Well played, Aleksa Pecelj, the king of Arizona. He really played some fine pool over the past couple of events. No, the Phoenix Open is not a major, but it had the kind of field one finds at a major, so the achievement is very impressive. His conquests this week included Filler and Yapp, so enough said.

The emergence of Aleksa is remarkable, and I am hard pressed to think of a player that came out of the woodwork like this in consecutive elite field events. Hope it's the beginning of a run of sustained excellence for the young Serbian, who entered August with only $8,000 in 2026 year-to-date earnings from prize money.

Is he in the Mosconi conversation for Team Europe? My sense of things is that it would take a Sunday appearance at the USA Open 9ball for him to have a good chance at selection, but who is to say?

I've seen a lot of Pecelj over the past few years, and truthfully, I thought he had peaked. I never thought as him as a really serious contender to win a stacked event, Fargo 800 or not.

What changed? His confidence and consistency.

His confidence soared the past few weeks. He broke through a barrier mentally that was holding him back. Some luck was involved, sure, especially in his win over Albert Januarta after being down 9-1. Then there was the comeback vs SVB. Whatever the case, the wins allowed him to top that final mental hurdle.

The loss to Grabe taught him something, too. Pecelj came back stronger despite the setback. In the past, that kind of loss would have affected him very negatively.

His overall game itself has also taken a leap. His break has been a huge weapon. His safety play and tactical game have become much better. And he is stroking the ball with supreme confidence.

One way you can tell when a player is so confident, he can stroke really, really hard on some shots and maintain accuracy. Pecelj did that. Reminded me a lot of SVB or Chua in dead stroke. Some of his best shots were rifled in a way you don't often see.

Has Pecelj really crossed into the elite? Top 10 or 20 worldwide? We'll see, but I never would have thought so before August arrived.

What was the BOLO they were getting? S Frost mentioned it a couple times.