Peach cops title in war of nerves

The Filipinos fell to an English invasion in the 2007 World Pool Championship.

Darryl Peach dethroned defending champion Ronnie Alcano in the Round of 64, crushed Django Bustamante’s title hopes in the quarterfinals and proved to be an unforgiving Filipino executioner till the end, beating Roberto Gomez, 17-15, in a dramatic finale last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Gomez actually had all the chances to win and make history but succumbed to pressure, bungling what could have been back-to-back WPC championships for the home front following Alcano’s triumph last year.

Peach, the 35-year-old 17th seed, terribly outclassed Gomez in safety duels in the finish and pounced on the Filipino’s costly miscues for the victory worth $100,000.

Shelling out $100 to join a qualifying tourney, Gomez ended up banking $40,000 for the runner-up finish. But the 28-year-old couldn’t forgive himself as he blew away the opportunity to be the first qualifier ever to go all the way to win the WPC crown.

He squandered a three-rack lead at 15-12 and, at 15-15, threw away a chance to reach the hill by missing what appeared to be an easy shot on the 9-ball.

Peach, sporting a clean top, grabbed the rack given away by Gomez, then at 16-15, again utilized superb safety shots to finish off the Filipino much to the disappointment of the highly-partisan home crowd.

“This is a dream come true. But honestly speaking it was the worst match I played in years. The game plan just went out of the window. You never think you can win the world championship – you only dream about it,” said Peach.

“I gave it my best. I wanted to win badly for the country. But I made a mistake and it happens to the best of them,” said Gomez.

“I was uncomfortable at the start but I gained rhythm as I enjoyed the 15-12 lead. Then the immense pressure came into play. Probably, I wasn’t able to handle it,” Gomez added.

Peach himself felt the pressure, causing him to commit errors.

But in a struggling finish, Peach proved to be cool, more composed and patient, winning the match on a four-rack closing run.

Peach became the first Englishman to win a WPC championship even as he barely made it past the group matches and narrowly survived the quarterfinals against Bustamante.

Losing his first match in the elims to Slovak Matias Erculj, Peach needed to win his next two matches against Rodolfo Luat, 9-3, and Sing Lilly, 9-5, to reach the knockout stage.

He knocked out Alcano, 10-6, in the Round of 64; Lee Kunn Fang, 10-7, in the Final 32; Harold Stolka, 11-5, in the Last 16, Bustamante, 11-10, in the quarters, then Vilmos Foldes, 11-2, in the semis.