Gotcha. Thanks for the education.
FargoRate Top Woman in the World is 679. Why?
- Thread starter aaronataylor
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Gotcha. Thanks for the education.
For snooker, I don't think the US has ever had a player in the top 10. There may have been US players who were very, very good -- like old Zeke Smith who had a farm in Nebraska but ran a 147 nearly every time he came to town -- but they never played in championship tournaments. I'm not sure, but I think the total number of centuries by US players in international tournaments may be under 5.
As for billiards, Sang Lee was the (professional) World Champion but he learned how to play in Korea and held dual citizenship at the time of his win. I think Harold Worst was the last American-born carom champion that could be considered in the top 10. He won the pro championship in 1954, so 65 years ago.
In the 1975 US Open, the only foreign player (out of 32) was an eight ball champion from West Germany. He was unclear on what a safety was and finished last. Within 14 years German pool had progressed to the point that Ortmann won the US Open (14.1).
When I live in Germany in from 76'-83' there was not only no Professional players, I pioneered the McDermott 2 piece cues, no one had a 2 piece cue over there at the time, let alone pool rooms. I played 8 ball last pocket in the bars in downtown Frankfurt for money every weekend. Now look at the players coming out of Europe!!
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/9adb83/i-played-illegal-pool-with-mobsters-in-communist-romania
pool was more or less forbidden in romania except for the dictator. romania was probably extreme though as cue sports were played in other east european countries.
further south, in bulgaria, turkey, well then you're entering billiards territory. bulgaria is also seeing a snooker boom. in many countries that were part of the USSR, they play pyramid. they know how to use a cue stick, it's just that their game of choice isn't necessarily american pool.