Welcome to the 1998 U.S. Amateur Championship

The Most Prestigious Event in Amateur Pool!

OH HENRY! ILLINOIS SHOOTER CAPTURES AMATEUR TITLE

Henry Brodt wins 5th Annual U.S. Amateur Championship in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (November 8, 1998)__Henry Brodt and Dan Lavoie both caught a glimpse of the U.S. Amateur Championship spotlight last year, when they tied for 5th Place in the nation's most prestigious amateur pool tournament. They both qualified to return to the Championship Rounds again this year at the Las Vegas Cue Club over the weekend of Nov. 7-8, and were tied once again when the field of 128 competitors dwindled down to two.

The fact that courses would ultimately steer in opposite directions was inevitable, and neither player left anything in reserve as they fought off the pressure, fatigue and some of the tournament's most remarkable leaves in a race-to-11 finals match combination of 8-Ball and 9-Ball.

After Brodt, from Glenview, Ill., broke and ran to set the tone of the match and jumped out to a 3-1 advantage, his methodical approach and consistency seemed unbreakable. He had the crowd of about 200 anxious spectators and players roaring with his Game 4 victory, which included no fewer than three geometrical wonders. But Lavoie, the more animated combatant, realized that it was time to lay it on the line. The Mount Dora resident, along with a strong Floridian contingent, got pumped up and then started manipulating long greens Phil Mickelson would have trouble holing.

Lavoie brought himself close again with a Game 5 victory before the two would trade off seven-ball runouts to push the match to 4-3 Brodt, but a tight pocket and maybe a little too much intensity would work against him later. With the 8 sitting in the jaws and nothing apparently blocking its course, Lavoie fired what would have been the game tying 7-ball into the corner, but it refused to fall. As the format switched to 9-Ball in Game 9, Brodt continued to hook whenever possible and calculate most every "makeable" ball, and stretched his lead to 6-3. Lavoie, determined as ever, then picked up his game and pulled to within striking distance again with a quick seven-ball runout. Following seven consecutive safe shots in Game 11, Lavoie stroked perhaps his best shot of the evening with a three-rail combo that bumped the 2 into the 6 into the corner, but he then caught a couple short rails on the 3, leading most everyone to believe that Brodt would take the 7-4 advantage and run. But in a game that requires so much concentration and a little bit of luck, nothing was decided at that point.

Brodt paused from looking as if he belonged playing with the pros when he misfired on the 9 in Game 12. Lavoie won the next game, too, and pulled the match to 7-6. Fatigue apparently set in as the evening progressed and the two split the next four games to push the match to 9-8. The ball-in-hand rule finally took effect in Game 18, as Brodt's attempt on the 4 rolled out of control and the cue ball fell in the corner to even the match at 9-9.

"At that point the longer race was really wearing me down, and I'm sure that's what was happening to Dan, too," said Brodt, who benefited from climbing through the winners bracket undefeated in the earlier race-to-7 rounds. "But you've got to do your best to keep your mind focussed on what's going on, and I was just trying to keep everything positive."

Brodt kept everything pretty defensive as the match came down to the wire, as perfectly placed safeties led to four ball-in-hands in Game 19. He needed a little luck to go with the skill, as Lavoie looked as though he was going to cross the table from corner to corner with a cut on the 9, but it rattled once again and Brodt sent it home. Brodt made nothing on the break in Game 20 and Lavoie went on the defensive attack. He stuck the 2 against the 6 about six feet away from the 1. But Brodt was up to the billiards challenge and broke the two apart with some precision backspin before leaving Lavoie without a shot. With ball-in-hand, Brodt buried the 2 but could do little with the 3, as it butted up against the 4. Three rails later, the red ball rubbed the corner rail and hung vulnerably. Lavoie knocked it, and the 4-ball home, but missed a difficult cut of the 5 with the remaining balls spread out around the table. Brodt then cut the 5, stuck the 6 in the corner and dropped the 7 in the side. With the 8 and 9 kissing on the spot, Brodt's leave was true enough to angle the 8-ball in and pull the cue ball back to send the 9 the same way to capture the 11-9 win.

"I blew so many games as the match wore on, and as soon as I got a shot on the 5 in that last game I told myself that it was time to finish this thing now, because if I didn't, I was going to get beat," Brodt said.

The 51-year-old is starting to get used to handing out an occasional beating, and that's because of his increased time playing in tournaments and on his own Brunswick Gold Crown, the same 9-ft. model used at the Cue Club. Brodt has been playing-quite well lately-in the Texas 9-Ball Express events and practices for almost two hours each night upon returning home from work. Lavoie, who owns Fat Cats Billiards in Orlando, plays there two nights a week on his APA 8-Ball and 9-Ball teams. Thirteen American Poolplayers Association (APA) teams play there in all, meaning there's rarely a time when poolplayers aren't shooting, hanging out or talking pool, which the 31-year-old ambassador of the game enjoys to no end.

