of high-powered talend, Team USA rebounded from an 8-6 deficit to win four of five matches on Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to win the 2003 Mosconi Cup over Team Europe, 11-9. Cup-clinching 9 ball honors went to U.S. Open winner Jeremy Jones, whose 5-3 win over Sweden’s Marcus Chamat allowed the U.S. squad to recapture the Cup it had lost to the Euros in London last December.
After suffering through a five-match drought on Saturday, Team USA opened the final day’s action with four consecutive match wins. Cup debutante Rodney Morris opened the floodgates with a energizing 5-3 win over reigning world 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Johnny Archer then tied the contest with a 5-2 thumping of Steve Davis, and Earl Strickland gave the U.S. a lead it would never relinquish with a thrilling, 5-4, win over 23-year-old Dutchman Nick Van den Berg.
The U.S. squad got perhaps its biggest boost in the next match, when Mosconi rookie Tony Robles, who had not played well through the four-day event, put together a near-perfect performance against Europe’s top player, Mika Immonen of Finland. Immonen had been unbeaten in three matches going into Sunday, and earned the MVP award as the player who scored the most match points. But Robles scored a 5-2 win to put the Americans on the hill, 10-8.
Germany’s Ralf Souquet kept Europe’s hopes alive with a 5-3 win over Charlie Williams, but Jones closed the door on Europe’s hopes against Chamat. It marks the eighth time in the 10-year history of the event that the U.S. squad came out on top.
For more Mosconi Cup highlights and photos, log on to www.mosconicup.com.