EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15

The single-elimination stage moves to races to 10 from races to 9. The same was true of the 128-player Philippines Open.

First big name ousted: Alex Kazakis (824 Fargo) loses 10-9 to Francesco Candela (753 Fargo).

Candela was the only seeded player to lose his first march, 7-9, to 25-year-old Serbian Haris Trtovac (Fargo 709).

Nathan Childress, the lone native-born U.S. player in the event, was also knocked out this morning. He lost to Estonian Mark Magi. Magi wasn't seeded, but he's a 781 Fargo player vs. 744 for Childress, who was seeded.
 
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Thorston and Childress will be on Mosconi Cup USA team is my prediction. Thorston had a much higher gear than Tyler in his prime, and now he seems to have caught the pull bug again playing for USA. Childress is going to chase all the events and get there on points.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Thorston and Childress will be on Mosconi Cup USA team is my prediction. Thorston had a much higher gear than Tyler in his prime, and now he seems to have caught the pull bug again playing for USA. Childress is going to chase all the events and get there on points.
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Childress was the second seeded player knocked out. He got a meager 500 Mosconi points for his trouble. The last automatic spot last year went to Styer, who had almost 40,000 points.
 
Pro golf wants top players play each other more often. See top of a WSJ story below.

Pro pool has tried this. Matchroom had the World Pool Masters, for instance, but it has appeared to be abandoned. The PLP is an odd version of this. Perhaps WNT or Predator should create a new WPM, maybe one with the world's top 32 players, with a double elimination stage.

***
Wall Street Journal:


Professional golf is about to undergo its most radical overhaul in a generation—and the changes could hit the PGA Tour as soon as next year.

The Tour’s entire schedule is being rewritten to add top-tier events with smaller fields and larger purses to pit the best players against each other more frequently.

New venues are under consideration to bring tournaments to major markets such as New York. And the playoffs could adopt a match-play format, as the Tour imagines the drama of No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major champion Rory McIlroy going head-to-head with the season on the line.
 
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First big shocker. Max Lechner (Fargo 817) is ousted, 7-9, by German Hermann Hoyh (Fargo 738). I don't think Hoyh has ever beaten a top player.

Lechner appeared to plateau a few years ago. To get better, he hired Alex Lely as coach. I could see that his safety and tactical game improved. Lely also worked on getting Lechner to calm down and be more mentally focused.

It seemed to work for a bit. He had some big wins. He finished in the top eight in the Florida and Hanoi opens in 2025. But more often than not, he'd be ousted in the final 64 or final 32 at big events.

It's possible he's lost some of the bite or aggressiveness that served him well in the past. In any case, Lechner is 36 now, and like Mario He, he seems to have hit a wall.
 
sjm said:
interesting time to take a cheap shot at American pool. By dead money, do you mean like Manas at the PLP or even deader than that?

FYI, what is best for everyone, Americans included, is that as many highly skilled cueists as possible show up at every one of pool's majors. That's what makes the sport more exciting to watch and what makes it grow.
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Yeah, we've mentioned expense/travel logistics for players from other continents. There is also overlapping schedule issues even within Europe. There are some pretty good players in the Eurotour event right now

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mikepage said:
Yeah, we've mentioned expense/travel logistics for players from other continents. There is also overlapping schedule issues even within Europe. There are some pretty good players in the Eurotour event right now

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In a word having 71 players rated 800 Fargo or higher, I am no longer willing to deem anyone else a contender for the title at the majors. Every sub-800 player is a longshot and, yes, occasionally, a longshot comes in. To put it simply, Fargo 800 just isn't what it used to be.

Poland aside, the federations are, typically, letting their best cueists play at the WNT event (for Germany, Filler and Neuhausen, for Spain, Alcaide and FSR, for Austria, Ouschan, Lechner and He).

Inclusion of the listed players would, of course, have made the WNT field deeper, but, other than Szewczyk and Maciol, it would have not changed the title picture much.

This is not the first time that the EPBF European Championships overlapped with a WNT major, and it won't be the last.
 
sjm said:
interesting time to take a cheap shot at American pool. By dead money, do you mean like Manas at the PLP or even deader than that?

FYI, what is best for everyone, Americans included, is that as many highly skilled cueists as possible show up at every one of pool's majors. That's what makes the sport more exciting to watch and what makes it grow.
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So you can take a cheap shot at Manas' visa issues stating he should "know" how to get a visa, but I can't take a cheap shot? That's a little unfair. You know it's not that simple.

Manas did better than any natural born American players at the PLP, because guess what, they weren't invited, because guess what, they currently suck compared to the rest of the world. This is a fact, not a cheap shot.

Team USA has zero visa issues, why is Gorst the only one at the European Open? Because he knows he's not dead money. So yes, I will criticize American pool.
 
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Am I the only one who finds the pre-match interviews to be extremely awful?!

Enough with the "what would it mean to you if you win this event?" !
 
jbart65 said:
First big shocker. Max Lechner (Fargo 817) is ousted, 7-9, by German Hermann Hoyh (Fargo 738). I don't think Hoyh has ever beaten a top player.

Lechner appeared to plateau a few years ago. To get better, he hired Alex Lely as coach. I could see that his safety and tactical game improved. Lely also worked on getting Lechner to calm down and be more mentally focused.

