WHITWORTH INVITATION BILLIARDS TOURNAMENT

Whitworth Institute, Darley Dale

Sunday 24th November 2002

With the "Big Two" of Mike Russell and Peter Gilchrist away on overseas duties some people may have thought that the Whitworth Invitation would be somewhat devalued. But nothing could have been further from the truth. The quartet of Chris Shutt, David Causier, Paul Bennett and Lee Lagan, provided the full house with a feast of billiards of the highest order.

In the opening game Chris Shutt laid the foundations of things to come, notching up breaks of 147 and 231 to come home a comfortable winner over Paul Bennett. The next match saw David Causier make his mark with runs of 51, 109 and 186 to outplay Lee Lagan by 488 to 139.

Lagan's best contribution was a useful 93, breaking down when a "ton" seemed certain. The last match of the afternoon session saw Bennett get in early with an excellent 119 against Lagan, only to see his opponent's white fall and prematurely halt further scoring. Lagan then took control with runs of 50, 139, 65 and 93 to secure a 429-198 victory.

The first game of the evening between Shutt and Causier was as dramatic as it was entertaining, with the lead constantly changing between them.

Shutt not only could have, but should have won, if he had not broken down on two pot reds, which for him were good chances. His breaks of 44 and 41 were followed with a magnificent 272. Causier, albeit having a couple of useful flukes, stuck to his task, notching up 75, 167 and 88 to record a narrow win by 29 points.

David Causier was undefeated in his three matches to win the invitation billiards tournament at Darley Dale.

Bennett, who had no luck all day, ran up a 67 in game five, but by now Causier was rampant and with breaks of 56, 138, 54, 92 and 125 won the match comfortably, and with it the tournament.

Although the last game between Shutt and Lagan was now academic, pride was still at stake, resulting in another see-saw battle. Although Shutt had runs of 44, 49, 77 and 121, Lagan was far from daunted, producing 55, 99, 42, 80 and 72 for his own account and winning by 47 points.

This match concluded an excellent day's entertainment and Jim McCann then made presentations to the referees George Goddard, Ray Gauton and Colin Pattimore, and to the recorders, Steve Crosland and Bob Slee. Town Mayor, Lewis Jackson, presented cheques to the players, plus the Norman Dagley Trophy to Chris Shutt for the highest break of 272. David Causier received the Royal Bank of Scotland Trophy having emerged with an unbeaten record. Sincere thanks were given to T. E. Nutt & Sons for their kind sponsorship and to local enthusiast Peter Nicholls, who provided the cheque for the highest break.