On December 5, at about 2:00pm, I received a phone call on my cell, complete with windy static in the background. It was Kane Waselenchuk calling for directions to the Lakewood Athletic Club. After our hello’s he brought my attention to the blowing sound that was, in fact, the wind coming from his (all of them) rolled down windows. Being from Canada, he was sweating from the balmy 65 degree weather. My only response was “welcome to Denver!” Denver … “The Mile High City” … the power player’s paradise? Or the retriever’s retreat? The ball travels faster, but it also stays up longer, so the only way to find out who will have the advantage is to play ball!

The round of 32 had two mini-upsets with semi-retired Louis Vogel getting by Mike Green who was having an uncharacteristically bad day, and Dan Llacera taking advantage of the inconsistent play of another semi-retired tour regular, Woody Clouse.

The round of 16 had two key match ups that seemed to have “greatness” written all over them. The first, Rocky Carson vs. Kane Waselenchuk, may have looked good on paper, yet it was anything but. Kane walked through like he was late for P.E., beating Rocky 6,5,2, who, for the record, has not done well in Denver in the past. The second pairing between Mike Guidry and Jack Huczek promised to be a spectators delight, and lived up to its billing. After splitting the first two at 12-10 each, Jack hit a zone in the third for the 11-2 win. Battling back and fourth, Jack closed the match out 11-9. The only upset of the 16’s came at the expense of John Ellis. The dangerous Chris Crowther feasted on an under-the-weather Ellis who always seems to have his annual cold/flu fall on this tournament weekend.

The quarterfinals began with the much-anticipated match up between southpaws Cliff Swain and Kane Waselenchuk. To keep this brief, like the match, Cliff dominated by outscoring Kane 33 to 9. The match between Alvaro Beltran and Huczek started out as good as it gets with Jack coming up big on the key points, winning 14-12. After that Alvaro seemed to lose his sharpness, dropping the next two 4, and 7. To break into the top four, Alvaro needs to find a way to win these kinds of match ups.

Against Chris Crowther viewers witnessed the Tim Doyle of old — big serves, bigger serves, and biggest serves, toss in a lot of flat rolls and that’s about it. Chris couldn’t do much about it, as the scores of 5, 1, 5 indicated. The Derek Robinson, Jason Mannino match featured Jason at his best, who retrieves better than anyone, and demands a perfect performance by challengers. Jason escaped a close second game 12-10, but rolled 11-3 in the first and third, for the straight game win.

The semi’s began with a classic battle between Jason Mannino and Tim Doyle. After losing a close 11-8 game, Jason applied constant pressure to Tim by forcing him to shoot on the run. This see-saw battle went back and fourth with Tim hitting blistering serves and Jason making unbeatable gets until Jason squeaked out each of the next three games 11-9, 11-9, 11-9. The next semi was another much-anticipated pairing, between the old guard and the new kid on the block. This was Huczek’s first appearance in a semi final and he was obviously not satisfied with “just a semi.” Cliff, with a new sense of purpose and vigor, reminded the youngster that there is still a lot of work ahead of him. Swain once again dominated, and Jack played catch-up; the match was not as close as the 11-8, 11-1, 11-8 scores indicated.

The final was a perfect contrast in styles. Would Jason take advantage of how much more the ball stays up at this altitude, or would Cliff utilize the added pace that comes with playing in Denver? Either way, it promised to be a treat to watch. Jason started out playing solid ball, but Cliff looked tired and seemed to be having a difficult time getting into the match. Jason closed out the first game 11-3. No stranger to winning ugly, Cliff hung around in the second game long enough to get the opportunities he was waiting for from Jason, then made a run late in the game to win 11-7. The third game went back and forth until Jason once again gave Cliff some breaks allowing the game to slip away to another close 11-8 finish. The fourth and final game saw Jason give his best imitation of Santa Claus, handing Cliff four unanswered points via skipped balls. Cliff proved that, by hustle and a commitment to stay in every game, good things will happen. With the win, Cliff further distanced himself from Jason and the rest of the field in the rankings, while Jason did everything he could just to keep pace.

Sudsy’s much anticipated return to the tour in 2002 will be sure to make things a lot more interesting. The new blood of Kane and Jack will also continue to add new dynamics to the already “anyone can win” environment.