The Open Knockout Final was held in the Royal Oak, Faulkner Street, Hoole on 30th September 2010, and the eight finalists pictured L to R were: Chris Barlow, Ray Lamb, Ted Randles, Barry Tipton, John Lea, Richard Evans, John Pritchard and Dave Cooper.   The referee for the finals night was Mike Turner.  

The entire evenings play was televised live and shown on the big screen in the main lounge of the pub, no mean feat with Manchester City v Juventus also on tv.   Bagatelle will be the next thing on Sky Sports!

After the first round the four highest scorers were Chris Barlow 87 (40+47), Barry Tipton 80 (37+43), Ray Lamb 78 (41+37) and Richard Evans 73 (35+38).

In the semi-finals, Ray Lamb was drawn against Richard Evans and Chris Barlow was drawn against Barry Tipton.

In the first semi-final, Richard won the toss and chose to go first, scoring 60 (36+24).   It proved enough as Ray could only score 31 (21+10) in reply, unluckily missing some shots by the smallest of margins.  Bagatelle goes that way sometimes...

The second semi-final between Chris Barlow and Barry Tipton produced one of the best matches seen in recent times.  Chris won the toss and opted to go second.  Barry took full advantage and didn't play a bad shot either stick, scoring 96 (48+48).    In reply, Chris also scored 48 his first stick and the pub waited to see if he could repeat the feat.   He put the black into double 4 first ball, but then played brilliantly to pot every ball bar the 1 and 9 with 2 balls to go.  The shot proved too difficult but Chris still scored 39 giving a total of 87 (48+39). 

The aggregate score of 183 (96 + 87) is actually higher than last years final aggregate of 181 (90 + 91) between Nigel Walker and Dave Cooper, which many thought was the finest final ever.  With two scores of 87, Chris can count himself unlucky to have met an opponent in such good form, with Barry scoring 80 and 96.  Both players can be proud of the part they played in a great semi-final.

It was always going to be hard for the final to follow those scores.   Nevertheless, Barry went first and played superbly again, scoring 82 (43+39).   In reply, Richard scored 37 his first stick leaving him needing 46 to win.   Critically he missed the break second stick and scored 29 giving him a total of 66.

Mike Turner made the presentations, starting with the four players not in the top 4 scores (£20 each), then the losing semi-finalists (£35 each).  Richard was then presented with the runners-up trophy and £100 and  Barry with the winners trophy and £300.

Congratulations to Barry, whose scores on the night were 80, 96 and 83 making him a worthy winner, and to runner-up Richard.   Richard and Barry are pictured left with their trophies. 

Our thanks go to Angie and Chris at the Royal Oak for hosting the event and also the excellent buffet which was much appreciated by all.

I would also like to thank Dave Cooper for all his hard work behind the scenes, Mike Turner for refereeing the final, and all of the pubs and clubs who hosted the competition.    The Knockout will be back in 2011!   John P.
 

Actual scores from the Royal Oak on the night....

First Round
Richard Evans 35 + 38 = 73
John Lea           26 + 31 = 57                 Semi-Finals
Chris Barlow    40 + 47 = 87                 Richard Evans  36 + 24 = 60       v    Ray Lamb           21 + 10 = 31
Ray Lamb          41 + 37 = 78                 Barry Tipton      48 + 48 = 96       v    Chris Barlow      48 + 39 = 87
Dave Cooper    34 + 26 = 60
John Pritchard 29 + 37 = 66                 Final
Ted Randles     29 + 18 = 47                 Barry Tipton       43 + 39 = 82       v    Richard Evans  37 + 29 = 66
Barry Tipton     37 + 43 = 80

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