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WORLD NINEBALL TOUR
JFlowers Scottish Open
McGoldricks Pool & Sports Bar
184 Main Street
Rutherglen
Glasgow
G73 2HW
McGoldrick's Pool & Sports Bar
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Friday-Sunday 26-28 May 2023

Jayson Shaw - JFlowers Scottish Open Champion
All photography courtesy of ©David Black
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SHAW WINS EPIC COME-BACK FINAL FOR POPULAR HOME VICTORY

If you didn't see the final of the JFlowers Scottish Open last night, then you missed the most incredible match we're likely to see this year - an epic battle between Scotland's favourite Jayson "Eagle Eye" Shaw, and the Polish pool prodigy Wiktor Zieliński.

On his way to the final, the 22 year old Zieliński had comfortably eliminated Elliott Sanderson, Jack Whelan, and Denis Grabe by significant margins, and he looked like continuing in the same fashion, after he and Shaw traded the first few racks, the Pole dominated the table to go 8-2 in front - a devastating scoreline in any race-to-10 competition, and even in this winner breaks format it presents an almost insurmountable lead.

Shaw, who had just scraped through a tense hill-hill semi-final with aging German super-star Ralf Souquet, never gave up, and gradually managed to chip away at the lead, as the formerly indestructible Zieliński started to show a little frailty, visibly dropping his head a few times while sitting in his chair as Shaw took rack after rack with no reply, until he was just one rack behind at 8-7.

A late rally by Zieliński got to him to the hill, and breaking for the match - it looked like Shaw's comeback might be for naught, as the Pole made the one-ball in the side, but a miss on the two gave Shaw the opportunity he needed to clear up, and a break and dish for Shaw in the penultimate rack sent the match to hill-hill, much to the relief of the appreciative but admittedly partisan audience.

Referee Julian Roper prepared the all-important final rack, and the crowd roared their appreciation as Shaw and Zieliński shook hands... But you could hear a pin drop as the proud Scot stepped forward to make the crucial final break of the evening.

Watch the video of the final rack, you won't believe it until you see it... Jayson broke dry, leaving an easy, straight one-ball for Wiktor and a route-map finish - all the youngster has to do was hold his nerve and not make any mistakes and the match would finally be his.

Bad luck perhaps, or the contrariness of the pool gods, combined with a little of extra adrenaline meant the Pole actually cued it too well - drawing the cue-ball all the way back down the table until it scratched into the corner pocket.

With ball-in-hand his opponent made no delay in clearing the balls, and a deafening roar of jubilation greeted Shaw sinking the decisive 9-ball, taking the title and a handy £8,000 top prize.

You can watch the video of the final below, and remember that following the massive success of the JFlowers Scottish Open, McGoldrick’s will play host once again to a World Nineball Ranking event from July 21-23 with the Jacoby 9-Ball Open.

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