Team Europe Refuses To Surrender
Marcus Chamat
Having swept the three double matches Saturday afternoon, the U.S. squad entered the evening’s singles matches leading 8-4. The defending champions extended their advantage to five matches when firecracker-hot Rodney Morris drilled Germany’s Thomas Engert, 5-1, in a sporty 30 minutes.
But Team Europe captain Oliver Ortmann stemmed the U.S. onslaught with a 5-1 win over struggling Tony Robles. Sweden’s Marcus Chamat then pulled off a stunningly easy 5-2 win over Earl Strickland, sending the packed partisan house into near hysteria and his Euro teammates to bed with visions of a comeback dancing in their heads.
The 11th running of the transatlantic Ryder Cup-styled team event will conclude with a maximum of eight singles matches on Sunday.
U.S. Triples Its Pleasure in Doubles
Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann
Hoping to recapture some of the magic that spurred Team Europe to the 2002 Mosconi title, German captain Oliver Ortmann called his own number in the opening match Saturday, tabbing himself and countryman Thomas Engert to face the American duo of Johnny Archer and first-timer Gabe Owen. After playing poorly the night before in 2002, Ortmann sent himself out first in the next session, and his spirited effort was a turning point in the Euros’ surprise win.
But the magic was missing in 2004, and the German duo dropped a heart-wrenching 5-4 decision in a match that saw some brilliant pool. The American squad received a bonus when Charlie Williams and Tony Robles, winless in two team matches this year, surprised the previously unbeaten team of Dutchman Niels Feijen and Brit Steve Davis, 5-3.
With two wins already in the bag, the Americans got to sit back and enjoy its top squad, Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, who performed a virtual clinic in a 5-0 thrashing of Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat. The humbling loss left the European team four matches down, with the action shifting to singles play for the duration of the event.
Things will get no easier for the Euros Saturday night, with Morris and Strickland on tap for the Americans.
Rodney “Freud” Rescues U.S.
Rodney and Earl Strickland
Having lost the opening two matches on the second day of the four-day, race-to-12 team tournament, the U.S. trailed Team Europe, 3-2, heading into the match pitting Morris and Strickland against the German duo of Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert. Making amends for subpar performances on the first day, the Germans played nearly perfect pool, and held a 3-2 lead in the race-to-five match. With the crowd influence growing, and annoyed by the slow playing Germans, Strickland began to grumble, drawing a warning from referee Michaela Tabb. Sensing the importance of the situation, Morris joked
about the slow play and wisecracked about the match. Having successfully reeled Strickland back in, Morris led the U.S. comeback and a 5-4 win, leaving the contest knotted at 3-3 heading into Friday night’s singles action.
“That’s me,” joked Morris. “Sigmund Freud. Keeping volatile situations under control.”
Earlier, birthday boy Mika Immonen and Swedish teammate Marcus Chamat whitewashed Charlie Williams and Tony Robles, 5-0. Williams has failed to win a Mosconi Cup match in his last six attempts.
Feeding off of the first-match win, which tied the overall score at 2-2, Steve Davis and Neils Feijen put the Euros ahead with a 5-3 win over Johnny Archer and Gabe Owen.
U.S. Takes Early Lead
On the heels of near perfection from the duo of Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, and the cool play of Gabe Owen, Team USA took a 2-1 lead over Team Europe on the opening day of play at the 2004 Mosconi Cup at the Hotel Zuiderduin in the Dutch seaside resort village of Egmond aan Zee.
For the first time in the 11-year history of the Matchroom Sport produced event, the European squad was installed as a slight betting favorite by Gibraltar-based betting service Stan James. And the Europeans scored the opening salvo when Dutch hero Niels Feijen and Matchroom-managed snooker star Steve Davis squeaked past luckless Charlie Williams and Tony Robles, 5-4. The loss marked the sixth consecutive Cup loss for Williams, who took the collar in four matches in 2003, and his last match in the 2002 Cup.
But Owen, the 26-year-old surprise U.S. Open winner making his Cup debut, proved to be the steady hand with captain/partner Johnny Archer in a 5-3 win over the German duo of Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert. Owen rescued Archer on several occasions after the world’s No.1 player botched a pair of easy shots to allow the Europeans to stay in the match. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” said Owen. “I was a wreck in my television matches at the U.S. Open. But here we’re the underdog, and I love being the underdog. Always have.”
