9th March 2006
The penultimate West of England Billiards & Snooker Foundation Gold Waistcoat Tournament, sponsored by the Sunday Independent sailed into Plymouth bringing with it quality snooker from the best players in the region. This tournament, ever increasing in popularity, was held at the Victoria Snooker Centre, St. Budeaux. Sam Baird, Silver Waistcoat star from Tiverton turned silver into gold by winning this the 6th Gold Waistcoat event. In an electrifying final Baird defeated fellow Tiverton team mate and winner of the previous event, Gregg Batten 3-1. Batten who had played like a professional all day, looked like making it two in a row after compiling breaks of 53 and a 35 clearance to seal the first frame. However, Baird had not read the same script halting Batten’s charge by holding his nerve to steal the second frame and level the match 1-1. Batten after playing class snooker all day seemed to burn-out when facing the final hurdle, could only watch as Baird kicked off in frame three with a breath-taking break of 61 to take a 2-1 lead. Baird then followed this with a 40 break in the fourth frame to leave Batten requiring snookers. After several attempts at trying to snooker Baird, Batten finally conceded the frame and match 3-1. WEBSF Head Coach was heard to comment "Today we have witnessed Sam ‘turn the corner If he continues to play with this level of purpose and maturity the future augers well for him".

Two players shared the title of 'breakmaster' both posting magnificent breaks of 115. The first century coming from England International Mike King from Rileys Club, Exeter. King after trailing 0-1 to Ben Pike from Honiton in the group stages drew level with breaks of 46 and 34. He then moved up a gear, taking the match 2-1 aided with a superb 115 break. The second 115 break of the day was posted by Batten, still in good form after his previous Gold Waistcoat victory in the last round he looked favourite for a repeat performance. After wining his group in style he saved his best for the quarter and semi finals with an emphatic brace of centuries. The first was a phenomenal break of 115 against fellow Tiverton player Adrian Bond in the deciding frame of their quarter final match. Batten followed this with a superb 97 and 108 in the semi-final, knocking the stuffing out of England International Andy Symons-Rowe from Tavistock, who could only watch as Batten dominated the match to progress to the final. This came as a shock to Symons-Rowe who must have felt confident after beating fellow England International Neil Chiswell 2-0 with the help of a 95 break.

In the other half of the draw Radford continues to be a thorn in the side of fellow Exeter team mate Wayne Woodger. Radford ran out a comfortable 2-0 winner. In the last quarter final Baird dismissed another England International Kris Vincent 2-1 with a fine display of potting posting breaks of 78 and 40. In the second semi final Baird was faced with the master-of-matchplay and England International Andy Radford. Baird however, was not to be phased by this task, dispersed Radford with relative ease 2-1 to reach the final.

In group A Batten won all his matches to head the group, he made breaks of 80 and 63 in defeating Grant Cole (Plymouth) 2-1. Cole, after going 1-0 down to Woodger, hit back with a 54 break to claim a well earned 2-1 win. Jamie Denham from Exeter made a 47 break in a 2-0 victory over Mike Day (Plymouth), Day recovered some credibility by recording breaks of 43 and 41 against Cole and Woodger respectively. Woodger placed second joined Batten in qualifying for the final stages.

Vincent won group B on frame difference over fellow England team mate Chiswell. Along the way Vincent recorded a break of 74 in his 2-0 victory over Wayne Branton (Plymouth) and a break of 67 against current Gold Waistcoat champion King. This frame proved crucial in knocking King out of the final stages of the tournament, the first time in 10 events! Chiswell rallied a 55 break in a 2-0 win over King to qualify in second place. Branton recorded a 64 break in a 2-0 victory against Pike.

Radford, who is top of the ranking table won group C. Radford watched as Adrian Bond kicked off with breaks of 64 and 53 only for Radford to recover in champion fashion, recording a frame and match winning break of 84 to win 2-1. Adrian Bond’s younger brother Darren was also on the receiving end of Radford’s break building prowess, Radford posting a well crafted break of 78 in a 2-0 win. Bond was to follow this defeat by holding his nerve to knock in a flashy 78 break in a 2-1 good win over Luke Walker (Plymouth).

The first match in group D saw Baird not waste any time setting out his intentions for the day against debutante Ian Barlow, playing on ‘home turf’. Baird pounced with two superb clearances of 96 and 65 to win emphatically 2-0. Baird finished runner up in the group recording other breaks of 48 and 49. Symons-Rowe won the group producing a hat full of breaks, the highlight being a 64 break in his 2-1 victory over Baird. Barlow recovered from his demolition by Baird to construct a solid break of 66 against Symons-Rowe only to watch Symons-Rowe clear the table with a break of 43 to pinch the frame by a single point and win the match 2-0. Darren lock (Seaton) failed to qualify but slotted in a couple of 50 breaks for good measure.

Guest of honour for the day was Reg Hayes of WEBSF’s ‘twin’ foundation the newly formed South East Billiards & Snooker Foundation. After Hayes presented the prizes he commented on how professional the tournament had been run and how sporting the players had been in both victory and defeat. Hayes went on to comment on the high quality of snooker that he had seen throughout the day and that the players from his region would have to be on the top of their game if they stood any chance of beating the WEBSF team in the ‘Foundations Cup which is to be held later in the year in September in Woking Snooker Club.

Report by Keith Millard (Tournament Director)