"I'd rather be playing competitive pool than anything else, and getting the opportunity to play in a field like this makes the game that much more fun," Lavoie said. "This tournament was absolutely phenomenal; I'm really impressed with it all. There were a lot of good shooters here, and what's great is the fact that they're not out here to make some quick cash, they do it for the prestige and bragging rights."

The U.S. Amateur Championship is not included in the APA's guaranteed $800,000 national tournament purse, nor does it use the APA's Equalizer® handicap system. Instead, it rewards the top two winners with the sport's most magnificent (and heaviest-just ask Lavoie, whose friends couldn't hang onto his) bronze and marble trophies, paid travel, lodging and entry into a Camel Pro Billiards Series event of their choice, commemorative jackets and champagne and the opportunity to defend their titles in 1999 with entry and lodging paid by the APA.

"I guarantee I'll be back next year because this tournament keeps getting better and better," Brodt said. "As more people find out about it they want to get in on the action and prove to themselves how good they really are. The quality of the players has improved tremendously over the years."

The U.S. Amateur consists of a majority of APA members but is open to non-members, too. APA members receive discounted entry fees but no other special privileges. Of the top 16 finishers, 15 currently play in the APA and Camel Pool League, and approximately 60 percent of the field has entry fees paid for by sponsors and the APA covers the cost of lodging at the Four Queens Hotel & Casino. The format is a double elimination race-to-7 combination of 8-Ball and 9-Ball, with the final match a race-to-11.

Andrew Barlow, an English native living in Foster City, Calif., is a snooker player who found out about the tournament when he purchased his APA membership using Camel Cash. With only the Preliminary Round action about a month earlier, Barlow, who placed 3rd, had not played 8-Ball or 9-Ball whatsoever during the past year. His one-piece snooker cue fared almost well enough to win, but still earned him a bronze and marble trophy.

Fourth Place went to Madison, Miss., APA League Operator Mickey Ray, who came into the tournament with more U.S. Amateur experience than anyone else in the field. This year's finish matched his 1996 performance, and he also placed 7th in 1997 and 1995 and took 5th in '94. This is the only APA-sanctioned event open to its League Operators, so, needless, to say, Ray is too busy running the League to get much practice in other than non-league games at Joker's Billiards.

Blair Levandowski, who competed in the U.S. Amateur for the first time, had little trouble knocking down anyone in his path on the winners side until he reached the end of his bracket. Tough rolls and a couple bad breaks hurt the chances of the young sharpshooter from Jerry Bayer's Suffolk County, New York Camel Pool League, but he'll be back next year with some national experience under his belt looking to improve on his 5th Place finish.

Kerry Standridge, who plays in Linda Lindsey and Gary Hatfield's Orlando area Camel Pool League with Lavoie, also left his mark in tying for 5th and took home a plaque for his efforts.

One man who has had a fair amount of practice lately outside of the Corner Pocket Billiard Lounge is Colorado Springs' Jim Barber. At the encouragement of League Operators Ron and Mimi Woolery to enter, "The Barbarian" took 7th Place in his first major tournament since qualifying for and placing 33rd in the Camel Pro Billiards Series 10-Ball Open last month. Barber also knocked defending champion Aaron Lodge out of contention and into 25th Place.

Tim Daniel, from the Orlando area APA and Trick Shots Billiards, never gave up hope after losing his first match and made it to the final eight before bowing out to Barlow.

For the first time since the APA began conducting Preliminary Round qualifiers for the U.S. Amateur, the tournament had a female contention. Three ladies in all - Jill Jodice, Michelle, LaDuca and Donna Rooney - stepped up to the tables with the men. Although all placed 49th and viewed the performances otherwise, their efforts were applauded by the entire field of players, supporters at home and spectators on hand.

From 35 states and one Canadian province, 454 people tried to qualify for the tournament, (which is up 18 percent from 1997). But only those who earned top spots during one of 14 Preliminary Rounds at regional sites around America comprised the 128-player field.

The APA, based in Lake Saint Louis, Mo., sanctions the world's largest amateur pool league, known as the Camel Pool League throughout the United States and as the Canadian Pool League in Canada. Over 165,000 APA members compete in weekly 8-Ball and 9-Ball League play and Camel is the APA's national 8-Ball League and Championships sponsor.

The APA is generally recognized as the Governing Body of Amateur Pool, having established the official rules, championships, formats and handicap systems for the sport of amateur billiards. One of the keys to the success of the APA League, administered by local League Operators, is The Equalizer®, the APA's handicap and scoring system that makes it possible for players of different playing abilities to compete on an equal basis, much like they do in golf and bowling.

Congratulations to all 1998 U.S. Amateur Participants!