Mosconi Cup Day 1, USA Take Overnight Lead 2 - 1

TEAM USA closed out Day One of the 2004 Mosconi Cup in fine form as the partnership of Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris got into the groove early on and overwhelmed Europe’s pairing of Marcus Chamat and Mika Immonen.

For Europe, Chamat missed too many balls, leaving his partner in the lurch on several occasions and for Team USA, it was a case of two top stars playing to their potential.

A scratch from Morris in the opening rack handed Europe an early lead, but Strickland produced a golden break to level. The Americans ran rack three, but then in the fourth, a jump shot from Immonen forced the 1-ball in and Chamat then spurned a chance on the 2, leaving Morris an easy chance to snooker him.

Immonen’s jump cue was red hot, and he produced a full-length jump shot to down the 2, but his partner was less convincing, and a dire effort on the 3 resulted in a scratch. Morris made it 3-1 with a simple 4-9 combination, and the Americans were in the driving seat.

Immonen broke off in the next to save the match but Chamat, faced with a jump shot to cut the 1 ball into the middle pocket narrowly missed and left it on for Team USA. Between them, Morris and Strickland cleared up to get to the hill.

With the Pearl breaking, he produced a cracker, dropping the 6 ball and leaving the yellow 1 on for Morris. With the 2 ball tied up, Strickland produced a brutal safety which Immonen escaped from.

Morris though, left Chamat a table length tempter on the 2 but he missed and left on for the Americans. From there, they didn’t look back as they ran out for victory.

Morris was clearly delighted to start in such fine fettle especially in a scotch doubles format with a potentially tricky partner. “This is a dream for me, playing in the Mosconi Cup and partnering Earl Strickland, my favourite player of all time, it gives me Goosebumps, he said.

“It’s becoming my favourite tournament because you’ve got all these great players pumping for you and that’s a great feeling.”

For Strickland, the feeling was mutually. “I played Rodney Morris in Hawaii when he was a kid and I knew he was going to be a great player. He makes it easy.

“I know I’m a great player and I’m starting to play better now. I’m really enjoying it here in Holland and there’s only one Amsterdam in the whole world.

Perhaps Strickland’s most telling comment came when asked why he seemed a much calmer man –“The doctors have got me on medication!”

Matchroom Sport - 17/12/2004