I would say that most of the best players were missing from the one pocket and banks at least. No gorst, pagulayan, frost, filler, orcollo, gomez etc. His main competition was Chohan who he beat for the hot seat. Decent fields but far from the best of the best attended. I don't see them as being majors until everyone who can win shows up which hasnt been the case.
I said many years ago that I didn't think SVB would win the US Open 9 ball again because all of the best from all over the world started coming. He hasn't won it since 2016. He was a pretty solid favorite until then. Now there isn't a clear favorite. A dozen or more players can realistically win it.