Worthing Off the Spot result

[bigtj]

Played at the Dolphin today, again another very competitive day.

Winner : KT to complete a successful weekend.
R. up : Niel Higgins

Plate Winner : Gina Sherratt
R.up : Dave Jones

Well done to al who took place, good to see one or two of our younger generation taking part.

[SirKT]

At the start of the day, I had managed to get 20 players for this, the 3rd Worthing `Off the Spot` competition.
At the start of play, we had 24, so fortunately for me, we had competition format wizard Nigel there to work out an alternative schedule :P
We did have some time in the morning to try and make tables 1 & 3 a bit easier if possible. As it turned out, we were successful to a degree, but don`t forget, this was off the spot.

There was a real mix of quality, good, average & new players, and the groups were quite evenly spread.
The top two in each group went through to the quarter finals, 3rd & 4th places went into the plate and the bottom two went home (if they wanted) ;).

Group A saw Mark James finish top with 4/5, Neil Higgins 2nd 4/5, Mal Spier 3rd 3/5, Lady H 4th 3/5, Stu Mepham 2/5 & young Chris Oakley bringing up the rear.
The match between Mal & Neil finished with both players needing the last ball to progress in the main comp, which Neil got at the first attempt.

Group B was also very tight. Alan Messer finishing top on 4 wins and then a three way tie for second. On countback, Alan Brackenridge got 2nd, Charlie Cooper 3rd & Dave Jones 4th.
Chris Reeves & Adam Squires lost out.

Group C saw Nigel win all 5 games to finish top, Jean got 2nd with 3/5, Tj 3rd with two and a half points (tied a game with Sarah Race) & Gina 4th 2/5.
Sandra & Sarah Race both missed out, but well done to Sarah for having a go against some illustrious opponents.

Group D was won by Ian Lelliott 5/5, followed by myself on 4/5, Martin Smith on 3/5 and Mark Senior on 2/5.
Two newcomers to the game, Lorenzo Hickman (Dolphin) & Liam Petch (Coach House) made up the six, with Lorenzo just shading the fifth spot. A good effort from both youngsters though.

Quarter finals
Mark James bt Alan Brackenridge
Neil Higgins bt Alan Messer
KT bt Nigel (chasing 15k, but broke down on 3k)
Ian Lelliott bt Jean

Semis
KT bt Mark for the second day running, setting him about 12k. Mark had three attempts to catch the score, but to no avail.
Neil & Ian had a real ding dong in their semi. Neil led the first leg by a small 260, and by the end of the second leg, it was still close. Neil potted the last ball in the 100 for the victory.

Without doubt, the best table all weekend was table two. I personally hadn`t played this one at all and the Final was on it.
Neil won the toss and put me in. It was lovely and I opened with 15k, setting Neil a total of 16,150 to catch. Sadly for him, he couldn`t stay on, but eventually took the second game.

Two titles in a weekend for me, that`s a first. Wonder if I can repeat the feat in Jersey ;) :P
A great triple header for Tunstall Towers with Lady H taking the `B` masters as well ;D ;D ;D

[NigelS]

Good weekend at the Dolphin - well done to KT on doing the double.

I couldn't get to grips with the exceptionally high kicking table 4, other people showed it could be played - but my bar billiards days would have been over a long time ago if I had to try and play on a table like that every week!