March 2004

2004 SA OPEN

Twenty two players fronted on Sunday 22nd February to the Adelaide Hilton to try their hand, dice and luck for the 26th SA OPEN. Unlike other years, no-one forgot to turn up or slept in. Among the familiar faces were, GORDON NEILSON and GUNTHER POLLHIEM. Given the field was limited to 32, just 10 buy back were available with the question fielded the most by the tournament committee was "can I buy a block of buy-backs" to which the answer was, no! Early knockouts were EMIL ANDRAWOS [d 1st Round by PETER GEELEN], ANGELO ALI [d 1st Round by CLAUDIE VASSEUR] and BILL TOUBAKARIS [d 1st Round by NICK BEGAKIS].
Interestingly enough, no-one bought back more than once in the buy-back - timing did not give the opportunity. This year the buy-back 1st Round was to 7 points, up from 5, to give a sporting chance to all. The final 8 were;

1. PETER GEELEN
2. JOHN O'GRADY
3. THEO GEORGIOU
4. CHRIS BENHAM
5. TERRY EFTHIMIOU
6. GORDON NEILSON
7. EMIL ADRAWOS
8. NICK PAPADOPOULOS.

Peter d John, Theo d Chris, Gordon d Terry and Emil d Nick for the final 4 spots.
To reach the final, THEO GEORGIOU d PETER GEELEN in a 1h 25m, 13 point match and EMIL ANDAWOS d GORDON NEILSON in a 1h 55m, 13 point match. This left Theo to battle it out with Emil, both of whom were "running hot".
The score sheet is replicated here [right] and the whole thing was over in less than an hour. Emil was not able to get into the match at all and Theo swept to his first SA OPEN title. This is the further-est Emil has gone in the SA OPEN so a personal best for both players was achieved.
CONGRATULATIONS THEO GEORGIOU and well done EMIL ANDAWOS.