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Swindon’s 147 Snooker Club hosted round three of the Gold Waistcoat Tour recently, where North Devon’s Paul Standen won the event after a thrilling final.
It was the first time the Gold Waistcoat Tour had been held at the 147 Snooker Club and the West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation (WEBSF) confirmed they would look to return in the near future.
Standen booked his place in the knockout stages after winning Group D, edging Wayne Branton (Plymouth) into second place by the narrowest of margins.
Breaks in Group D came from Tom Kevern (Plymouth) 51 & 60, Matt Hulatt 61, Hassan Vassie (Gloucester) 52 & 57, Standen 67 and Branton 70.
In group A, Andy Neck (Newton Abbott) came through undefeated to take first place with Darren Horsman (Devon) just edging out Callum Lloyd (Wales) for second place.
Best breaks in Group A came from Johnny Watters (Tavistock) 58, Neck 50, Horsman 55 and Dale Branton (Plymouth) 56.
Dan Legassick (Plymouth) was unstoppable in group B, like Neck he was undefeated, his best break being a 69. Second place was taken by Haydon Pinhey (Plymouth) with a 56 break. Other group breaks came from Harvey Chandler (Rushden) 61 and Rogers 61, 52, 51 & 50.
Steve Downing (Redruth) won Group C, posting a 61 break with Jake Stewart (Swindon) in second place. Other group breaks came from Darran Lock (Cornwall) 54, Andy Symons (Tavistock) 77, 55 & 51 and Steve Brookshaw 54.
Eddie Manning never fails to entertain and did not disappoint on the day with runs of 60, 65, 66, 71 and the only century of the day, a fine 102, to take the top break prize.
The quarter finals saw four former event winners fall by the wayside with Neck falling to Stewart, Branton losing to Legassick, Downing beaten by Horsman and Pinhey bowing out against Standen.
The best breaks of the knock-out stages came from Standen 51, Stewart 55, Legassic 82 and Pinhey 83.
In the semi-finals Legassick battled it out to halt an excellent run by home player Stewart while Standen came through an equally tough match against fellow Horsman.
After a close first frame in the final that went Standen’s way, Legassick, who had lost just three frames on his way to the final, had a bad contact on the brown in frame two which let in Standen to take the frame, trophy and prize money.
With the ranking table front runners Andy Symons (Tavistock) and Andy Rogers (Wales) failing to qualify for the knock-out stage, the door was left open for the following pack to close the gap.
This they duly did and there is now a three way tie at the top between Symons, Rogers & Pinhey on 133, closely followed by Horsman and Standen on 131 and 128 respectively.
WEBSF spokesman said: “The new ranking points system that was introduced this season is certainly having the desired effect, at the halfway stage no player is running away at the top.
“With three of the four semi-finalist never having won a Gold Waistcoat event it looked like there was going to be a new winners name on the event trophy.
“However, Paul Standen the only previous winner kept his head against an improved Darren Horsman and the quick-fire potting ability of Dan Legassick to win through for only his second Gold Waistcoat event win. This is the first time we’ve brought the tour to the 147 Snooker Club, Swindon, hopefully we will be able to return again later in the season.
“The next event is scheduled for February 20th at Jesters, Swindon.”
Any player interested in entering WEBSF events should contact Steve Canniford, mobile 07891940995 or visit www.websfsnooker.com or WEBSF Facebook.
