For those who didn't watch yesterday, I see the big difference in the match is a couple of things:
- Shane's break is BIG and productive. Multiple balls go in and leave open tables. Basically, he's playing 7 ball much of the time. Corey was breaking well but Shane has a large advantage in the break department. Corey is breaking the 2nd ball behind the head ball into the side, but losing the cueball forward too much. Shane is making the second ball in the side and the corner ball 4 rails a lot, but he's keeping the cueball bouncing back at him because of his power.
- Shane is shooting to the center of the pocket on every shot. He has Archer-like laser accuracy. Balls aren't wobbling.
- Corey is willing to try risky shots, kicks, and banks. When he misses, Shane is punishing him big time.
- Shane's is playing superb safes instead of taking risky shots. The quality of his safes are fantastic. He's getting a lot of ball-in-hand (which is hard to do against Deuel!) and making the most of it.
- Corey was handling the pressure very well and looked fine until the last hour or so last night. He miscued on an easy shot and scratched straight into the side on a break. Shane got on a huge run and really punished him.
- When Shane was freewheeling, it was scary to see someone play so good. He looked like he was just practicing and running rack after rack.
- The table is breaking easy. The cloth is new and the balls are really flying. The pockets looked pretty forgiving too.
This was some fantastic play. I am a big fan of Corey and he looked good, but Shane really caught a gear on him.
Chris