Mike Davis (Erin Bechner)
Clatterbuck starts with Ussery and finishes as runner-up, best finish in 14 years
If you’re a professional competitive pool player, the problem with running into Mike Davis, Jr. in a tournament is that you can never be quite sure what you’re going to get. There are some things you do know; that he comes to the table with an enormous, quarter-century-full bag of experience and in any situation, that he’s a formidable, friendly opponent, not known for any ‘antics’ (questionable match behavior) at the tables. He also has a bucket full of state championship titles that stretch up and down the Atlantic Coast (and elsewhere). This past weekend (April 29-30), he came from the loss side and added one to his list, a Virginia State Bar Box 9-Ball title, earned at a stop on the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Pool Tour (MAAPT), a $1,500-added event that drew 61 entrants to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
What makes Davis a bit of enigma when you meet him these days is evidence of a bit of a ‘roller coaster’ career. He’s been as high as #22 on our AZBilliards Money Leaderboard (twice) and has been as low as #799 (a COVID year, 2021; his lowest recorded earnings year since we began recording his earnings at the turn of the century). Removing that ‘oddball’ year from the equation, his average finish on our Leaderboard is at #83 (82.9). So players can find themselves asking the question as they check a bracket and see that they’re scheduled to face him, “Which number is he working on this year?”
He’s currently among the top 100 players in the world (of our Leaderboard), right behind Earl Strickland and just ahead of Hunter Lombardo, but it just turned May and he’s won four of the six events in which he’s cashed this year. So, for prospective opponents, cause for caution, certainly.
In races to 9, Davis got by Paul Genovese (4), Greg Taylor (5), Leroy Ives (2) and RJ Carmona (4) before running into Matt Clatterbuck in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Clatterbuck, whose last (recorded) event victory occurred 16 years ago, when he claimed title to the 2007 Maryland State Bar Table Championship, started his day against BJ Ussery, who, a week earlier (and three hours away), had gone undefeated to claim title to the 15th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial in Sterling, VA. Ussery and Clatterbuck locked up in a double-hill battle (BJ’s fifth in his last eight tournament matches) that eventually advanced Clatterbuck through Heath Thomas (6), Daniel Adams (1) and Benjie Piamonte (7) to meet up with Davis.
At the other end of the bracket, Justin Clark (with a bye in the opening round) got by Ricky Morse (6), Aaron Detherage (2) and Eric Moore (6) to meet up with Chad Pike in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Clark downed Pike 9-4 and in the hot seat match, faced Clatterbuck who’d sent Davis to the loss side in a match that almost went double hill (9-7). Clatterbuck gave up only a single rack and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Pike picked up Piamonte, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Clatterbuck with victories over Greg Taylor 7-5 and Heath Thomas, double hill. Davis drew Eric Moore, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Clark by ending BJ Ussery’s six-match, loss-side winning streak 7-5 and then, downing Scott Roberts 7-4.
Davis advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-3 victory over Moore and was met by Piamonte, who’d finished Pike’s day 7-5. Davis took that quarterfinal match 7-3 and by the same score, downed Clark in the semifinals.
These finals were like the pool equivalent of two Classic Rock tunes battling it out in a winner-take-all listener poll; the numbers kept fluctuating back and forth enough to make it anyone’s match (they traded break & runs through the first six racks), until at the end, one ‘tune’ (Davis) edged out in front by enough (11-8) to claim the title.
“He and I played so many tournaments together over the years,” said Davis. “We used to gamble against each other in the late 90s and we ended up exactly even on the money.”
“We had a safety battle in the first game,” Davis added of this most recent encounter, “and yeah, we traded racks back and forth for a while. He was playing at least as well, if not better than me, but in the end there, a few rolls on his break just weren’t working for him.”
Tour director Tony Gonzalez thanked Michael Richards and his Peninsula Billiards staff for their hospitality, all of the players, especially those who travelled long distances to compete, along with Roberta Flores, Kaylyn Anne Richards and Robbie Norford for their assistance in running the event.
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