After several near misses, Scotland’s Jayson Shaw wins his biggest tournament to date, capturing the Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship with a 13-10 win over Taiwan’s Chang Jun Lin.
By Ted Lerner/WPA Press Officer
Photos by Takayama Takao
(Kuwait City)— Jayson Shaw has spent the last year knocking on the door of big time success. Tonight in Kuwait City, he could wait no longer and bashed the door in.
Playing with an air of expectation, the 28 year old Scotsman fulfilled the promise that so many could see coming for the last year, by winning the Kuwait Open 9-ball championship with a well played 13-10 victory over a relentless Chang Jun Lin of Taiwan.
The victory, Shaw’s biggest to date, is the culmination of the Scotsman’s meteoric rise in professional pool over the last 12 months. His American green card in hand, Shaw has traveled the globe in 2016, winning a handful of smaller events, and contending in some of the world’s majors. His 5th place finish in September at the World 9-ball Championship in Doha in August, and his third place finish at the US Open in October were further proof that something special was brewing. Tonight’s win in Kuwait confirmed it. And nobody doubts that this win will propel Shaw to even higher heights in the months and years to come.
The fact that this career defining win came against Chang was surely extra special for Shaw. For it was Chang who stopped Shaw’s charge at the recent US Open, and propelled the Taiwanese into the final where he lost to winner Shane Van Boening.
Chang’s second straight runner up finish in a major will no doubt sting for some time to come, especially because for the second straight time, the Taiwanese was playing lights out pool. Nobody, however, doubts that the 31 year old from Taipei will find major success and soon. The super talented Chang is playing his best pool in years and often looks unstoppable.
Shaw’s also looked unstoppable recently and he carried this confident air throughout the week here in Kuwait. This positive vibe was further enhanced yesterday in the moments before Shaw’s round of 16 match when he got word that he had qualified for his first European Mosconi Cup team.
Shaw continued his romp through the field today when he crushed the Philippines Warren Kiamco in the quarterfinals, 11-4. This set up a semi-finals showdown with 2015 World 9-ball and World 10-ball Champion Ko Pin Yi of Taiwan, who had just taken down the Netherlands Marc Bijsterbosch,11-7. If anyone needed any further proof that this was Shaw’s time, it came in this much anticipated showdown with Ko.
The pair stayed fairly even in the early part of the match, but Ko soon found a gear and looked to be streaking toward a solid win and a spot in the finals. Up 9-5, then 10-6, it seemed only a matter of time before Ko would close out the fight. But then Shaw began to claw back, in the same way he had come back from a 10-4 deficit to beat Ko in the US Open only weeks before. Tied at 10-10, Shaw took a bit of luck and some crafty safety shots, and won a thriller for a spot in the final.
There he met up with Chang, who had just come off of two hard nose wins over current World 9-ball champion Albin Ouschan, 11-6, and then scrappy Chinese Dang Jin Hu, 11-7. Two of the hottest players on the planet were fittingly about to continue their recently found rivalry for top prize in pool’s newest major event.
The early part of the race to 13 final saw Chang continue with his steady, hard nosed play while Shaw appeared slightly flat. Chang jumped out to a 4-1 lead and except for a golden break in rack 3, Shaw hadn’t sunk a single shot.
Then Shaw rediscovered his loose, freewheeling style and soon tied up the match at 5-5. The Scotsman took his first lead in the next rack with a break and run. When Chang returned the favor in the next frame, it was clear we were witnessing pool’s equivalent to a heavyweight slugfest.
Another mistake by Chang allowed Shaw back in the lead. Chang was about to land one back but he glaringly missed a makeable 9-ball and the score was now 8-6. Suddenly the air seemed to escape from Chang’s balloon, which only seemed to add fuel to the Scotsman’s fire. Two more mistakes by Chang helped further Shaw’s lead. Then Shaw nailed a 2-9 combo for a commanding 11-6 advantage.
Chang, however, wasn’t done yet. He found a gear of his own and won the next three racks to close to 11-9. In the subsequent safety battle in the next rack, the tension was palpable, especially coming from Shaw. Would this be another case of Shaw letting a big one slip away?
Not this time. Shaw outfoxed Chang and moved to the hill. Chang broke and ran to make it 12-10. But Shaw, visibly nervous, returned the favor and ran the table for the biggest win of his career and the $50,000 first prize.
Finally on top of the pool world, the affable Scotsman couldn’t contain his glee at what he had just accomplished. Hard work and dedication had been building to this moment for the last few months, and now the time to celebrate was here.
“The first few racks I was trying to really focus, and breath and get really calm,” an overjoyed Shaw said. “But I stopped that and said to myself, ‘Come on let’s go, let’s get some adrenalin going.’ And I thought to myself, ‘Just do what you do, just relax and let it go.’
“I’m just happy, excited. There’s been a lot of hard work and dedication that I’ve put into the game over the last year and I’ve had a lot of bad weeks where I’ve gone deep into big tournaments, and fell short. and it’s just nice to get a little bit of luck on my side when I play good.
“I’ve played good the last few tournaments and it’s finally good to get the win. 5th at the World 9-ball, 3rd at the US Open and here I’m in the final and I’m thinking ‘come on, just take that extra step.’
For Chang, another bitter loss in another major final was clearly a hard pill to swallow. But, as usual with the Taiwanese players, Chang took the defeat with class.
“I played some parts of the match good and some parts bad,” Chang said through an interpreter. “When it was 7-6 I made a mistake, I got distracted when somebody in the audience took a picture and from there everything seemed to go downhill.
