Gold Snooker Series 2017/18
Sponsored by
Gold Waistcoat Tour – Event 4
(Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon)
Pinhey in the Driving Seat
17th FebruaryThe latest event in the West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation, Gold Snooker Series, sponsored by Totally Reward,took place at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon. The last man standing from twenty 26 top amateur players was Haydon Pinhey from Plymouth. In the final Pinhey beat the reigning champion, Eddie Manning from Newquay. This win takes Pinhey to the top of the rankings, closely followed by Andy Neck (Newton Abbot), Andy Symons (Tavistock) and Manning.
On route to the final Pinhey finished top of group B ahead of Seb Worral and Jake Stewart, both from (Swindon) and Steve Brookshaw (Plymouth). In the knock-out stage Pinhey overcame Aaron Cook (Gloucester), Tom Kevern (Plymouth) and Worral in the semi-final. Pinhey’s best break of the day being 80. Manning’s route to the final looked in jeopardy when he took a large chunk out of his tip. Thankfully help was on hand when a kind club member stepped-up and quickly fitted another tip. From then on Manning did not look back. He won his group making breaks of 68,73×2, 68 and a magnificent 124. The latter taking the highest qualifier break prize. In the knock-out stage Manning added breaks of 58, 86 and 105. The other qualifiers from group B were, Chris Coumbe (Plymouth), Symons and Mahmoud Alzaid (Chichester). In the groups Symons was also in good form, making a string of sizable breaks (51,64,90,101 & 108). However, he ran out of steam in the last 16 against Worral. Group A was won by Hassan Vaizie (Gloucester) with breaks of 56 & 69. Other qualifiers being; Andy Smith (Worcestershire), making breaks of 50,55,64 & 90 and Wes Peters (Torquay) 75. Group D was reduced to just five players through ‘no shows’ which challenged the Tournament Director to provide value for money competition. The decision was to play matches of best of five frames instead of the usual, best of three, played in the other groups. The final group standings saw Neck, Kevern, Cook and Darran Lock (Seaton) qualify. Cook making breaks of 63 & 65 and Neck 57×2 & 58. The highest non-qualifier break went to Dale Branton (Plymouth), a mediocre 52 by his high standards. No player made a 147 break so the unclaimed prize for this goes into the Gold Masters prize money pot.
With two events left to play in The Galaxy Centre, Torquay and the Top Q Snooker Club, Gloucester there is all to play for to finish in the top sixteen in the rankings. These lucky players will be presented with invites to play in the WEBSF Gold Masters in May 2018, also sponsored by Totally Reward. If accepted they will also receive free tickets to attend an Exhibition evening with Snooker Professional, Dominic Dale in the evening following the tournament.
WEBSF Tournament Director said, “The overall Gold Series title is still very much in the balance with two events to go, the top players cannot afford to relax if they want to stay in the race for the overall title. Furthermore, the top sixteen is even more closely contested. An invitation to compete in the Gold Masters for addition prize money and free tickets for the Dominic Dale exhibition are big incentives. On another note we must congratulate one of our members Harvey Chandler from Northants, who recently won the European Mens Snooker Championship which was held in Bulgaria and brings with it a two year place on the professional tour. The WEBSF Management Team have awarded Harvey Life Membership of the WEBSF in recognition for this fantastic achievement.” Any player interested in entering WEBSF events or potential volunteers willing to get involved with the work of the WEBSF they should contact Steve Canniford, Mobile 07891940995 or visit http://www.websfsnooker.com or WEBSF Facebook. Thanks to International Referee Nick Harry, for another tireless day of refereeing and the Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon who hosted this event.
Report by Steve Canniford
Gold Snooker Series – Event 4 Results 2017-18