The Americans seized the lead in the final match on the first day when Strickland and Morris stomped Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat, 5-1. The U.S. pair played flawlessly throughout the match.
The best-of-12 event continues Friday with three doubles matches in the afternoon, followed by three singles matches Friday evening.
Mosconi Cup Kicks Off
Matchroom Press Release:
16th December
D Day has arrived. Tonight at the Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee, Holland the two six-man teams representing the United States and Europe will enter the packed arena to contest the 12th annual Mosconi Cup.
Played out over four days, it features a series of singles and scotch doubles matches with the first team to reach 12 points lifting pool’s most prestigious trophy.
Team captains Johnny Archer and Oliver Ortmann are the men responsible for who plays and when and tonight’s order of play for the three doubles matches is:
Niels Feijen & Steve Davis v Charlie Williams & Tony Robles
Oliver Ortmann & Thomas Engert v Johnny Archer & Gabe Owen
Mika Immonen & Marcus Chamat v Earl Strickland & Rodney Morris
With the doubles pairings critical, both captains explained the reasoning behind their decisions:
“Earl and Rodney have both got that loose kind of style and I believe that they will mix well, said Archer.
“I think Gabe Owen needed to go out with one of the older more experienced players to settle him down early and Tony Robles and Charlie Williams are real good friends and have a similar style. If it doesn’t work we’ll change it but we’re all really excited!”
For Ortmann the pairings more or less picked themselves. “Myself and Thomas Engert know each very well; we’ve been playing together since we were juniors so that was the first decision, he said.
“Mika and Marcus have been friends for a long time so that was an easy choice. Steve Davis and Niels Feijen felt comfortable together on the practice table and we’ve put them out first because Niels can’t wait to get out there and it will be good for the Dutch crowd.”
Let battle commence!
For more information and match updates, visit www.mosconicup.com
By the Skins of His Teeth: Feijen Wins $42,500 at Skins Event Debut
Trailing badly late in the finals of the inaugural Skins Billiard Championship, steely Niels Feijen of Holland summoned the composure to win three games in a row and pocket a knee-knocking $35,000 – enough to seize the lead and eventually win the debut event.
“I got out, and I didn’t know how much it was for,” said the jubilant Feijen after accepting a massive winner’s check for $42,500. “I sat down, and I heard it was for like $35,000, and I was like, ‘Man!’ … I knew it was big. But to get the skin, that was the pressure. It was intense. I mean, I was almost going to faint after I made the 9. I was super-shaking.”
Producers Allen Hopkins and Billiards International hope that the Skins Billiards Championship, held Nov. 19-20 in Atlantic City, N.J., will fill TV viewers with the same sense of anticipation. Patterned after the “skins” game in golf, the event was designed to capitalize on the public’s recent rabid fascination with games of chance, such as Texas Hold ’Em poker.
Here, 16 of the world’s top shooters vied for a cut of the gaudy $130,000 prize fund. (Each player ponied up a $5,000 entry fee, and the promoters added another $50,000.) In the first round, four sets of four players squared off, with each player taking $500 for each game won. The top eight winners advanced to the semis (to be televised with the final on ESPN in January), where the “skins” came into play. Each game carried a value, which would roll into the next until a player could win three games in a row (the “skin”).
The fast-paced and unpredictable format seemed to trump the typical mano-a-mano 9-ball telecast. Here, players openly rooted against whichever contestant seemed closest to a skin, and the loose atmosphere prompted several zingy exchanges between players and audience members. In a bit of a coup for the promoters, loose cannons Keith McCready and Earl Strickland both made it into the televised semis, and their lips were flapping. After Strickland thwarted Charlie Williams’ run for a skin in the semis, he turned to the bench and quipped acidly, “You guys are lucky. You’re pulling for me now. It’s the only time a pool player has pulled for me.”
The swings in fortune were intense. Heading into the four-man finals, Thorsten Hohmann and Willams led with $22,000 and $21,500, respectively. Feijen and Rodney Morris pulled up the rear with just $7,500 and $6,500. But by the fourth game, Morris had won the first skin, worth a hefty $13,000. Morris later ruined Hohmann’s bid for the second skin (by then worth $18,000) with a quick break-and-run. Feijen took the advantage from Morris in the next game with a break-and-run, then watched as Williams missed the 1 in the next game, leading to a two-game streak. In the next game, Hohmann tried a chancy 1-9 combo a good 24 inches from the corner pocket, and missed. That let Feijen back to the table to wrap up his $35,000 skin in the 11th game of the 12-game final.
