The first edition of the Play More Pool Social Series recently culminated in a Top 16 final held at Da Vinci’s Pool Club in Pretoria Gardens.

Players qualified for the final through weekly events held over three months at five different pool clubs throughout Tshwane, and their rankings determined who would receive an invitation.

Many a new talent was identified during the course of the series, perhaps most notably Jean Emmenis, who won four of the weekly legs to top the rankings by a substantial margin. Emmenis was also largely responsible in securing a top position for the Blazing Balls on the team rankings.

The Top 16 final was played in four groups of four players, with the top two from each group qualifying for the quarterfinal knockout stages. The group stages didn’t produce any major upsets, and the favourites all made it through unscathed.

As early as the first round of knockouts a major upset already happened, with the 5th-seeded De Wet Allers defeating the heavily favoured top seed Emmenis without dropping a frame.

The championship was now wide open, with any of the last four possessing the pedigree to go all the way. In the first of the semi-finals the nerves showed for Michael Dixon, twice fouling at the death to gift Chris van der Walt a 3-1 victory. In the second semi-final, seventh seeded Morné Jacobs defeated Allers with the same 3-1 scoreline.

The final would be a tough contest, with both Jacobs and Van der Walt making two final appearances during the series. Jacobs was perhaps the slight favourite, being the higher-ranked player and having won the Legends Invitational earlier in the year, and he did not make any mistake in securing the first frame in a race to three.

But Van der Walt dug deep and capitalized on his opponent’s mistakes to take the next three frames and the championship, and even left Jacobs with seven balls on the table in the final frame – a classic whitewash.

R4 500 in prize money was rewarded in the final of the PMP Social Series, where top league players are barred from entering in the interest of promoting the grassroots of the sport.

The top eight from the Social Series are now promoted to the newly-launched Rising Stars series, an intermediate competition for more accomplished players but still excluding the very best in the province. These competitions take place on Wednesday nights at participating clubs around Tshwane.

For more information on 8-ball pool events, please visit www.playmorepool.co.za.

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