Champ scores title with borrowed cue
Gore pool player Tristan Matheson has won the Junior National 8 Ball Singles title with a borrowed cue.
He was playing his second game in the pairs’ competition when he had to change cues. The tip of his cue cracked as he attempted to screw the white ball backwards.
The teenager was philosophical about the situation.
‘‘I thought, ‘well, it’s not meant to be’.’’
Friend Jasmine Purdon, of Christchurch, came to his aid offering him one of her spare cues to continue with at the three-day national tournament in the Petone Working Men’s Club, in Wellington last week.
Matheson, 18, and his Manawatu team-mate Alex Creighton, 12, did not progress past the quarterfinals in the pairs section.
The Southlander’s luck changed for singles competition on the second and third days. He won all 10 games to claim the title, beating Coen Bligh, of Manawatu, four to one in the best of seven frames in the final on Saturday.
‘‘It felt pretty good,’’ Matheson said of the victory.
Purdon did not want her cue back, insisting he deserved to keep it.
Thirty-seven players competed in the mixed tournament.
Matheson said the pool tables used were different to what he had played on in the South Island.
‘‘The pockets were a lot tighter and you had to be pretty accurate.’’
The cueist started playing pool competitively five years and has won the Canterbury junior’s title twice. Last year he won the Gore Town and Country A grade competition and the Southland Pool 4 Schools 8-ball event on consecutive days.
A self taught pool and snooker player, Matheson says to be successful concentration and accuracy are needed.
‘‘I used to be nervous but the more tournaments I’ve played has helped my confidence.’’
He is looking forward to two more major competitions this year, the South Island tournament in June and open nationals in October. Both are being held in Christchurch.
His father, Shane Matheson, and stepmother, Lisa Barrie, of Balfour, were thrilled to be in Wellington to watch Tristan win the national title.
‘‘It was cool to be there ... great to see all his hard work come to fruition,’’ Barrie said.
Matheson is in his first year studying film and television at the Otago Polytechnic, with the view to employment at the New Zealand Racing Board. He would like to be a race caller.