Davis tops largest SBE field of 1,024 to win Amateur Open

 

In its multi-discipline, varied-skill format that, with some overlap among 11 events, drew over 3,000 pool players to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, PA over the weekend of March 28-31, the Super Billiard Expo’s Pro Am Bar Box Championships has always existed as something of a challenge. In 2018, they used the challenge in promoting the event, asking potential participants a simple question – How good do you really think you are?

 

Open to all levels of competitors, without restriction, its field is capped at 32 players, who play a ‘best of three set’ format with races to 6 in each set (all other Amateur events utilized the same format, although with races to 5 in each set). While encouraging and expecting a wide variety of players from the amateur to the pro, this year’s ProAm Bar Box Championships featured a field that was tipped somewhat toward the amateur end of things. Not completely, because it was won by 20-year veteran Jonathan Pinegar, who’s been winning and cashing in amateur and semi-pro events for nearly 20 years. Known throughout most of his career as “Hennessee from Tennessee,” Pinegar has, in recent years, been signing on to events with his given name. At this year’s SBE, he signed in as John Pinegar. This year’s runner-up was Demetrius Jelatis.

 

The posted brackets on the SBE Web site for all of the amateur events (including the ProAm Bar Box) do not indicate the scores of the individual sets, which masks the give and take of game-by-game scoring. Instead, each player is seen to have won their individual matches by only one of two possible outcomes; 2-0 or 2-1. There is no way of knowing, therefore, a given player’s game-winning percentage, only his or her set-winning percentage.

 

Pinegar won 10 of 12 sets he played over five matches. He opened with a 2-1 win over Alex Olinger, went 2-0 against Kevin West and allowed Scott Haas a single set in the third round, which brought him to a semifinal matchup against Justin Espinosa. Jelatis, in the meantime, won eight of the 12 sets he played over five matches. He opened with two straight 2-0 set victories over Shane Clayton and Alan Rolan, before giving up a set to Ryan McCreesh. This set him (Jelatis) up against Jorge Rodriguez in the other semifinal. Rodriguez is another one of those competitors who’s been competing at the semi-pro and pro-level for years.

 

Pinegar got into the finals with a 2-0 set victory over Espinosa. Jelatis joined him after a 2-1 set victory over Rodriguez. Pinegar completed his undefeated (in sets) run with a 2-0 victory over Jelatis.

 

Davis goes undefeated in his individual bracket, advances to win Amateur Open

 

In the largest field of the SBE, the Amateur Open, 1,024 entrants initially split up into 16 brackets of 64 players each. Each of those brackets delivered a single player to a Final 16 bracket. Phil Davis didn’t lose a single set (best of three sets in races to 5) in his initial bracket, going 2-0 against Chris Garrett, Matt Clatterbuck, Mark Alicea, Paul Swinson, Richard Anderson and in his bracket’s finals, Jason Balas. He gave up his first set in the opening round of the single-elimination final 16 bracket, going 2-1 against Joe Wright. He went back to his 2-0 pattern against Mark Nanashee in the second round, which moved him into the semifinals against Julio Burgos.

 

Raed Shabib, in the meantime, gave up his first set, in the opening round of his 64-player bracket, to Christopher Balderson. He didn’t give up another one until his bracket finals, having gone 2-0 against Abel Rosario, John Hoge, Bill Mason and Randy Tate. He took the bracket final 2-1 over James Adams. He opened the Final 16 portion of his run with a 2-1 victory over George Crawford and then downed Brett Stottlemeyer 2-0, to arrive at a semifinal against Chris Bruner.

 

Davis and Shabib advanced to the finals with identical 2-1 set victories over Burgos and Bruner, respectively. Davis completed his undefeated run with a 2-1 victory over Shabib in the finals.

