Not just the Americans were absent, many top Asian players as well. Many of them preferred to play Chinese 9ball in a big tournament that was taking place at the same time. I think that staying in Asia and the bigger money makes it an easy choice for them.
Still a strong field of players made a great tournament.
I don’t think that any player can come close to Filler when he’s on.

To each his own but I disagree with most of that and I love predator products lol
The balls don’t bother me I find it a nice change.
The professionalism of the broadcast is 100x better than predator.
I like the set format but the shoot out is silly.
As far as being free on you tube it’s $10 a month.. seriously. $10 to support pool a little is nothing if you love the game.
I do wish they would have a womens tournament also.
Luck plays a part in every sporting event you watch. Rarely do you see really good amateur players luck in balls it really rarely happen in the pro’s. How you handle good and bad rolls mentally is a big part of the game just like golf and most other games for that matter.

Here is section 16 of the WPA's Equipment Spec. Does the new 9 ball not meet the criteria?

BALLS AND BALL RACK
All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715cm (+ .127mm)] in diameter and weigh 5½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. Balls should be unpolished, and should also not be waxed. Balls should be cleaned with a towel or cloth
free of dirt and dust, and may also be washed with soap and water. Balls contaminated with any slippery substance – treated with a polishing or rubbing compound and/or waxed - must be cleansed and dewaxed with a clean cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play.

A complete set of pool balls consists of one white cue ball and fifteen colour-coded, numbered object balls. The object balls are clearly and highly visibly numbered 1 through 15. Each object ball has its number printed twice, opposite each other, one of the two numbers upside down, black on a white round background.

The object balls numbered 1 through 8 have solid colors as follows:
1=yellow, 2=blue, 3=red, 4=purple, 5=orange, 6=green, 7=maroon and 8=black.

The object balls numbered 9 through 15 are white with a centered band of color as follows:
9=yellow, 10=blue, 11=red, 12=purple, 13=orange, 14=green and 15=maroon. The two printed numbers 6 and 9 are underscored.