Report

TOUR 5

The final EPA tour of the season saw last years' standout player, Karl Sutton, back in the winner's enclosure. His first match saw him pitted against Oliver Lawrence, a talented young player who took Sutton all the way and almost ended his run before it started. Sutton managed to edge the final frame and set up a 9am meeting with Sun Valley's Neil Kelley. Kelley put in a performance which belied his 87th place ranking and ran Sutton close, eventually losing 7-5. Sutton then despatched of Rich Wharton, 7-4, before comfortably beating Dale Greenwood 7-1. Greenwood, who started the tournament in 86th had put in a superb effort beating two top players in Sam Bircher and Eddie Barker on his way to the quarter final. This set up a semi-final against Neil Toms, who was having somewhat of a resurgence as he beat Callum Singleton, Rob Wharne and Mike King to set up the clash. Sutton, however, proved too strong on this occasion and ran out an 8-4 winner.

Dan Eaton-Lees has had a good season so far, reaching the semi-final of tour 3, but his path to the final here had a big obstacle in his way in the form of Tom Cousins. This was Cousins' first event of the season and no doubt he'd have been looking to make a mark. This he did, in the wrong way, as Eaton-Lees steamrollered him 7-0! Clearly invigorated with this result he then beat a very good Greg Gamlin 7-2 and took a big lead against Wigan's Kris Hampson. Hampson though is used to getting off to bad starts and had been 6-1 down in the previous round before notching up a 7-6 win so was unfazed at the prospect. He managed to get it back to the decider before Eaton-Lees could finally close the match out. A confident win against Ben Swinnerton, 7-1, set up a semi-final against Phil Harrison, who has an amazing record in the final event of the season and would have been looking to add another title to his collection. It seemed Harrison was going to do exactly that as he lined up his final ball at 6-6 but to everyone's surprise, he was a fraction out and this opened the door for Eaton-Lees. A final shot for Harrison saw him foul and then pot the black in the same shot, an unfortunate end to a high standard match.

This set up a final with two times winner Sutton taking on Eaton-Lees who was contesting his first final. Clearly he wasn't fazed by this as he pushed Sutton all the way with nothing to separate the two and in the deciding frame it was Eaton-Lees who had the first chance. He seemed to have taken control of the frame but Sutton manufactured a finish to be proud of and took the match 8-7, picking up a third tour title.

In the overall tour rankings, Adam Davis came out on top, highlighting his amazing consistency as he also topped the Premier League as well. The tour 3 winner takes some stopping at this game and no doubt he'll be back to showcase his talent next season as we see a change for the tour as it takes on a double-elimination format, giving players more table time and more value for money.

TOUR RESULTS

CHALLENGE 5

The final EPA challenge event of the season saw an array of top class players fighting for the title, but when you have the talent of Tom Cousins on one side of the draw and Phil Harrison on the other, the odds are always good on them meeting in the final!

The route for both players was especially tough. Cousins, with his relentless potting and carefree approach, made his look fairly comfortable with the likes of Anderson, Cooney and Brierley unable to push him to a deciding frame. Harrison, however, had somewhat of a tougher time, with deciding frames against Singleton, Townsend and Thompson.

The final saw Harrison take a 4-0 lead and at this point, after coming through so many tough matches, he must have felt his name was all but on the trophy, but Cousins is not one to give up and when Harrison played a seemingly good safety shot in the next, Cousins saw his opportunity and took it, taking out a top class finish to get himself on the board. Quite often this is all it takes to change the momentum in a match and that was clearly the case here as Harrison then went in off the next break and saw Cousins clear again. Cousins managed to take the match to 5-4 before Harrison saw a great chance to seal the game go begging as he cleared from the break but left his last ball hanging agonisingly close to the pocket as he landed on a drop in black. This was to prove to be his only chance to take the match as Cousins took this frame and then cleared off the break in the decider, ending a fantastic match against two world class opponents.

CHALLENGE RESULTS