 

Amateur highlights

 

The next highest attended Amateur tournament was the Open Seniors event (for 50+), which drew 384 entrants. Originally split into eight preliminary brackets, yielding a single winner, the event was won by Bobby Connor. He advanced through the Final 8 field with set wins over Oscar Bonilla and Dennis Spears, both 2-1. He was met in the finals by Efrain Morales, who’d defeated Joe Armeni 2-1 and Chuck Ross 2-0. Connor didn’t give up a set in claiming the Open Seniors title.

 

Next up, with 192 entrants, was the Super Seniors (65+), who started in four initial brackets, yielding a very short final field of four. Ed Matushoneck downed Tom Acciavatti 2-1 to claim his spot in the finals, and was joined by Ronny Park, who’d defeated Nelson Rivera 2-1. Matushoneck claimed the Super Seniors title with a 2-0 win over Park.

 

The Amateur Ladies drew 188, just four less than the Super Seniors. Combined, those two events would have yielded an enormously entertaining field with just four less than the Open Seniors event. As it was, the 188 ladies, like the Super Seniors, started with four initial 64-player brackets (with a number of opening round byes) and ended with a final field of 4. Rachel Lang and Michelle Jiang advanced to the finals without giving up a set to either Marie-France Blanchette and Stacey Tonkin. Lang downed Jiang in the finals two sets to one.

 

In the 12 and under Juniors event, which drew 56 entrants, Parker Jakubczak downed 2018 11 & under Junior National Champion Kyle Yi in the finals 2-1. In the 17 & under category, which drew 76 entrants, two-time 14 & under National Junior Champion Nathan Childress defeated Ivo Linkin in two straight sets.

Things got progressively tighter for Shaun Wilkie, as he worked his way through a field of 73 entrants, on hand for Stop # 2 on the Action Pool Tour, hosted by Champions Billiards in Frederick, MD on the weekend of February 8-9. After surviving two straight double hill matches that left him in the hot seat, Wilkie had to contend with Brett Stottlemyer, who'd won seven on the loss side to challenge him in the finals. Wilkie prevailed in those finals to complete an undefeated weekend and claim the event title.

 

After an opening round bye, Wilkie defeated RAndy Davis, Dan Madden and T.J. Moore, by an aggregate score of 21-7. Trevor Dentz challenged him from among the winners' side final eight, chalking up five against him. Wilkie then moved into a winners' side semifinal against Ryan Jones, while Tony Long met up with Sean Sporleder. In the first of two double hill matches, Wilkie sent Jones to the losers' bracket, as Long defeated Sporleder 7-4. The hot seat match went to a deciding game, as well, with Wilkie prevailing to watch the progress of his eventual finals opponent, Stottlemyer.

 

On the loss side, it was Sporleder who had the misfortune of running into Stottlemyer, in the midst of his seven-match, loss-side winning streak. Stottlemyer had already defeated Dan Madden, Meredith Lynch, Trevor Dentz and Jimmy Varias. Ryan Jones drew Alan Duty, who had most recently eliminated Chris Garrett 7-4 and Jeremy Perkins, double hill.

 

Stottlemyer gave up only a single rack to Sporleder and advanced to the quarterfinals against Jones, who'd defeated Duty, double hill. Stottlemyer downed Jones 7-4 and then, in the semifinals, spoiled Tony Long's bid for a re-match against Wilkie with a 7-2 victory.

 

Stottlemyer had that intangible – momentum – on his side as he squared off against Wilkie in the finals. Wilkie, though, shrugged off the equally intangible factor of waiting for an opponent and completed his undefeated run with a 9-3 victory to claim the event title.

 

A Second Chance Tournament, held on Sunday, drew 16 entrants and saw Dan Madden return from the loss side to defeat Tom Helmstetter 7-4 in the finals. Helmstetter had sent Madden to the losers' bracket in a double hill, winners' side semifinal. Madden moved over and took down Kyle Ray 5-3, Jeff White, double hill, in the quarterfinals and Will Moon 5-1 in the semifinals. A 7-4 win in the finals over Helmstetter gave Madden the Second Chance title.