And now there are 4.
- Thread starter BlowFish
- Start date
I want a Wu/Morris final. If that happens I will be really interested in it and largely not care who wins, a great playing American, or a 16 year old phenom, either way that would be really cool. If either of the other guys win I will be pretty bored with it, Manalo is great but it would be kind of anticlimactic for the guy to actually win and I am not sure his winning will do anything at all to help the sport grow, same as Kou.
This is a magnificent final four.
Kuo reaching the semis two years in a row would seem to confirm his status as one of the game's superstars.
Morris has a chance to write one of pool's greatest ever stories. Ten years ago when he won the 1996 US Open, he was pool's new phenom, five years ago he wasn't playing pro pool at all, and this week his comeback has a chance to come full circle.
Wu was, of course, fortunate to catch Hohmann with tonsilitis, but he's got plenty of game and if a sixteen year old can capture the world championship, it will be sensational. Anyone ever heard the term "too young to know about pressure?" I think Wu's gonna win the title.
Manalo is simply on fire. He's been playing fantastic this week and will surely be a tough guy to beat this weekend. One must assume that the Philippines are disheartened by the performance of its contingent at the WPC this year, wiht only Manalo reaching the last sixteen - especially in view of the brilliant effort of the Taiwanese congtingent, which had three of the last eight and two of the semifinalists. Manalo can save the WPC for the Philippines, and would seem to have as good as chance as anyone.
As we all expected, the tight pokcets have weeded out all the pretenders. Last year's mystery finalist and near titlist, Pei Wei Chang (who played great), only made it to the knockout stage this year on the "racks won" tiebreaker and was beaten quite handlily in the round of 64. This year, there are no pretenders left, no cinderella stories, just four proven heavyweights. Somebody will have to shoot lights out on tough equipment to win it, and that's just as it should be.
Kuo reaching the semis two years in a row would seem to confirm his status as one of the game's superstars.
Morris has a chance to write one of pool's greatest ever stories. Ten years ago when he won the 1996 US Open, he was pool's new phenom, five years ago he wasn't playing pro pool at all, and this week his comeback has a chance to come full circle.
Wu was, of course, fortunate to catch Hohmann with tonsilitis, but he's got plenty of game and if a sixteen year old can capture the world championship, it will be sensational. Anyone ever heard the term "too young to know about pressure?" I think Wu's gonna win the title.
Manalo is simply on fire. He's been playing fantastic this week and will surely be a tough guy to beat this weekend. One must assume that the Philippines are disheartened by the performance of its contingent at the WPC this year, wiht only Manalo reaching the last sixteen - especially in view of the brilliant effort of the Taiwanese congtingent, which had three of the last eight and two of the semifinalists. Manalo can save the WPC for the Philippines, and would seem to have as good as chance as anyone.
As we all expected, the tight pokcets have weeded out all the pretenders. Last year's mystery finalist and near titlist, Pei Wei Chang (who played great), only made it to the knockout stage this year on the "racks won" tiebreaker and was beaten quite handlily in the round of 64. This year, there are no pretenders left, no cinderella stories, just four proven heavyweights. Somebody will have to shoot lights out on tough equipment to win it, and that's just as it should be.
Well, since sjm typed this post, Wu has beaten Manalo 11-5. 11-5!!! Manalo!!! Frankly, it's hard to imagine anything other than an all-Taiwanese final. No disrespect to Rodney, he's done great and I'm happy for him. But he also had a relatively easy draw. Kuo and Wu did not.sjm said: