Morra Stands Alone
Canadian 9-Ball Tour
by InsidePOOL Staff
The $10,000-added Canadian 9-Ball Tour made its first visit to the nation’s capital for event number three. Tailgators in Ottawa, Ontario, boasted over 20,000 square feet of space and 28 extremely well-spaced pool tables that were at the disposal of tournament officials. This made for a very smooth and fast-paced event for the 80 competitors who registered. With top seeds John Morra, Tyler Edey, Eric Hjorleifson, and last year’s tour champ, Edwin Montal, all in contention, the third stop on the eighth event was going to be tough sledding indeed.
Day one kicked off with most of the top seeds justifying their favoritism, apart from former Canadian Open champion Erik Hjorleifson, who suffered a hill-hill loss to Berry McLean of Winnipeg and Tyler Edey of Calgary, who was sent to the one-loss side by local sharpshooter Patrick De Repentigny. Another top seed fell out of the tournament, just not by the conventional means. A very disgruntled Alain Martel withdrew from the event, citing a total lack of form that he could no longer accept in competition. The popular Martel will be missed, as he is definitely a crowd favorite among the fan base here in Ottawa.
As day one wound down, 18-year-old John Morra stood alone as the pre-event top seed and still favorite to win tour event #3. Coming into the tournament as points leader, it was looking as though he would be adding to that advantage before he would be leaving Ottawa. Young Morra was accompanied by a trio of long shots that included Louis Fazekas, Shannon Ducharme, and Francis Crevier, all looking to make their mark on the winners’ side. All three had notable wins over favored opposition, but none was more impressive than Crevier’s run as he notched up wins over such distinguished players as Chris Orme, Danny Hewitt, and Alain Lessard. If Sunday allows him to maintain this type of form, he could well be the only threat to Morra becoming the first-ever back-to-back tour winner.
Still left to battle it out Sunday from the one-loss side are Alain Lessard, Jeff White, Luc Salvas, Jarrod Spence, Edwin Montal, John Jorgensen, Andrew Attard, and Adam Smith.