Elite Eleventh for Hall at the Whitworth!
Rob Hall won his 11th Whitworth Masters Crown defeating Nathan Mann in the 2 hour final 536-389. This was 25 years on from when the competition was first played and still remains an elite event in the EABA billiards calendar.
Hall opened up with a 120-0 lead with early visits of 51 and 64, but efforts of 92 and 111 from Mann ensured he opened up a narrow lead at the half way interval 225-178 (with Hall 36 unfinished at the table). After the restart Hall converted this into 149, and a few visits later quickly followed with a break of 137 to find himself over 200 points ahead. Mann replied with a 42 and 63 in the last half an hour but it wasn’t enough to stop an 11th title for Hall on the day.
Hall won group A on the Saturday with three wins out of three over Mann, Robinson and McAdam. He knocked in breaks of 167, 145, 138 and 114. Mann ensured his qualification for the knockout stage finishing runner up in Group A.
In the semi-final stages Hall defeated Chris Mitchell 767-142 aided by breaks of 197,181 and 103. Mann overcame Christopher Appleton 350-206 with top visits of 65 and 63 in the 90 minute semi final.
Appleton did well reaching the semi-final on his first appearance topping group B on Saturday with wins over Mark Hirst, Chris Mitchell and Tony Cooke. Appleton had an 85 break in his 223-130 win over Hirst. Mitchell came 2nd in Group B meaning he would run into Rob Hall in the semi finals.
Another noticeable performance came from Paul Robinson scoring 358 in his group win over Terry McAdam with consecutive visits of 62 and 94 unfinished.
We thank the Whitworth Centre and Jim McCann for hosting the event and look forward to returning to the venue again for the 2027 Whitworth Masters.
