Joe Minici has won the 2002 Australian Open Billiards Championship, defeating Frank Humphreys 1566-1269 in the six-hour final held at the Super 8 Entertainment Centre in Brisbane on 30 June. This is the second title for Joe, who first won the event in 1998.
Minici came back from a shaky start to the week, winning just one out of his first five matches in the round robin section. His final group match against Mark Hammer became a sudden death knockout, with Joe needing to win to create a three way tie with Hammer and Mac Rynkiewicz, and also needing a margin of at least 28 points to go through on points differential. Joe won the match by 129 to secure a place in the quarter finals.
Matthew Bolton was the only undefeated player throughout the round robin section, and looked to be a certainty to take out his third successive title until the final 10 minutes of his quarter final encounter against Frank Humphreys. Bolton led by 200 points at the end of the first session, but suffered from a touch of complacency which allowed Humphreys to claw back with some solid open game play. Humphreys hit the lead with five minutes remaining and held the table with a break of 114, leaving Bolton with no time to come back. Humphreys won the match 774-702.
Young Victorian Tim Walters showed a big improvement in his top-table play from last year, and made his mark as one of the elite players in Australian billiards with two double-century breaks and seven centuries throughout the tournament, including a 242 in his quarter final match against David Collins.
Six time former champion Phil Tarrant made a return to the championship for the first time since 1993, but failed to make a big impression, losing in the quarter final to Ian Gilbee 648-638. Tarrant struggled with a flu bug which made its way around the room throughout the week, and seemed to have difficulty maintaining consistency throughout the two hour sessions.
The highest break for the tournament was 591 by Matthew Bolton, which is only the second 500+ break scored in Australian championship play since 1961. The other one was his 649 in last year's final. Coincidentally, both were scored on the same table and with the same referee, Joe Saliba. Breaks of this calibre cement Bolton as Australia's number one player, but a break of 633 by Danik Lucas in the Queensland state championships last year suggest that there may be a challenger to the crown. Unfortunately, work commitments kept Lucas out of the tournament.
Minici took an early lead in the final and managed to maintain it throughout the match. At the end of the first session he led by 250, and the result looked to be a formality with Humphreys struggling to find form. Minici extended the lead in the second session, but Humphreys fought back towards the end to trail by less than 200. Humphreys continued his run into the third session with a break of 163, and when he narrowed the gap to just 76 it looked as though yet another upset win was on the cards. Minici managed a break of exactly 100 to regain his buffer, and with 20 minutes remaining and a lead of 200 the title was within his grasp. Minici sealed the win with a break of 154 at his final visit to the table.
| Frank Humphreys | 774 | Matthew Bolton | 702 | ||
| Tim Walters | 1035 | David Collins | 717 | ||
| Ian Gilbee | 648 | Phil Tarrant | 638 | ||
| Joe Minici | 908 | Neil Croft | 783 |
| Frank Humphreys | 998 | Tim Walters | 828 | ||
| Joe Minici | 1336 | Ian Gilbee | 629 |
| Joe Minici | 1566 | (19.6) | Frank Humphreys | 1269 | (15.9) |
The Australian National Billiards Championship over the 50-up format was held concurrently with the Open tournament. Joe Minici scored the double, becoming the first player to win the timed format and 50-up titles in the same year, again defeating Frank Humphreys in the final.
Humphreys took the early advantage in the best of 15 game final, taking a lead of 5-2. Minici asked for a break in play and took the chance for a cup of coffee, which turned out to be exactly what he needed. Humphreys still held on and led 7-4, needing just one more game for victory, but Minici fought tooth and nail to win the next four games to win 8-7.
Minici's snooker ability turned out to be the deciding factor in the match, with pot-red sequences winning at least four games. The 50-up format remains a contentious issue because of this fact, and there was some discussion throughout the week on how to adjust the rules to prevent the prevalent negative play. Some of the suggestions were: potting the opponent's ball is a foul; the baulk line rule does not apply; consecutive hazards limited to 5. However, a common opinion was that if we need to change the rules to make 50-up more interesting, then why should we play it at all?
The New South Wales Open Billiards Championship was held on 8-10 June at Shellharbour Workers Club and was won by Phil Tarrant, returning to championship play after a nine year absence. Tarrant defeated Phillip Miller 1104-587 in the three and a half hour final.
The match of the tournament was the semi-final between Phil Tarrant and Joe Minici. Minici lead for most of the match, but Tarrant struck back in the final stages with breaks of 160 and 76 to snatch the win by just 15 points, 513-498. Tarrant's break of 160 was the highest for the tournament.
| 335 Vic | Sacco 325 | ||||
| Todd Hayward | 334 | Adrian Hinks | 276 | ||
| Phil Tarrant | 529 | Joe Millen | 171 | ||
| Joe Minici | 567 | Darren Martin | 389 |
| Phillip Miller | 497 | Todd Hayward | 432 | ||
| Phil Tarrant | 513 | Joe Minici | 498 |
| Phil Tarrant | 1104 | Phillip Miller | 587 |
Tarrant's absence from championship play was due to a suspension after the Australian Billiards Championship in 1993. This was triggered when Tarrant walked out of the Hornsby RSL Club and made an outburst in front of TV cameras after he was not allowed to practice on the match table immediately before the semi-final. Tarrant was banned for one year and fined $200 for his comments against the association. After nine years and countless letters, Tarrant was re-admitted to competitive play on the basis that he paid $100 of the outstanding fine.
Matthew Bolton had a resounding victory in the West Australian State Billiards Championship, defeating Frank Humphreys 2515-1118 in the 6 hour final. Bolton's breaks in this match were 391, 281, 243, 233, 225, 180, 156, 117 and 100. The breaks of 225 and 233 were made in consecutive visits to the table, and the 100 was made two visits later, making a total of 558 in 4 visits. He also scored 1069 in the final two hour session of the match, for a session average of 62.9 and an overall average of 34.0. The semi-finals saw one of the closest games in the tournament between Frank Humphreys and Neil Bolton, which finished at 707-682 after three hours. Towards the end of the first session Humphreys led by 178, but Neil hit back strongly at the start of the second period to take a 78 point advantage. The game remained in the balance to the end, but Humphreys with a late 42, did just enough as the clock ran out for Neil, in play with 20, but still 25 points behind.
In the other semi-final Matthew Bolton defeated Bryan Wright 1605(av 26.3)-511(av 8.4) making breaks of 211, 185, 128, 111. Wright was an unexpected semi-finalist. In the previous round he was nearly 200 points behind with 15 seconds remaining when his opponent, Barry Saxton (the No.4 seed) conceded the match. Apparently Saxton was unable to make the scheduled date for the semi.