December 12th Men's Final Report: By Martin Bronstein
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Dec 12th 1999, 3 PM, Aberdeen
SENSATIONAL END TO BRITISH OPEN
Martin Bronstein reporting from THE EYE GROUP BRITISH OPEN
SOMETIMES THE GODS ARE GOOD AND SOMETIMES THEY PLAY SOME lousy games.
Here in Northern Scotland they were in the nasty mood and struck local boy Peter Nicol down with food poisoning forcing him to retire with the match tied 1-1.
His manager Neil Harvey apologised profusely for the withdrawal to a packed Aberdeen Conference Centre where well over 1200 Scots had come to cheer on Nicol in his defense of his British Open title which he won 8 months ago when he beat Jansher Khan. This was the first time in 25 years a British Open final has been affected by health. In 1974 Mo Yasin of Pakistan was unable to appear through illness giving Geoff Hunt a walkover. Harvey said Nicol had been ill for 48 hours and was suffering from severe dehydration.
It was a bitterly disappointing end to a match that lived up to its promise for about 1 1/2 games. Although they have entirely different approaches to the game, they are both supremely effective, which is why they presently occupy the first and second spots.
Nicol held the upper hand for the first half of the first game due more to Power errors than superior play, but leading 7-4 he suddenly gave up three consecutive strokes because of loose shots down the middle of the court.
He recovered his length and width and was catching Power with some fine drops to take a 14-10 lead. But Power has the ability to concentrate on one point at a time, wiping the last point from his mind and ignoring the fact that he was playing game point. He hit a nick from serve, had Nicol dancing on the end of a string before hitting a forehand winner, this was followed by a stroke and then Power hit a sublime forehand drive that clung to the wall and died in the corner.
It was 14-all and Nicol called set three. Nicol hit a winner from Power's serve and in the next rally, with the front wall open and Nicol trapped behind his considerable backside, he called a let, hoping for a stroke, instead of going for the drop shot. All he got was a let and on the restart Nicol got a stroke to go 16-14 up. Power hit another sublime forehand rail which Nicol could do nothing with. Nicol finished the 22 1/2 minute game with a lovely three wall nick and Power must have been regretting his stroke hunting.
The second game carried on where the first left off - tight, clever squash that takes on the mental effort of a chess game. There were very few errors and the only clue for me that Nicol was not up to scratch was that he took everything off the back wall whereas Power would volley or take it on the bounce.
Indeed Nicol led 12-9 after reading a typical Power backhand flick and banging it up court for a winner. And then it happened: Nicol failed to try on a couple of shots and it was obvious he was tired. He hardly tried in the final point as Power took the game 15-12.
Then came the bombshell as it was announced that Nicol was too ill to continue. Indeed, they even requested a doctor to attend him, putting a shiver of alarm into the disappointed spectators.
At the press conference later Power said he had no feelings of triumph just disappointment at the way he became British Open Champion.
"I felt something was wrong after about the third point of the second game: he did not have the speed and was laboring to get to balls that he should have been volleying," Power claimed.
When it was pointed out that Nicol led 12-9 Power explained that he knew that Peter was in trouble.
"He might have snuck the second game, but I wasn't worried. I was fresh and had lots of energy. I knew I would win the next three," Power added.
Power said he was stroking the ball well and had some good recent tournaments and had everything going for him - except the fire alarm in the hotel which pulled all the guests out of bed at 5.30 am while the fire brigade put out a kitchen fire.
"It's bad enough trying to get to sleep before a final, never mind having to try to get to sleep twice," he quipped.
That's about all the levity that could be summoned anywhere; it was a very sad end to a very exciting tournament.
Power was soon on the plane home to Toronto with a huge crystal cup worth over $3,000 and a winner's cheque for $12,000, vowing to be back next year to get a proper victory.
THE EYE GROUP BRITISH OPEN FINAL MEN
J. POWER (CAN) DEF P.NICOL (SCO) 15-17, 15-12 retired.
