Professional pool’s top female competitors to play in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD - Rack ‘em up, it's time for a game of nine ball, a game that will be played at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

The arts center has been chosen to host a historic first for the state of Iowa: a tournament featuring the best female billiards players on the planet, members of the Women's Professional Billiard Association.

The WPBA's matches are routinely televised on national sports channels such as ESPN. The association has never held a match in Iowa, until now. Forty-eight professional pool players will be in Fairfield for the Sondheim Diamond Invitational from Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 8-11.

Six of the Top 10 WPBA players are expected to attend. Among the billiards celebrities who have confirmed is Kelly Fisher, the No. 8-ranked player in the world. Fisher hails from Scotland, and her pool career began in her youth when she learned snooker. She moved onto eight ball and now nine ball, which is what the competitors will play at this week's tournament in Fairfield.

Background

How did Fairfield come to be selected to host the first WPBA tournament in Iowa? The credit must go to Daryn Hamilton, a Jefferson County Supervisor by day and a pool shark by night. Hamilton is a regular at the pool tables inside the Fairfield Eagles Club, where he runs the winter snooker tournaments. But his ability to lasso this event actually came about not from his skillful play but rather by his fair officiating.

Pool matches require an official to determine if the player committed a foul with their cue, if the cue ball struck a certain ball or not (perhaps resulting in a scratch), etc. Hamilton knows the rule book inside and out, and in 2016 he became a nationally certified pool referee.

'Some guys go fishing. I play pool,” he said. 'I played pool when I was a kid because it was popular where I grew up [Vinton, Iowa]. Back in those days, I played snooker and eight ball.”

Hamilton quit playing pool for a while, but picked up his cue once more in 2009 and has not put it down since. He knows many of the top billiards players in the state, which is why he prefers not to officiate in Iowa, and instead opts for surrounding states such as Wisconsin.

'I don't want to have hard feelings from some guy I played against 20-30 times before,” he said. 'If a call doesn't go a player's way, they can be harsh about it. I want to officiate in places where people only know me for officiating.”

It was through these refereeing gigs in Wisconsin that Hamilton began rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the business. Dean Roesler, now the president of the WPBA, was once a billiards promoter in Wisconsin and the agent to the game's No. 1 player in the world, Allison Fisher. Hamilton told Roesler about what a great pool town Fairfield is, about how it's one of the few places that offers snooker, and about how it's got a stellar arts and convention center that could accommodate a big group of players. Roesler liked what he heard, and began investigating a tour stop in the southeast Iowa town.

An arts center first

Arts and convention center executive director Rustin Lippincott is a pool fan as well. He and Hamilton have been talking about hosting a pool tournament at the arts center for a few years.

'We've had quite a variety of events during the past 11 years, but we've never hosted a pool tournament,” Lippincott said. 'I didn't know that our first tournament would feature six of the Top 10 women in the country. If we're going to do it, we might as well do it big.”

Hamilton said he hopes the Sondheim Diamond Invitational can become an annual event, and he's very glad to be promoting women's sports, especially pool.

'People fall all over themselves to help the men, but nobody helps the women,” he said. 'There is a large number of women in Iowa who play pool, and I'd like them to get more recognition for the sport.”

Day breakdown

Matches will begin at noon Thursday and continue until midafternoon, Hamilton said. At 7:30 p.m. that night, a charity professional-amateur event will take place to benefit Fairfield Kiwanis. The first 36 people who enter can play with one of the 12 highest ranked professionals in the game. To play in the pro-am event, contact Hamilton at 641-919-1861.

'We invite anybody to play, even people who play at home against friends and family,” Hamilton said. 'That's what this portion is all about.”

Friday morning is when the players enter the 'real nuts and bolts” of the tournament, Hamilton said. The players will compete all day from 10 a.m. until 10-11 p.m. Play starts at 11 a.m. Saturday, and again on Sunday when the top four players will play not just for bragging rights but for a share of the $27,000 purse. Contact the convention center for ticket prices at 641-472-2000.

Attendees at the tournament will witness action at six 9-foot pool tables set up in the center's expo hall. A seventh pool table will be nearby for the players to practice on.