“…and the Poor shall inherit…

2009 University Club Pro-Am Doubles

Well, not exactly. Tom Poor didn’t inherit the earth or anything for that matter, but he did end a thirteen year streak of losing in this tournament. With great thanks to John Nimick who paired him with champion Ben Gould (some say there was a sympathetic bond between Nimick and Poor who both recently had hip replacement surgery), Tom and Ben squeezed past former champion Mac Davidson (who now goes in for his own hip replacement in five days) & Mark Chaloner (Greenwich) in a tense five game final. The latter pair had not advanced easily, winning 15-14 in the fifth in a first round encounter with newcomer Jim Hearty & Willie Hosey (Toronto), then another five gamer over home professional Chris Spahr & Court Chilton. Poor & Gould reached the final with two four game victories, then another over John Hailer & John Russell (New York) who pulled the upset of the tournament in the quarters with a five game win over many time champion Sandy Tierney & Andrew Slater (Boston).

The University Club Pro Doubles Championship and its sister tournament, the University Club Pro-Am Doubles Championship have become an important mid-January fixture on the ISDA Professional Doubles Tour. With 2 sponsors, 77 patrons and 16 amateur players providing financial support for the event, the professionals competed in both the Professional and Pro-Am tournaments for $32,000 in prize money. In addition, the level of play in both brought out sizeable galleries throughout the weekend. This year, the finals were again held on Sunday after brunch and provided a two hour, tremendous match between the last year’s champions Damien Mudge (New York) & Viktor Berg (Vancouver) vs. Matt Jenson (Greenwich) & Clive Leach (New York). Matt & Clive, seeded 4th, won a 16-15 fifth game over top seeded Paul Price (Toronto) & Ben Gould (New York), then went to a fifth game again before bowing. For Damien and Viktor, the victory marked their third straight in the eight ISDA tournaments played to date.

The North Draw in the Pro-Am was composed of teams that won their first match, but lost in the second round of the main draw. Tierney & Slater proved too strong in this bracket, handling Jim Bildner (the only amateur to play in all thirteen of the Pro-Am’s) & Berg in three, then winning the final over tournament chairman Lenny Bernheimer & James Hewitt (Toronto). However, a new first was established when Lenny & James won the third game, 15 to -2, the first time in the Pro-AM handicap event one team has not scored a point in a game! The latter pair had also won a tight 5 five game semi-final over John Brazilian & Hamed Anvari (New York).

Moving to the West Draw with some hurt feelings and sore muscles were losers of first round matches. Joel Kozol, the oldest but among the most accurate players in the draw, paired with Matt Jenson (Greenwich) to defeat Steve Wolfe and Damien Mudge in three. Steve again captured the sartorial award with his pink sweat pants. Joel’s son Matthew and Preston Quick, the Union Boat Club’s professional, won narrowly in five over Jim Hearty and Willie Hosey (Toronto) to set up for the first time a father-son match in the West semi-finals. Son Matthew prevailed in five again. Meanwhile, in the upper half, Dave Riccio and hometown favorite Pat Malloy eased past Marty Stocklan and Paul Price (Toronto) to meet Philip Bullen and Joe Pentland (New York), conquerors of first time player Jeff Sherman and Sports Club LA professional Ben Howell. Dave and Pat won another five game tussle, then fell behind, 2-1, in the finals against Matthew and Preston. Dave then rose to the occasion with some small help from Pat as they took the last two games at 12.

The South Draw was reserved for West Draw quarter-final losers. The Price & Stocklan team defeated Howell & Sherman in a four game late Saturday match. In the other semi-final, Steve Wolfe convinced partner Damien to don pink sweatpants for the match: to no avail – they went down in three quick ones to Hosey & Hearty. The latter tandem rose early on Sunday to accommodate Hosey’s plane schedule and eased by Price & Stocklan in four to win the Champions trophy for the South draw.

This year’s event was universally acclaimed the most successful of all with generous financial sponsorship, spirited play and full galleries supplemented by a delicious dinner Friday evening and brunch Sunday. This event increases the interest in doubles in general and in particular, afforded all the chance to see great athletes (the professionals!) in action. Doubles continues to grow at the University Club and Boston in general and with luck may lead to a new court at the Union Boat Club.