 Mike Massey, Tom Rossman, Okinawa Slim and Eric Yow |
The tournament was held December 8th – 10th 2006, in Fridley, Minnesota at Two Stooges Sport Bar & Grill as the host site and thanks to owners Ty Wilson and Greg Asproth. This was the setting where twenty-five of the world's greatest artistic pool players came to battle in this prestigious event. However, there could only be one winner.
The preliminary rounds started with all twenty-five players shooting 40 shots in the 8 different disciplines with the top 12 players advancing to the playoffs. The top 4 players with the highest score received a bye…automatically advancing to the quarter-finals.
The playoffs started Saturday afternoon with Sebastian Giumelli defeating David Nangle 106 to 99, Mike Massey defeating Sal Conti 104 to 89, Steve Geller defeating Charles Darling 90 to 82, and Andy Segal defeating Bruce Barthelette 106 to 71 with each of the winners advancing to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals started Saturday evening with some highly anticipated matches where five of the players were ESPN Trick Shot Magic veterans, along with two other experienced players and one exciting new comer.
Mike Massey defeated Matt MacPhail 105 to 58, Tom Rossman defeated Steve Geller 86 to 60, and Sebastian Giumelli defeated Nick Nikolaidis 133 to 132 in a tiebreaker playoff match. The major upset of the evening is when new comer Eric Yow defeated veteran Andy Segal 103 to 76. All of the winners advanced to the semi-finals.
Sunday's semi-final matches were very exciting because of the three veterans and the newcomer Eric Yow who will be fighting to make it in the finals. However, Tom Rossman defeated him 126 to 112 and Mike Massey defeated Sebastian Giumelli 111 to 76 and now the table is set for the finals to see who will be crowned champion.
The full audience was anticipating the match in the finals between Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman and Mike Massey. They were team mates of the winning team in the 2006 World Cup of Trick Shots, they competed against each other in the 2006 ESPN Trick Shot Magic where Mike Massey became champion and Tom Rossman was runner up. The battle ground is now set once again for these two renowned players to go head to head to see who will become the 2006 WPA Artistic Pool World Champion.
Tom Rossman took an early lead at the beginning of the match and lost it one time to Mike Massey and never looked back. It came down to one last shot! Mike Massey was down by 9 points so he had to pick a shot worth the same value or greater to at least tie the match, and hope that Tom missed. Mike Massey failed to make the shot and was defeated 110 to 101, resulting in the crowning of Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman as the new 2006 WPA World Artistic Pool Champion!
It has been seven years since the World Pool – Billiard Association sanctioned the first Artistic Pool World Championship and Tom Rossman hasn't won until now, always coming close, and always falling short until now. Once announced as the champion, tears were flowing like a stream from his eyes. You can see that this is momentous occasion for him because of all of the hard work that he put forth becoming the crusader for Artistic Pool as we know it to be. This is definitely a victory for the internationally recognized sport of Artistic Pool!
First place – Tom Rossman – Gold Medal, Trophy & McDermott Sponsored Cue
Second place – Mike Massey – Silver Medal, Trophy & McDermott Sponsored Cue
Third place – Eric Yow – Bronze Medal, Plaque & McDermott Sponsored Cue
Fourth place – Sebastian Guimelli – McDermott Sponsored Cue
Once again, special thanks to the owner of Two Stooges Sports Bar & Grill, Ty Wilson and Greg Asproth for hosting this championship, all of the sponsors, the players and fans who helped support this event.
2006 WPA Artistic Pool World Championships Final Results
$3,000 Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman (Indiana)
$2,400 Mike "Tennessee Tarzan" Massey (Utah)
$2,000 Eric “ The Preacher” Yow (Tennessee)
$1,600 Sebastian "The Matador" Giumelli (Argentina)
$1,300 Nick "Quick Nick" Nikolaidis (Canada)
$1,150 Matt "No Fail" MacPhail (Massachusetts)
$950 Andy "The Magic Man" Segal (New York)
$850 Steve "Stellar" Geller (North Dakota)
$650 Charles "Spitball Charlie" Darling (Missouri)
$450 David Nangle (Maryland)
$350 Bruce "The Big Guy" Barthelette (Massachusetts)
$250 Sal "Cool Cat" Conti (Connecticut)
$100 Chi-Ming Lin (Taiwan)
$100 Dusty Geller (North Dakota)
$100 Al "The Coca Cola Kid" Relf (Massachusetts)
$100 Mark "The Oklahoman" Dimick (Oklahoma)
$100 Paul Gerni (Kansas)
$100 Tim “The Dragon” Chin (Massachusetts)
$100 Tom "Too Kool" Kinzel (Pennsylvania)
$100 Jose “The Kid” Rivas (Wisconsin)
$100 Paul "Book 'Em" Danno (New Jersey)
$100 Jason "The Michigan Kid" Lynch (Michigan)
$100 Byron Ledezma (Equador)
$100 Rick "The Barber" Hawkinson (Indiana)
$100 Nate “Okinawa Slim” Bryant (Georgia)
Discipline Champions
Trick and Fancy Shots 2006 World Champion Nick "Quick Nick" Nikolaidis (Canada)
Prop / Novelty / Specials Arts Shots 2006 World Champion Dusty Geller (North Dakota)
Draw Shots 2006 World Champion Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman (Indiana)
Follow Shots 2006 World Champion Mike "Tennessee Tarzan" Massey (Utah)
Bank / Kick Shots 2006 World Champion Nick "Quick Nick" Nikolaidis (Canada)
Stroke Shots 2006 World Champion Matt "No Fail" MacPhail (Massachusetts)
Jump Shots 2006 World Champion Mark "The Oklahoman" Dimick (Oklahoma)
Masse Shots 2006 World Champion Eric “ The Preacher” Yow (Tennessee)
2006 Artistic Pool World Championship Sportsmanship Award Nate “Okinawa Slim” Bryant (Georgia)
