World No. 5 Jim Bamber successfully defended his Sleepy Hollow Country Club Open title with world No. 8 Zac Alexander to celebrate the partnership’s second SDA win, November 17-20, in Briarcliff Manor, NY.
The number two seeds opened up their tournament with a four-game win over Hameed Ahmed & Chris Sachvie, setting up a rematch of their Big Apple Open quarterfinal against Clinton Leeuw & Jaymie Haycocks in the semis. This time it was Bamber & Alexander who came out on top to secure their spot in the final, 15-10, 14-15, 15-6, 15-12.
In the top half of the draw, world No. 1 & 2 Chris Callis & Manek Mathur made a strong start in their own campaign for a second Sleepy Hollow title, with a 3-0 win over David Letourneau & Bernardo Samper in the quarterfinals. In another rematch from the previous week’s Big Apple Open, Callis & Mathur faced Aussies Ryan Cuskelly & Cameron Pilley in the semifinals, prevailing once again with a 15-12, 15-10, 15-5 win.
An exciting start to the Sunday final saw Bamber & Alexander come back from 14-13 down to win the first game on simultaneous game ball. Callis & Mathur pushed back to take the second 15-12, but were unable to overcome an in-form Bamber & Alexander, who took the final two games 15-13, 15-11 to clinch the title.
“It was so great to find rhythm with Zac after a bad start to the season the prior weekend,” said Bamber. “Zac was very solid, and we were just trying to have fun whilst we played. When we are enjoying ourselves out there, we play much better so we will be keeping that mentality for the Briggs Cup. A great weekend with Pro-Am’s and the club always hosts the players so well. Thank you to Greg McArthur and his committee.”