Jamito Outlasts Eberle at Swannee Memorial Event

By Bill Rosenberger and Hilary Morse

The Ninth Annual Jay Swanson Memorial Tournament was held o­n January 29-30 at Gaslamp Billiards in San Diego, CA.  An outlandish field of 213 players swamped the poolroom early Saturday morning, forcing the tournament directors to kick off the Swannee Tournament 15 minutes after the doors opened at 10 a.m. 

The turnout was the highest since the memorial event was started in 1996, with last year's 196 players the previous high.  The event featured races to 9 and 7 with Texas express rules.

The field included last year's winner, Santo Sambajon Jr., Max Eberle, Melissa Herndon, and Tony Chohan.  Two of the California's favorites, Paul Jaurez and Gerardo Jamito were surprisingly fighting right through the event to meet late o­n Sunday night in the winners' bracket semifinals.  With the match at hill-hill, Jamito broke and sank two balls but ran into trouble with while trying to gain position o­n the 6.  It was a tough, long shot o­n the 6, but he went for it, leaving the 6 hanging and the cue ball falling into the pocket.  Juarez took ball-in-hand and ran out the rack to earn a spot in the hot seat match against Eberle.

In the hot seat match, Eberle and Juarez displayed a long and grueling match.  Juarez gained the early 2-0 lead, but Eberle battled back to tie up the score.  The two players battled back and forth with Eberle gaining an 8-7 advantage.  In the sixteenth rack, a safety battle ensued, but Juarez missed the 8, leaving Eberle to finish out for the win. 

In the o­ne-loss side, the matches were heating up.  Sambajon and Jamito faced off for the second time in the tournament, and for the second time, Jamito outplayed the wily veteran for the 7-2 win. 

Jamito and Jaurez met in the semifinals, and Jamito was hoping to come out o­n the other end this time around.  Both players started off hot, but Jamito pulled away for the 7-4 victory and chance to face Eberle in the finals.

The final match started at midnight, with Jamito racing to a quick 2-0 lead o­n Eberle.  The two players battled in a tightly contested match, and over two hours later, Jamito sank the final 9 ball to earn a well-deserved 13-8 victory.
 
Results:

1st Gerardo Jamito $3,390
2nd Max Eberle $2,000
3rd Paul Juarez $1,400
4th Santos Sambajon Jr. $900
5th Tang Hoa, Ismael Paez $600
7th Jimmy Mendoza, Dan Petralba $400
9th Don Westbrooks, Corey Harper, Jerry Matchin, Dave Datillo $300

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