Fifty-three players participated in the fifth Showdown event on April 9th and 10th at LeSkratch Billiards in Oshawa, Ontario. Many new faces came out to fight their way through the strongest Showdown Tour field to date. Some of the new players to the event included Rob Bass, Chris Orme and Craig Cochrane who was in town from the east coast. Harold Rousseau and Martin Daigle made the drive from Quebec for a chance at the title.
Some first round matches had Showdown Tour Stop #1 winner, Jeff White prevailing over Showdown Tour Stop #4 winner Andrew Attard. Another first round match saw John Morra over Mario Morra. The event also had some early upsets on Saturday, like Jarrett Vibert over Rob Bass in the second round on the A side. Jarrett suffered his first loss to Martin Daigle on the A side and received his second loss as a result of gut wrenching hill hill defeat at the hands of Chris Orme late Saturday night.
Eight players returned for the money rounds on Sunday. Harold Rouseau defeated fellow journeyman Martin Daigle (9 - 4) and Jeff White beat DJ McGuinly (9 - 6) in the A side semifinals. Al Logan defeated Craig Cochrane (7 - 5) and Chris Orme defeated John Morra (7 - 5) in the B-side matches. DJ went on to beat Al Logan (7 - 6) and Martin bested Chris Orme (7 - 5). Jeff White sent Harold Rousseau to the B-side with a 9 - 4 win in the A side finals. DJ then rolled through the B-side with wins over Martin (7 - 6) and Harold (7 - 4) to set up a rematch with Jeff.
Jeff and DJ battled back and fourth all the way to the hill hill match. Dj broke the 21st rack and made 3 balls with shape on the 1 ball but the 7, 8 and 9 balls locked up near a corner pocket. During DJ's run, he was able to hit the pack of tied up balls twice, only tightening them up even more. DJ went for the brake out again shooting the 6 ball but scratched in the corner behind the pack of balls. With ball in hand and a clever safety, Jeff was able to win the tight fought match.
Complete results:
1st Jeff White - $1750
2nd DJ McGuinly - $1000
3rd Harold Rousseau - $600
4th Martin Daigle - $400
5th/6th Al Logan and Chris Orme $250 (each)
7th/8th Craig Cochrane and John Morra $100 (each)
Wayne Graves won the consolation tournament for players that were knocked out of the main event two straight.
The next Showdown event will be held at Shooters in Toronto on April 23rd and 24th.