Morris then won a playoff for the remaining $6,000 skin, putting him in second place overall with $25,500. Williams and Hohmann left with the same amount they had at the beginning of the final.
“That is one advantage this has over the ring game format,” Williams said, comparing the skins event to the other gambling-style game currently in vogue at pool tournaments. “With a ring game, there is one winner and five losers. Whereas here, everybody can win some money.” — Mason King
Parica fills out Skins Semifinals
Jose Parica snared the final spot in the semifinal round of the Skins Billiards Championship late on Friday night and, in doing so, narrowly averted a playoff with at least two other opponents to reach the big-money rounds of the $130,000 tournament.
Parica will be joined in the semis – where $42,000 will be up for grabs – by Johnny Archer, Luc Salvas, Rodney Morris, Santos Sambajon, Ralf Souquet, Cory Deuel and Danny Basavich. The four players then advancing to the finals will play for an additional $54,000.
The Skins opening round kicked off Friday afternoon at the Resorts hotel and casino in Atlantic City, N.J., with 16 players divided into four brackets, playing for $500 per game. Each bracket consisted of 16 games, thus allowing a total of $8,000 in prize money per bracket. The eight players with the highest prize totals at the end of the round would advance to the semis.
By the end of play in the third bracket, it became clear that a player would need at least $2,000 to have a shot at the semis. When Basavich reached $3,000 late in the fourth bracket, all the pieces fell into place. If Parica could win one more game and reach $2,500, the final eight would be set. If he finished with just $2,000, he and at least two other players with $2,000 would have to duke it out in a playoff for the eighth spot
It came down to the 15th game, when the shooting order allowed Parica one final turn to break.
Charlie Williams and Mika Immonen, both with $2,000 from previous rounds, huddled in the back of the cavernous Superstar Theatre, rooting for Basavich to win the deciding game. But even on the ropes, Parica was too clever for his foe. Stymied by a safety, Parica decided to foul intentionally and sabotage Basavich’s runout by nestling the 5 next to the 8. Sure enough, Basavich’s runout stalled at the 5, and Parica nailed a tough cross-side bank on the 5 to take control of the table and eventually win the game.
“I’m more experienced than anybody,” the plucky Filipino said. “I think. I make the smart play.”
The Skins action will finish up Saturday evening. Check back for the final results.
Mosconi Cup Teams Announced
Promoters Matchroom Sport have announced the teams for this year’s Mosconi Cup. Johnny Archer captains the American team; he is joined by Rodney Morris, Gabe Owen, Tony Robles, Earl Strickland and Charlie Williams. Germany’s Oliver Ortmann heads up the European team, which also includes Marcus Chamat, Steve Davis, Thomas Engert, Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen.
The Mosconi Cup takes place December 16-19 at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland.
Rocket Takes Down Florida Seminole Event
“Rocket” Rodney Morris triumphed over a small but talented field at the Seminole Florida Pro Tour’s stop at The Tap in Gainsville, Fla.
Morris took the hotseat with a hill-hill win over Donnie Mills. Mills then earned himself a rematch in the final, where Morris bested him again, 13-10.
Morris collected $3,000 for first place and Mills took home $1,800. Luis Viera and Robb Saez finished in third and fourth places, earning $1,300 and $1,000 respectively.
Archer Wins Carolinas Open 9-Ball
It was a classic case of “Johnny Archer can’t lose” in the 9-ball division of the Carolinas Open at Fast Eddie’s in Goldsboro, N.C., Aug 18-22. The successful Scorpion was fresh from an early August win at the Master Billiard 9-Ball Challenge and clearly on a roll.
But for Archer’s final-match opponent, Texas’ “Double J,” Jeremy Jones, the situation looked more like double trouble. Jones was the man Archer beat to take the Big Apple crown, and here he was, facing his recent nemesis (and good friend) again, just a few weeks later.
It looked like this time might have a happy ending for Jones, as Jones took an early 9-4 lead in the race to 15. But Jone marked only two more game wins after that point, and Archer fought through to a 15-11 win.
Archer collected $4,500 for first place; Jones settled for $3,000. Shannon Daulton and Rodney Morris took third and fourth places, respectively.