beaming after finishing second at the Australian

Open Billiards Championship (150 up) in New South Wales.

Hammer had a brilliant tournament, but could

not overcome West Australian champion Matthew Bolton, losing five frames to one in the best

of nine-frame final.

Although it may have seemed a heavy loss,

Hammer was the only player in the whole tour

nament to win a single frame against Bolton.

"Matthew is the best player in Australia and

he's just so good, he's world class," said Hammer, who plays for the Eaglehawk Billiards Club.

"He is so far ahead of everybody it's just not

funny.

"When I played him, I was the only player to

take a frame off him, and I did that in both our

round robin match and the final.

"Nobody could get close to him, so just to get

a game off this guy is an achievement in itself."

Hammer, 49, has won the Bendigo Billiards

Championship six times and was runner-up at the

2005 Victorian Billiards Championship.

He said he enjoyed the week-long Open championship at Club Marconi, which coincided with the Australian National Billiards Championship.

In the Open event, matches are played on a

best of nine frame basis, with the first to score 150 points in a frame declared the winner.

In the national event, matches are played for

two hours and the player with the highest score at

the end wins.

Players from across Australia, including Hammer, competed in both tournaments simultaneously.

"It was a good week of billiards," said Hammer,

who made it as far as the quarter finals in the national event.

"I played well in my round robin matches of

the Open, and finished second in my group.

"I then played two of New South Wales' best players in the quarter and semi-finals, and won those.

"You have to be right on your game in these tournaments.

"There's a lot of pressure and playing against

the good players, if you make a couple of mis

takes, players like Matthew will just run out with

the points.

"So there's always pressure and anxiety, and you

have to try to remain calm."

Having finished second in the Open, Hammer is

now in line for a spot in the Australian team for

the IBSF World Billiards in Singapore in September.