NEWS - 05-23-05  BCA Open 9-Ball – Hohmann’s revenge against Archer



Final
 

The gambler’s capital Las Vegas was once more the venue for the BCA Open 9-Ball Championships. 64 men and 64 ladies fought for one of the most sought titles in the USA in the Riviera Hotel and Casino.

I won my first match against E. Roldan from Argentina 11-8, after leading already by 6 racks. In my next match against Waltrip from Texas, who came from the qualifications, it worked out much better and I won 11-2. Now, I had to play my team mate T. Hohmann. This match did not deserve a winner, especially since both players made so many mistakes that it started to hurt. Finally, Hohmann had the better end and won 11-8. In the losers bracket, I now had to face S. Kawabata from Japan. In this match, I never had the feeling that I could win, since the player from Japan succeeded in everything he did. I made one single mistake and had to swallow a bitter defeat against an opponent who made many more mistakes. I did not have such a bad run for long and this is why the 4-11 and my elimination were very bitter.

Hohmann had overcome his bad game and now played as if he came from another planet. He ran from victory to victory and none of his opponents stood a real chance. But in the final of the winners bracket, he found his master. He was upset 3-11 by J. Archer and now had to play M. Immonen from Finland. Due to the ESPN TV broadcasting, the match was reduced to a race to 7. Hohmann made clear that he wanted his re-match against Archer and entered the final with a clear 7-3. Now, the crowd assisted to a gala performance of the German player. He crashed the „Scorpion“ 7-0 and took his revenge for the clear defeat earlier. He won the title of the BCA Open 9-Ball Champion and scored his first major title in the USA.

From a German point of view, we were happy with the result of A. Roschkowsky, who played a very good tournament and scored an excellent 4th rank. T. Engert also finished in the Top 10 and the event was a great success for the German players.

In the ladies competition, A. Fisher (GBR) won for the first time against her very rival K. Corr (IRE). Third place went to E. Lawrence (USA/SWE), who had been nominated last year for the BCA Hall of Fame. The European players W. Jans (BEL) and J. Ouschan (AUT) finished both on an excellent 9th rank.