The only time I ever won the U.S. Open was in my dreams, although I did get close once with Tang Hoa. He played Buddy in the finals in 1998 and after a "saver" was made and we collected our share of second in the calcutta, Tang and I chopped up 18K, all in CASH! For the next twelve-fifteen years I acted as TD or co-TD, being paid the equivalent of 5th-6th or 7th-8th place money each year.
Barry had an interesting formula for figuring out how much he owed you. He would bring me into his office and tell me to write a number on a piece of paper that I think I deserved and he would do the same. Then we would compare the numbers and he would pay me the higher figure, which was usually his number. I felt that I was well paid for working the event (except for one year when the check bounced), but it was not an easy job, working an average of 12-14 hours a day (sometimes even longer!) for six or seven days.
Barry never meddled in the running of the tournament, being content to figure out the prize money breakdown with me, and decide on how we would play the final day's matches. That was, until the last year I worked there, when he made a decision to change the draw after it had been posted (a day later). That was one thing I would not allow to happen and we were at loggerheads about it. The end result was that I could quit or get fired, so I left on day two, but not before writing out the entire schedule of matches for the full tournament. I knew that no one else there would know what to do with the scheduling and I didn't want to leave things in chaos after I left.
I knew Barry was not in the best state of health at the time, so I attribute our parting to his diminished capacity at the time. It's too bad things ended on a sour note, but one thing is a certainty. If not for Barry there would not be a U.S. Open 9-Ball today, or at least nothing like the one he created and nurtured.