Earlier in the 9-day tournament, held in Louisville, Ky., Jose Parica defeated Larry Nevel in the One-Pocket competition, and Danny Harriman (voted BD’s Most Improved Player of 2002) took the 9-Ball Bank Pool title by besting Steve McAninch.
Nevel proved to be the iron man of the grueling event, winning the all-around title by virtue of his second-place finish in one-pocket and third-place finish in 9-ball banks.
The 9-ball banks competition has wrapped up after four days, and Danny Harriman of Springfield, Mo., came out on top. Fresh off his first-ever pro tour win at the Predator UPA Pro Tour Championship, Dec. 8, Harriman seems to be on a roll. He defeated Steve McAninch of Toledo, Ohio, 3-0, in the final after making judicious use of the Derby City’s buy-back option to get back into the action and win.
Round four of the one-pocket division is now underway, and Alex Pagulayan, Charlie Williams, and Nick Varner, among others, are all contenders for the title.
The Mosconi Cup matches held in London today had a surprising outcome: Europe, which suffered a crushing 12-1 defeat last year, has leapt to a 3-0 lead on the first day of this year’s competition.
In the first matchup, Team Europe team captain Oliver Ortmann and fellow German Ralf Souquet took on American team captain Johnny Archer and veteran pro Nick Varner. Team Europe took first blood with a 5-2 victory.
In the second match of the opening session, Scandinavians Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat faced American young guns Cory Deuel and Charlie Williams. Immonen won the lag and ran out to take a 1-0 lead, and that set the tone for the match. Europe picked up another point with a 5-1 victory.
In the final matchup of the evening, American spirits were flagging, and the European support was growing stronger by the minute as home-team favorite Steve Davis and fresh-faced rookie Nick van den Berg faced Americans Earl Strickland and Jeremy Jones. This match was closer, 5-4, but with the same outcome: Europe took another point.
The Mosconi Cup will head into its second day with Europe holding an unprecedented shutout advantage. Check our live-coverage link at the top of the page for on-site coverage, or visit www.mosconicup.com.
At the end of October, veteran 9-ball star Kim Davenport was competing in the UPA Atlanta Open, fighting for a spot on the U.S. team for the upcoming Mosconi Cup in London. Today, the 47-year-old Modesto, Calif., pro is fighting for his professional pool player life. Davenport, the 1990 Billiards Digest Player of the Year and a many-times pro tour champion, has only limited vision in his right eye, the result of a freak golf accident at a local driving range on Nov. 16. His chances of regaining full vision in the eye are uncertain.
According to Davenport, an avid golfer who sports a 3 handicap, a lawn mower kicked up a golf ball, which ricocheted off a metal post next to Davenport’s practice tee, and struck him directly in the eye.
“It knocked me right to the ground,” said Davenport. “I didn’t know what happened. I couldn’t see a thing, and I was scared to death. An ambulance came and rushed me to the hospital.”
A CT scan eliminated concern over possible bleeding in the brain, but severe bleeding left Davenport completely blind in the eye for more than a week.
“The doctors don’t know what will happen,” said Davenport, who has regained some of the vision in his eye since the accident. “They don’t think I’ll ever get 100 percent of my vision back, and they’ve discussed a cornea transplant. They won’t really know what the options are until January.”
The setback comes during a period in which Davenport had regained a spot in the men’s top 10 rankings. He’s posted four top-10 finishes in 2002, including the Sands Regency title in June.
“I’ve been playing well,” Davenport said. “But if I never get to play pool again, I’ve had 17 great years. It’s just a bad roll. A nice sunny day that went dark.”