The second day of play at the World Open 8-Ball Championship kicked off with controversy, as Tom Storm was disqualified for using a cue with a phenolic tip. Storm, who hails from Sweden, was playing Roland Acosta when his cue stick came to the attention of the officials. Tournament director Deno Andrews was notified and, upon examining the cue, disqualified Storm from the tournament. Though Storm tried to argue with Andrews, it was to no avail. Storm declined to comment as he exited the tournament room.
Afterward, Andrews firmly stated, “Mister Storm was using contraband equipment, a phenolic cue tip, which gives him an unfair advantage over all the other players and is technically cheating. It was very clearly laid out at the players meeting that if you use a phenolic tip you’re disqualified, so unfortunately in the first round we had to disqualify him and he forfeits his prize money.”
Afterward, Andrews firmly stated, “Mister Storm was using contraband equipment, a phenolic cue tip, which gives him an unfair advantage over all the other players and is technically cheating. It was very clearly laid out at the players meeting that if you use a phenolic tip you’re disqualified, so unfortunately in the first round we had to disqualify him and he forfeits his prize money.”
