TEESSIDE PRO-AM

Ironopolis Club, Middlesbrough

David Causier and Peter Gilchrist warm-up for India in the Middlesbrough pro-am.

Peter Gilchrist prepared for his trip to the World Professional Championships by winning the Tommy Arnott Memorial Pro-Am Tournament at the Ironopolis Club in Middlesbrough on Thursday 29th July 1999. Seven of the region´s best amateurs were joined by three local professionals in the shape of World No.3 David Causier, [owe 120] Peter Gilchrist, now ranked No.5, [owe 80] and Chris Shutt, who is one place lower in the list at No.6 [owe 100]. The Amateurs were headed by Lee Lagan [owe 40], Geoff Charville and Paul Boden [owe 20], Paul Bennett [scr], Darren Kell [rec.10], John Hartley [rec.20], and Alf Nolan [rec.40].

The entertainment commenced with the English Champion Lee Lagan producing two 70+ breaks to overcome a determined challenge by Ironopolis player and tournament organiser, Geoff Charville. The last of these, 77, being made on his final visit to secure a win by 56 points. Alf Nolan, aided by 20 points start, edged past John Hartley in a relatively low scoring encounter which could have gone either way.

The star performance of the first round came from Chris Shutt. Veteran Alf Nolan had started the game rather well, a 40 break extending his handicap allowance into a lead of 170 points. Missing a difficult forcing in-off, one spectator was heard to remark “well, at least he´s left them safe”. It took Shutt four shots to convert this “safety” to perfect top-of-the-table position and thereafter he occupied the table for the remaining 18 minutes of the game to record an unfinished break of 331, the highest of the night.

Playing on his “home” table, Darren Kell dominated his match against English Champion, Lee Lagan. Building upon his 50 points start, Kell made a fine break of 102, the only century made by an amateur on the night. Lagan could find no answer, and even a late break of 59 could only increase his final score to 81.

Receiving a massive 120 points start, Paul Bennett was also sadly out of touch, adding just 15 points in his game against David Causier. The World No.3 was relentless in compiling breaks of 149 and 130 to aggregate 343 points in the allotted 30 minutes. Peter Gilchrist kept the century breaks coming with a run of 155 to take some revenge on Paul Boden, the player who had eliminated him from this event on the previous two years.

The semi-finals saw the duration of the games increase to 45 minutes, but the handicaps remained unaltered. Peter Gilchrist produced some consistent scoring and with breaks of 80, 70 and 86, recovered his handicap and established a lead of 81. With time running out, Kell then produced a determined break which brought the scores level, and with just two minutes remaining looked set to snatch a dramatic win. However, an unexpected miss at a half-ball loser from hand, presented the match to Gilchrist, who made no mistake in playing out time to win by 32 points.

In the other semi-final, the first scoring visit by Causier produced a break of 181. This was immediately followed by a 58 and Chris Shutt, even with his 20 start suddenly found himself over 200 points behind. He never threatened to make inroads into this deficit and a final effort of 139 unfinished by Causier completed an impressive performance.

The final saw Gilchrist—who was receiving 40 points start from the World No.3—become the first to register a significant break with a run of 92. Causier, having switched tables for this final match, seemed to be struggling with the positional side of his game and still trailed by 41 points after 30 minutes. At this point Gilchrist settled the matter with careful break of 119 which occupied 11 of the remaining 15 minutes.

Peter Gilchrist received the £100 winner´s cheque and David Causier took £50 as runner-up. The high break prize of £10 went to Chris Shutt for his 331 unfinished, which seems scant reward for such a magnificent effort. As a “warm-up” for the World Championships, all the local professionals looked sharp and ready for the big challenge in India.