Scotty Townsend Report
Scotty Townsend Report
I have been to all three One Pocket events at the Scotty Townsend Memorial and these are my observations. Once again, I think the promoter and room owner dogged it by putting the one pocket event at the end of their week long tournament. Most of the fans left after the nine ball and the calcutta buyers mostly left with their nine ball money and did not participate in the calcutta for the one pocket.
The event director is Jeff Sullivan and he and his wife Illeana work very hard to run a smooth operation. This year, they took over the stream as well. The event only had fourteen players, and the owner, Josh Hoff deserves credit for scrambling to put the last two players in so that we would have a decent field. The players for the event were as follows:
1. Alex Pagulayan 8. Joey Gray
2. Tony Chohan 9. John Morra
3. Justin Hall 10. Cliff Joyner
4. Danny Smith 11. Roberto Gomez
5. Corey Deuel 12. Alex Calderon
6. Josh Roberts 13. Jonathon Pinegar
7. Chip Compton 14. Evan Lunda
Alex played his usual flawless one pocket and showed once again that it's him and maybe Dennis and then the rest are playing for second. Corey had a great tournament, coming back from a 3-1 deficit against Josh Roberts to advance and put Roberts out in fourth place. He then took on Chip Compton, who had been playing better than everyone but Alex up until then, but Corey ran through Chip and advanced to the finals. Alex won the flip and broke first. Alex took a quick lead, capitalizing on some over aggressive play from Corey, but then Corey clawed back to make it 5-4 and then 5-5 for the hill hill thriller.
The last game was a great nail biter, with both players happy to move the balls up table and fight for each ball. Corey then shot an ill advised shot, allowing Alex to run 5 balls and get to 7. From there, though, Corey began his comeback, and at one time shot one of his patented two rail billiard shots to threaten to snatch the game. He put Alex in a tough spot, with four balls left on the table, but one completely out of play in the jaws of the up table corner. Sensing that he was losing control of the game, Alex looked at a possible combination take out from Corey's pocket, a kick bank to his pocket which was iffy as the ball was near Corey's hole, or an off the air kick at a ball to win it all. Alex pondered the shot for a while, and then kicked a two ball that was slightly off the rail, sinking the game winner. Had he missed or hit it badly, Corey would have had real life, but Alex said later that he didn't feel like Corey could win there, he didn't have a really good safety and he felt like if he didn't kick the ball in, he would have hung it and that would have prevented Corey from getting to 7 balls. Gutsy shot that I don't think many would have even thought about. In the end, he won with the nerves of a cat burglar.
Some final remarks: Roberto Gomez continues his rise up the ladder and I see him as the next great Filipino one pocket player in 12-18 months. He is already giving established pros fits and he is still learning the end game. I would put him around top 20 right now. His high finish at the Derby was no fluke, as well as a 5/6 last year at Buffalo's. He finished 5/6 in this event and his future is very bright. I would be a buyer on Roberto Gomez stock.
The other player I want to comment on was a new face to one pocket enthusiasts. Alex Calderon is the best player in Houston and he played very well in this tournament. Tony Chohan went down 4-1 and Alex finished 5/6 here and I expect more from this player. He does all things well and is smart. Most importantly he is a game money player and matches up very well. I think this coming out party for him might hurt his action games, but he can hold his own against most players. I put him about 8-7 below the top 15.
Evan Lunda continues his rise. Expect a match against Chip Compton in the near future.