Teesside Pro-Am
A new pro-am tournament was instigated on Tuesday 8th June at South Bank St. Peters Club, Middlesbrough in memory of Tommy Coulton who was a well-known club member and official in local leagues. The inaugural event brought together an impressive field of talent with local professionals Chris Shutt and David Causier being joined by Lee Lagan, Paul Bennett, Tony McKinder and Darren Kell. All games were of one hour duration and the professionals conceded 150 points start.
The four amateurs were drawn in the first round with the winners to meet the seeded professionals. With two tables playing simultaneously, the current CIU champion Tony McKinder made an early break of 75 to draw clear of Paul Bennett, only for the twice Amateur Champion to respond with a break of 82, drawing level once more. With the players proceeding neck and neck, a late break of 56 by McKinder proved conclusive, this time Bennett's response of 40 being terminated by the bell while still 18 points in arrears. McKinder's average of 25.8 was as good as any on the night.
Playing on a table which is notorious throughout Teesside for its tight pockets, Darren Kell made a superb start against Lee Lagan, with a break of 67 taking him to an early lead of almost a hundred points. From this point however, Lagan slowly reduced the deficit and gradually overhauled his opponent to win by 55 points.
Receiving 150 points from David Causier, Lagan's tactics were clearly to defend his advantage and this policy worked well, despite an early break of 54 by Causier. After 40 minutes the World No.3 was still 134 points behind, but at this point exploited a rare opening to accumulate 60 points. This was immediately followed with the first century of the night—a break of 105—to offer the prospect of an exciting finish. A nervous climax saw both players squander good opportunities with Lagan making the better of his chances to win by 51 points.
Being introduced as "one of the area's leading amateur players" brought a smile to the face of World No.6 Chris Shutt and there was nothing that Tony McKinder could do in the match to dispel his good humour. A break of 76 by Shutt at his first scoring visit, reduced his handicap by half before the CIU Champion had been given an opening. Despite a rally in the middle of the game, McKinder could not reproduce the consistent form of his earlier match and Shutt completed a comfortable win by 76 points.
The spacious games room of the St. Peters club was packed with over 150 spectators as the final match began. Playing his first game on the "easier" of the two tables, Lee Lagan remarked "I feel as though I can't miss". And he certainly didn't miss much, as he put together breaks of 104 and 66 to establish a lead of almost 300 points after 40 minutes of the one hour match. At this point, Shutt, who had seemed unusually subdued, put together a rapid-fire 147 break to give himself a chance. This was quickly followed by another of 137 which occupied just 7 minutes, but when he broke down while still behind, it looked as though the first name on the trophy would be that of Lee Lagan.
With time running out, an unexpected miss by Lagan allowed Shutt a full three minutes to overtake his lead of 41 points. This he did in style, running in a break of 58 unfinished to delight a packed house. Shutt averaged 27.6 to Lagan's 17.8. Both in terms of attendance and standard of play, this first event was a huge success and will make a welcome addition to the billiards calendar on Teesside. Chris Shutt took the winner's cheque for £225, plus £40 for the highest break. Lee Lagan received £150 for his night's work.