Thomas Engert now joins the elite club of successful Europeans who have crossed over to main stream American pool and carved out their piece of the American Dream. Engert in the past was plagued by not playing his true game on foreign soil seemed to have got the bugs out this event playing the best pool of all the pros this week at the UPA Predator FLorida Open.
It was a long haul today for Corey Deuel who had to play back to back matches after losing to Immonen in the winners side. Deuel cruised through Jones 9-4 and then kept control over Orcullo 9-6 (Deuel fouled on the break using a soft break 5x in the match yet still prevailed). Immonen lost a decisive 9-2 match to Engert on the winners side and had to face Deuel again. Deuel seemed ready this time and he took on Immonen who seemed frustrated from an array of bad rolls and missed shots. Deuel played convincingly well and took apart Mika 9-3.
The finals started off with a missed 8 Ball by Engert and he trailed 1-0. That would be his only time trailing as he took over on Deuel's multiple errors in the match. Deuel kicked in multiple shots and made terrific safeties but fatigue seemed to set in as he missed simple straight in shots throughout the match. Engert got to the hill 9-5 before making his first big error and missing the 10-Ball in the side. Deuel was left a long 10-Ball but makeable and missed. Then Engert missed. Then Deuel missed. Finally Engert had another shot at the win with the 10-Ball in the side (again)..this time making it for the victory! He let out a shout and celebrated with his German compadres Souquet and Hohmann.
"I guess I need to work on my short straight in shots" joked Deuel after the match.
"This is my first big win in America in a major tournament. I look forward to coming back to defend this title. It's a really good feeling." said Engert.
Special thanks to Predator Cues for being terrific hosts to the fans in Jacksonville FL and to Kay Higgins of Kings Bay Amateur Tour for running the Seyberts.com US Amateur Open. Congrats to Dragon Promotions and its fine staff with Cindy Lee, Charlie Williams, James West, Susie Lee, and Patty Zimmerman for their hard work and diligence.
Thanks to www.seyberts.com for their great coverage online of the entire event.
