Robert Durling, Levie Lampaan and David Marchant
The amateur, cash-competitive, regional-tour ranks of pool players are subject to a lot of surprises when it comes to the events in which they participate. The instances of relative or absolute newcomers (in terms of their recorded appearances on pool tours) defeating established veterans of a specific tour or different tours in a general region are numerous. One could argue, legendary. Case in point: This past weekend (Aug. 19-20) on the Garden State Pool Tour, at a $200-added event that drew 43 entrants to Diamond Jim’s Billiards & Pub in Nanuet, NY.
Divided initially into separate upper and lower brackets defined by Fargo Rates (526-675, 525 and below), the event became a four-match final series that did not technically include a battle for the hot seat. Instead, there was a match between the winners of a hot seat match from each of the brackets (the upper bracket match of the two was referred to by the tour as the ‘hot seat set’) and a match between the loss-side semifinalists of the two brackets. The loser of the winners’ side combatants moved over to face off against the winner of the loss-side combatants. The winner of that match advanced to a final match that didn’t happen. The two competitors that would have competed – David Marchant and Levie Lampaan – opted out and since Marchant was undefeated at the time, he was designated as the event’s official winner.
Marchant, sporting an unplayed-final asterisk in claiming the title, was picking up only his second recorded payout anywhere, having placed 9th at a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour in February. He had defeated Lampaan this past weekend in an earlier match; the last winners’ side match (mini-hot seat?) of the upper bracket. Lampaan came to the Garden State event a week after claiming two of the Tri-State Tour’s Invitational titles a week earlier; he won the A+/A – B+/B title and was awarded the Grand Champion title, as well.
So. . . surprise, surprise!
Marchant and Lampaan were both awarded byes in the first round of their upper bracket campaign. Marchant defeated Jon Goncalves 5-3, shutout Nic Torraca and got by Noe Videz 5-3 to square off against Lampaan in what would prove to be their only match. Lampaan had sent Bud Robideau 5-2, Santos Carpios 5-3 and (arguably, another ‘surprise, surprise’) former US Open 9-Ball Champion, Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductee and WPBA veteran Joann Mason Parker 5-3. That led to the only Marchant/Lampaan match, won by Marchant 4-2 to claim the upper-bracket’s mini-hot seat.
In the meantime, competing in the lower bracket, Robert Durling, who would end up finishing third overall, found his rank moving up from a 4 to a 5. After defeating Mike Tritto 4-1 and surviving a double-hill battle versus Allison Honeymar, he played as a 5 and defeated Mark Watt 5-1. In a straight-up race to 5, Durling got by Mike Strassberg in the lower bracket’s mini-hot seat match and turned for a shot at Marchant in what was termed the ‘hot seat set’ of the final-four bracket.
On the loss side of the two brackets, Lampaan (upper) defeated Joan Mason Parker a second time 5-1 and advanced to the event’s final four. Strassberg (lower), playing in his third straight double-hill match, was stopped by the woman he’d defeated in his first of the three, Vicki Moore. She advanced to take on Lampaan among the final four.
Marchant sent Durling off 7-4 to the event’s semifinal, which proved to be against Lampaan, who’d eliminated Moore 8-4. Lampaan shut Durling out in what proved to be the event’s final match. Marchant and Lampaan negotiated their split and with more (recorded) money in his pocket than he’d ever put there before, Marchant (surprise, surprise) laid claim to his first-ever event title.
Tour director David Fitzpatrick thanked Stephanie Werner and her Diamond Jim’s staff for their hospitality (to include bagels and pastries for the players), along with sponsors Billiard Engineering, In the Bx, Outsville, JFlowers Cues & Cases, Kamui, Off the Rail Apparel, John Bender Custom Cues, and new sponsor, World Beaters Billiards Apparel. The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Aug. 26-27) will be an 1150-combined Fargo Rate Scotch Doubles 9-ball event, hosted by Shooters Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
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