OVERSEAS NEWS

New Zealand

New Zealand Open

The 2001 New Zealand Open concluded the season at the Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club, October 12-14. Despite the absence of three regulars from the New Zealand Billiards circuit, the field of 26, swelled by seven English players touring New Zealand, was the largest for a ranking tournament since at least 1994. Matches were all 2 hours until the final, which was extended to three hours.

The entries included the defending champion Bill Andress and eight New Zealanders who had played in the recent IBSF Championship in Christchurch. There was some interest in whether this exposure to world class Billiards would encourage them to attempt more break building.

Apparently it did. The eight players scored seven centuries between them, possibly the greatest number of centuries scored in the Open by New Zealanders; one player made more than 900 in two hours, a rarity in New Zealand, and another, Malcolm Cooke, set a personal best break of 132.

The English players were not to be outdone. They scored 19 centuries between them, Peter Shelley leading the way with nine, including one of 187, the highest of the event. Three players scored more than 1,000 in two hours.

Despite the higher scoring by the English, it was two New Zealanders, Gary Oliver and Paul Stocker, who contested the three hour final, with Stocker emerging the victor of a close match 688-648.

Five of the seven English players had made it through the group stages into the last sixteen. Peter Shelley had been in convincing form, winning all of his matches by at least 400 points and scoring 1168 in one of these. The other tourists who made it through to the knock-out stages were Brian Harvey, Bill Andress, Paul Dunning and Derick Townend. The defending champion, Bill Andress, went out at this hurdle as he lost to Joe Ifa by just five points. Brian Harvey, in contrast, had a good win over ex-New Zealand Champion Wayne Carey. Apparently cruising at one stage, a late run of form by Carey narrowed the deficit to five points with a minute to go, but Harvey held on to win 485-476. The remainder of the English contingent also made it through to the quarter- finals.

Gary Oliver had already beaten Joe Ifa by 496 in section play, so was expected to win again when they met in the quarter-finals. This he did, although the winning margin was only 75. Peter Shelley's good run came to an end in this round when he was beaten 520-448 by Paul Stocker. Paul Dunning went though by beating Malcolm Cooke 569- 432 and Brian Harvey had an easy win over Derick Townend 854-286. In his semi-final match, Paul Stocker had established a strong position as he led Brian Harvey by nearly 200 points with 30 minutes remaining. Although Harvey made a strong recovery in these closing minutes, the deficit was too much to make up and the New Zealander went through 620-571. The other match, between Gary Oliver and Paul Dunning, had less scoring and there was little in the game going into the last 45 minutes. At this point Oliver established a significant advantage with a 60+ break and went on to win 464-349.

The final started with a flurry of scoring as Paul Stocker opened with a 77 on his third visit. Oliver replied with 40 and Stocker returned a 44 to lead 121-40 after four visits. Thereafter the scoring slowed, but Stocker had the better of it, and went to the interval leading 332 (av 11.9)-298 (av 10.3). Starting the second session, Oliver made a 51 to lead 384- 369, his first time in front. Stocker responded with 54 and 74 to regain the lead 641-477, the latter break starting with a sequence of 13 red hazards, demonstrating his strong all-round play. Oliver, with time running out, responded well, making 80 on his next visit, quickly following this with a 79, twice checking the clock as he walked around the table. The effort arrived too late however, as Stocker held on to take the Open title by 40 points.