Jason Klatt and John Morra
From July 6th-9th, The Corner Bank in Toronto celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday with a $5,000 added 8-Ball event. The event was dedicated to the late Vince MacIntyre who we lost in 2013. There is no doubt that Vince would have played in this event if he was still with us, he was a warrior on the bar tables.
The talented field of 68 players included some of Canada’s best bar box players including Louis Fazekas, John Morra, Andy Aupin, Adam Monture and Al Porter. Fans in attendance witnessed some excellent pool. On route to the finals, John Morra defeated Rob Hall, Jonathon Lessard, Brad Guthrie before facing the current Canadian 8-Ball Champion Adam Monture. Adam and John traded games right down to the wire before Morra clinched the last rack. John continued his journey with wins over Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt to earn the hot seat.
Jason Klatt had wins over Bruce Hickey, Ben Crawley, Jeet Khandi, Tyler Styer and Andy Aupin before losing to John Morra in the A-Side finals. In the b-side finals, Jason Klatt eliminated the young gun from Wisconsin, Tyler Styer. I’m sure we will be seeing more of this sharpshooter as he has recently been spending some time here in Canada.
Klatt now faced John Morra again in the finals. This was a “true double knock-out” event with Jason needing to win two sets for the title. Klatt wasted no time jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Morra could get a game on the board at 5-1. John missed the 8-Ball in the next rack put Jason in front 6-1. Jason held it together to win the first set 8-2 and the players quickly lagged again to start the last set of the tournament.
Jason Klatt came out of the gate strong once again. This set was played at a slower pace as both players could now see the finish line. Morra stayed within reach eventually tying the score at 5-5. A foul on the 8-Ball in the 11th rack put Jason ahead 6-5. Jason broke dry in the next rack and Morra carefully cleared the stripes to tie the score at 6-6. Now it was Morra’s turn to break dry, Klatt took his time and ran the table to reach the hill 7-6. Jason followed it up in style with a break-and-run to win the event.