“This is my second straight big tournament where I got second place. Yes I’m disappointed but I’m also happy because I’m playing really good pool. I just have to keep trying and hopefully one of these days I will win one of these big tournaments. But congratulations today go to Jason Shaw. He played very well.”
Indeed Shaw was not only elated at what he had just accomplished, but also at what the win would mean for the future.
“It’s the same with everybody,” Shaw said, “once you get one big win under your belt, everything opens up. I’ve won many tournaments, but this is a major tournament. To win this is obviously going to open a lot of doors for me. When I’m in this situation again I’ll know how to handle the pressure and finish the job.”
For the win, Shaw pocketed $50,000.
首屆科威特美式9球公開賽於Al-Ardhiya落下帷幕，在最終進行的決賽上，近來上升勢頭兇猛的蘇格蘭新秀Jayson Shaw發揮出色，以13-10的比分力克中華台北的“火雲邪神” 張榮麟，奪得桂冠，這也是其獲得的首個大型賽事冠軍。而中國9球國家隊的党金虎以及中華台北的柯秉逸則並列獲得季軍。
近年崛起的蘇格蘭球員Jayson Shaw在年初拿到美國綠卡後，幾乎走遍了全球，也贏得了一些小型比賽的勝利，直至本次奪得科威特賽事桂冠，達到了其職業生涯的一個巔峰。今年9月，他在杜哈完成了第五次9球世錦賽之旅，接著又在10月第三次亮相美國公開賽，他的出色表現逐漸表明一些特別的東西正在醞釀中，而今日他的奪冠也證實了這一點，沒人會懷疑這次捧杯將激勵他在未來達到更高的高度。
在科威特的這一周中，Shaw給人勢不可擋的感覺，尤其是在16強戰前他得知自己將第一次獲得代表歐洲隊參加莫斯考尼盃的資格，這些積極的氛圍讓他非常自信。
1/4決賽中，Shaw 11-4大勝菲律賓好手Warren Kiamco，接著在半決賽中向“撞球王子” 柯秉逸發起挑戰。比賽進程與數周前結束的美國公開賽類似，Shaw在被柯秉逸 10-6拿到賽點的情況下再度完成驚天逆轉，挺進決賽。決賽中，Shaw面對的是在美國賽中淘汰自己的張榮麟，後者在另一場半決賽中11-7力克中國的党金虎。
決賽採用搶13輪流衝球的賽制，比賽開局階段，張榮麟很快便取得了4-1的領先，期間還包含一桿“9-ball in”，Shaw幾乎沒有上手機會。此時，Shaw發揮出自己隨心所欲的打球風格，將比分追為5-5平。第十一局，Shaw衝球清台，第一次取得領先。張榮麟很快便將比分扳平，但接下來的一次失誤使得Shaw再度取得領先，而在最後的簡單9號球上的失誤又使Shaw將比分擴大為8-6.
比賽中段，張榮麟突然失去了對比賽的控制，Shaw在完成一次2號傳9號的精彩進球後，將比分優勢拉大到了11-6.然而，張榮麟沒有放棄，穩紮穩打將比分縮小為11-9.第二十一局，Shaw在防守大戰中覓得良機，拿下此局後率先奪得賽點。儘管張榮麟在後面追回一局，但仍無法阻擋Shaw奪冠的腳步，最終比分定格在了13-10，Shaw獲勝，摘得個人首個大型賽事桂冠。
Shaw在賽後說道：“剛開始的幾局比賽，我嘗試讓自己集中精力，深呼吸並讓自己絕對冷靜，但是後來我停止了這樣做，並隊自己說“來吧，讓自己興奮起來，去做自己想做的。”他補充說：“我感到非常開心和激動，我為比賽做了很多努力，也犧牲了很多東西，曾經我有許多糟糕的大賽經歷，它們使我沮喪。幸運的是我在打得不錯的時候也會感受到喜悅，這使人振奮。在過去幾個月的大賽中我打得不錯，這也是我獲得勝利的關鍵。”
而失利的張榮麟則說：“比賽的時候我並不穩定，當7-6的時候，我在擊打9號球的時候觀眾席上有攝影師拍照影響了我，從那時起，一切都開始向不利的局面發展。我的確很失望，但同時也很開心，因為我打得真的不錯。我需要的是保持努力，那樣我才能在某一天獲得大型比賽的勝利。同時，我也得祝賀肖，他今天表現非常棒。”
master
RESULTS FINAL 決賽賽果
Jayson Shaw (GBR) 13 -10 Chang Jun Lin 張榮麟 (TPE)
RESULTS SEMI FINALS 四強
Jayson Shaw (GBR) 11 – 10 Ko Pin Yi 柯秉逸 (TPE)
Chang Jun Lin 張榮麟(TPE) 11 – 7 Dang Jinhu 党金虎 (CHN)
RESULTS QUATERFINALS 八強
Ko Pin Yi 柯秉逸 (TPE) 11 – 7 Marc Bijsterbosch (NED)
Jayson Shaw 11 – 4 Warren Kiamco (PHL)
Chang Jun Lin 張榮麟(TPE) 11 – 6 Albin Ouschan (AUT)
Dang Jinhu 党金虎 (CHN) 11 – 7 Roland Garcia(PHL)
* The 2016 Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship takes place at the Al Ardiya Youth Center in Kuwait City from October 24 to November 5, 2016. The winner of the Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship will receive $50,000. The runner up will receive $25,000. The total prize fund is $275,000.
The 2016 Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship is being played under the patronage of the Kuwait Olympic Committee.
The WPA will be on hand in Kuwait throughout this year’s Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
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