Only the top few on the money list back in the early 1990s made $50,000 for the year. As for the Sands, it used to have gigantic fields, sometimes more than 256, so the prize money wasn't very strong in view of the field size. The Sands was probably the second biggest event (or third behind the BCA Open) of the year, behind only the US Open 9ball. There wasn't much money in tournament pool until the PBT took off circa 1996. That's why so many more of the action players steered clear of the major tournament scene back then.
