Jayson Shaw
Previously, on Reports from the SBE . . .
By Sunday morning, the field at the 30th Annual Diamond Open Professional Players Championship, held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA from April 11-14, had come down from its 128 entrants to eight. They’d gone through a monster 128-player, double-elimination bracket until there were eight left on each side of the bracket. Those 16 entered a single-elimination phase, which opened up on Saturday night, immediately reducing the field to the aforementioned eight in the event’s quarterfinals.
Jayson Shaw returned from the loss side of the double-elimination phase of the tournament, entered the single-elimination phase and went undefeated from there to claim the title; his second Diamond Open Pro Player Championship, having won the event in 2022 and lost in the 2023 finals to Jonas Souto Comino.. Shaw was challenged in the final by Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis, who won four straight in double elimination, and advanced through the single-elimination bracket to challenge Shaw in the finals.
After Shaw defeated Tyler Styer 11-7 in the first round of single elimination on Saturday, he returned on Sunday morning to meet and defeat Lukas Fracasso-Verner 11-6 in one of the quarterfinals. Shaw drew Shaun Wilkie in the semifinals. Labutis opened his single-elimination work with a victory over Mortiz Neuhausen 11-8, before downing Darren Appleton 11-7 in the quarterfinals and drawing BJ Ussery, Jr. in the other semifinal.
As he had done in a double-elimination match versus Tommy Kennedy, Shaw let Wilkie get out to a substantial lead in their semifinal match. The two traded racks to a 1-1 tie before Wilkie set out on a five-rack run. Ahead 6-1, Wilkie made a tough, though successful cut at the 6-ball in rack 7 and scratched. Jayson finished the rack, but Wilkie came right back with one to regain his five-rack lead at 7-2.
Jayson began a run that would pull him within one, winning four straight, including the first break & run of the match. At 7-6, Shaun responded to make it 8-6 and then, chalked up his first break and run to go ahead 9-6.
Rack 16 proved pivotal, as Wilkie made an unforced error shooting at the 8-ball. Shaw pounced and won the first of three, including his second break & run to knot thing at 9-9. Wilkie took advantage of an unforced error by Shaw to reach the hill first, but Shaw came right back with his 4th break and run to force a double-hill, deciding game. Wilkie broke and scratched. With ball in hand, Shaw stepped to the table and won.
In a match that went back and forth through multiple ties and lead exchanges, BJ Ussery and Pijus Labutis were battling the other semifinal out on a nearby table. Ussery, having been responsible for sending Shaw to the loss side in double elimination, may have been looking ahead to a second matchup against Shaw in the final. He and Labutis played three less games than Shaw and Wilkie but took more time doing it. They’d kept it close until Labutis began to edge out in front, winning it finally 11-7.
In the final that began about half an hour after the final 9-ball dropped in the semifinal, Labutis won the lag and immediately chalked up the match’s first break & run. Perhaps mindful of previous matches during the event in which he’d had to struggle when his opponent got a little too far out in front, Shaw stepped up to the table and got to work right away.
Shaw broke and dropped a ball in rack #2, but failed to pocket the 1-ball. Labutis made a mistake shooting at, Shaw stepped up and ran the table to create the first, and as it turned out, only tie at 1-1. Shaw won the next eight racks to take a commanding 9-1 lead before Labutis registered his second break and run to make it 9-2.
Labutis won the next two, but Shaw won rack #14 to reach the hill first. Labutis came back with something of a desperate run, winning three in a row and chalking up his third break & run to pull within three at 10-7. Shaw closed it out, winning rack #18 to claim the event title.
“Pool’s a funny old game,” said Shaw after the match, “and (Labutis) played a good, good set.”
While musing just a bit about the folly of depending on safety play too much – “How many times do you play safe and when you come back to the table, you’re in (a bad position). I figure what’s the point? I’m just going to go for it. Most of the time, I’m going to make (the shot) anyway, so why am I playing safe in the first place?” – Shaw went on to express satisfaction with where he’s ‘at’ presently.
“I’m just happy to be playing well again,” he said, “and I feel like I’m in good shape.”
Hard to find somebody who competed in the 30th Annual Diamond Open Professional Players Championship who disagreed with him.
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