ABSA Open Billiards

Held at the ACBS Clubrooms : 07-08 March 2009

The field of fifteen was possibly the largest ever for the tournament.  Players included Derek Gibb from Capital City, who won the event in 2007 and 2008, and New Zealand’s top ranked player, Wayne Carey (from Auckland).

The players were divided into three sections of five players and played 90 minute matches in Section Play.  The winner and runner-up of each section, plus the next best two-thirds went through to Post Section Play.
Wayne Carey won Section 1 and Ron Milicich was the Section runner-up.
Grant Hayward won Section 2, scoring over 600 points in two of his matches and making breaks of 92 and 113 in one match.  The 113 was to be the highest break of the tournament.  The high scoring meant Grant was the top qualifier for Post Section Play.  The runner-up in Section 2 was Paul Stocker from Hawkes Bay.  Although Paul is no longer a regular on the billiards circuit, he still enjoys billiards and plays it every day.  He also plays tennis which undoubtedly helps keep him fit.
Section 3 was won by Derek Gibb.  On seedings, Bryce Good should have been the Section runner-up, but this went to Paul Wilson from Hamilton.  Paul had three wins including one over Bryce.  Bryce had the satisfaction of being one of the best thirds.  The other qualifier for Post Section Play was Darren Taylor.
The matches in Post Section were all two hours.  The winners in the Quarter-Finals were Grant Hayward who won by default over Darren Taylor, Derek Gibb, Wayne Carey and Paul Stocker.
In the Semi-Finals, Wayne and Derek had a low scoring match, with Derek winning 283/226.  In the other Semi-Final, Paul Stocker led Grant Hayward by about 70 points with 30 minutes to go.  In the next 20 minutes, Grant regained the lead, albeit by just three points.  Both players appeared tense in the last ten minutes of the match.  Paul twice set himself up for a run of middle-pocket red losers, only to play the first in-off too slowly.  Both times he attempted to recover by playing a middle-pocket screw in-off.  The first missed and this gave Grant an opening,  although not a particularly easy one.  Paul won the match 421/398.
In the Final, Derek took an early lead and, aided with a break of 55, continued to build on the lead throughout the match, winning 430/255.
All seven non-qualifiers entered the Plate Event.  The Quarter-Final matches were 60 minutes and the two Semi-Final matches were 90 minutes.  The Plate Final was two hours.
Ray Habgood and Ross Exley qualified for the Final and played a low scoring match, with the scores very close in the last fifteen minutes.  Ray won 231/227.
Report submitted by Philip Sharp

Quarter-finals: G Hayward won by default over D Taylor, D
Semi-finals: P Stocker bt G Hayward 421/398, D GIbb bt W Carey 283/226.
Final: D Gibb bt P Stocker 430/255.
Highest Break: G Hayward 113

Individual player profiles have been updated
Tournament History has been updated