Kaci
Wow. What a beast.
I voted Kaci on that poll that disappeared but couldn't get a bet down because the forum crashed. Thanks server, that would've been my first winner in a long time.
I posted this before but I feel fortunate to have played Kaci first round at last year's US Open. He smoked me 11-5 and I felt bad until after I saw the tear he went on. After watching a couple of more matches I started betting on him every match. Didn't matter who he played. I did ok.
Talk about a strong year. At the age of 18 he came from nowhere and has won and finished deep in enough majors to make me a believer.
His style of play is absolutely suffocating. I understand it's not everyone's favorite style, but I'm all about quality of execution and results. And the results are that I watched him in person play three races to 11 in a row against elite competition and not make one blunder. Sure, he'd kick and leave a shot, dry break, fail to pocket a jump, or miss the occasional low percentage shot that he was forced to gamble on. But almost never for the entire tournament did I ever think to myself "whoops, that was a fumble". The guy took everything his opponents gave him and gave nothing back. And he broke well and ran a lot of racks off his serve, which is equally critical.
It's not flashy. It's kind of boring, the same way Mosconi was when he ran 100 balls. It looks so textbook it doesn't keep your attention. More fun to watch people leaving themselves hard shots, forcing the cue ball around the table, and showing emotion. I get it. But man, in my life I've never seen rotation played technically any better than what I've seen this young man do. I don't believe pool can be 'solved', but this kid is about as close at I've seen.