by Tony Hollins
The Jimmy Knott Memorial Singles is the season opening event for the mid-to-upper level players. This is a great opportunity to shake off the rust and get three guaranteed competitive matches.
The T&R got a well rounded draw of 14 players which produced some tight match ups even in the early rounds. A couple of the first round highlights included a 10-9 showdown which saw Thomas Pickin take down Philip Stockton, Ben Hudson defeated Shep Skiff 10-7, Andrew Roberts had a big win over Shawn Herlihy 10-7, and Jeff Horine held off a young up and coming Ben Dickinson 10-7.
The pick of the quarter finals saw Jeff Horine narrowly pip Bill Barker 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Jeff took that good form into the Semis where he faced an on form Jeremy Wintersteen; Jeremy took this one in another ding dong of a match, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
On the top half of the draw, Alex Spence was taking no prisoners as he advanced through to the finals without dropping a set. Although the quality of the final was high, he also made quick work of Jeremy, winning the match 6-0, 6-2.
Due to the depth of the draw, the quality of the back draw was also very high. Shawn Herlihy took down Philip Stockton in the final of that event, 10-7.
Thanks to all of the players who traveled up to participate, the strong showing from the T&R players, and to everyone who came out to specatate.
Phil Stockton & Shawn Herlihy