It seemed to work for a bit. He had some big wins. He finished in the top eight in the Florida and Hanoi opens in 2025. But more often than not, he'd be ousted in the final 64 or final 32 at big events.

It's possible he's lost some of the bite or aggressiveness that served him well in the past. In any case, Lechner is 36 now, and like Mario He, he seems to have hit a wall.
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To me Max is one of those players whose A game is awesome but whose B game is really a D game. When he’s on he’s world class, but he can turn around and be very ordinary. Most elite pros can grind out wins against even good players with their B game
 
Kris_b1104 said:
So you can take a cheap shot at Manas' visa issues stating he should "know" how to get a visa, but I can't take a cheap shot? That's a little unfair. You know it's not that simple.

Manas did better than any natural born American players at the PLP, because guess what, they weren't invited, because guess what, they currently suck compared to the rest of the world. This is a fact, not a cheap shot.

Team USA has zero visa issues, why is Gorst the only one at the European Open? Because he knows he's not dead money. So yes, I will criticize American pool.
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Fair enough. I don't disagree with your assessment, but it sure seems that the ones with the visa issues always seem to be Filipinos.

I want the top Asians in every major field, and I could care less if it compromises the chances of the American born players who, as a group, have achieved little in recent times. The majors should be the best possible gathering ground for the world's most elite cueists and let the best man win. I am not on board with your suggestion that others should be happy about the absence of far too many of the world's most elite cueists. I feel the opposite. Let every single one of them play in the top events!

I've already commented that I find the American absenteeism in this event to be embarrassing and patently unfair to Matchroom Pool, which continues to increase its investment in pro pool in America. As I've said, Matchroom deserves better!

I think we are, for the most part, on the same page here, but have packaged our views differently. I am as alarmed about the decline in American pool as you are.
 
sjm said:
Fair enough. I don't disagree with your assessment, but it sure seems that the ones with the visa issues always seem to be Filipinos.

I want the top Asians in every major field, and I could care less if it compromises the chances of the American born players who, as a group, have achieved little in recent times. The majors should be the best possible gathering ground for the world's most elite cueists and let the best man win. I am not on board with your suggestion that others should be happy about the absence of far too many of the world's most elite cueists. I feel the opposite. Let every single one of them play in the top events!

I've already commented that I find the American absenteeism in this event to be embarrassing and patently unfair to Matchroom Pool, which continues to increase its investment in pro pool in America. As I've said, Matchroom deserves better!

I think we are, for the most part, on the same page here, but have packaged our views differently. I am as alarmed about the decline in American pool as you are.
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Agreed, on all your points. You are a gentleman and a scholar. It is disheartening to see the decline as well, but I'm okay with it as long as we are still able to witness elite level pool from players all over the world. Yes, we are on the same page and I'm hoping things improve for the better.
 
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Kris_b1104 said:
It is disheartening to see the decline as well, but I'm okay with it as long as we are still able to witness elite level pool from players all over the world. Yes, we are on the same page and I'm hoping things improve for the better.
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Thanks for the kind words. Your words are well chosen. Great players, regardless of nationality, are what make pro pool great.
 
sjm said:
Fair enough. I don't disagree with your assessment, but it sure seems that the ones with the visa issues always seem to be Filipinos.
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a singapore, japanese, hongkong, taiwan passport is quite a bit better than a filipino passport, they don't even need visa to go to europe..
 
I haven’t read the whole thread so sorry if it’s been said, but some players have skipped the WNT event because it conflicts with the US Open series. It’s not just about money IMO. SVB, for example, had great loyalty to Mark Griffin and he plays these events to honour Mark I believe.
 
GideonF said:
I haven’t read the whole thread so sorry if it’s been said, but some players have skipped the WNT event because it conflicts with the US Open series. It’s not just about money IMO. SVB, for example, had great loyalty to Mark Griffin and he plays these events to honour Mark I believe.
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Good stuff here that brings up a really important matter.

As noted earlier in the thread, it is a sign of the times. Top players can pick and choose and need not play in every big-purse event to make a living. SVB's loyalty to Mark Griffin is understandable, as Mark greatly supported him early in his career. Still, loyalty is a funny commodity. For example, Matchroom has done a lot for Shane over the years, but he was among those that skipped the 2025 UK Open in favor of an Expo in Asia.

SVB might be thinking that even with reduced participation in WNT events, he will surely qualify for both the Reyes Cup and Mosconi Cup. Then again, Emily has come down very hard on players that skip WNT majors, so we shall see.

Bottom line here is that the most elite players wield more power than in the past, and event producers will have to do more than ever before to ensure their participation in the biggest events.

Pool's landscape has changed, and everybody must adjust.
 
sjm said:
... Bottom line here is that the most elite players wield more power than in the past, and event producers will have to do more than ever before to ensure their participation in the biggest events. ...
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A unified schedule would be a huge help. Sadly, I don't see that happening any time soon. The Sarajevo event conflicts with both Griff's events and the EPBF championships. Emily should not be surprised by the embarrassingly weak turnout. Of those two conflicts, I suspect that the EPBF c'ships took away 30-40 potential top players. Maybe not 800s, but far stronger than many examples shown on the streams, and certainly stronger than the 54 byes.
 
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