Four American men lined up today for the opportunity to join Larry Butler in January’s Lakeside World Championships, namely Doug Boehm, Joe Chaney, Tim Nicoll, and Jim Widmayer.

There was a huge disappointment as Widmayer – an highly fancied to add to his previous World Championship appearances – slipped to a first-round defeat.  England’s Dean Baker grabbed the glory by 2 sets to 1 in their first round tie in Group 7.

Buffalo’s Doug Boehm took on Ireland’s Owen Caffrey in Group 11.  After a three-set battle, it was Caffrey who grabbed his place in the next round.  Still, Boehm has shown plenty of promise in his displays so far, and it should stand him in good stead for his World Masters efforts.

Ohio’s Tim Nicoll joined Widmayer and Boehm on the sidelines with a straight-sets loss to Nigel Lamb, but Joe Chaney was still going strong.  A fine 2-0 win over Sandy Morrison pitched Chaney against England’s James Richardson in the Group 8 semi-final.

American hopes were ended as Richardson stormed to a 2-0 triumph over “Chanesaw”.

We will be back with updates from the World Masters itself, which starts tomorrow (Thursday).

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