Arizona Open 2026, Yuma, August 13-16

images (3).jpeg


when you seen it you can't unsee it
 
I am tempted to give Billy Thorpe another chance in the Mosconi.

He looked good vs Kaci in Florida and Billy brings team spirit.
 
  • Love
Reactions: JAM
Watched them all. They all struggled. IMHO Iceberg has melted. Tyler should have had a cake walk and Sky needs to get his mind in the game.
I've noticed that whenever Coach Johan is around, Tyler excels. I think Johan's presence brings out the best in Tyler.

Shane is on fire as of late. I hope he keeps it going.

I'd love to see some new blood on Mosconi Cup's Team USA, but we have a limited field of pro caliber players to choose from.

I'm not a fan of the WNT ranking system because it is based on money payouts, and with events having different purses, this affects the ranking. It would be different if all WNT events had the same payouts. Just an opinion from a railbird with no financial interest in the outcome. :)
 
Bergman is concerning me.

Had a chance to go 5-3 up vs Petri but dogs the easiest 9 ever, and then loses 10-5.

On current form, I am taking Tyler and Sky over him in Mosconi.
Watched them all. They all struggled. IMHO Iceberg has melted. Tyler should have had a cake walk and Sky needs to get his mind in the game.

petri is no cakewalk.. he's a 799 fargo that just placed 5th in florida open, after a hill-hill QF loss against kazakis

edit: sorry, read the cakewalk reference wrong. but petri is still a tough opponent for anyone
 
Also, Lechner vs. Archer. It's tough in 128 single elimination if you're not ranked.

At least it is race to 10 from the start.

Edit: Also, I see Arseni Sevastyanov vs Jeffrey De Luna with De Luna the unseeded player.
Everyone pulling for Arseni after De Luna’s cheap “no call shot” the other day!
 
petri is no cakewalk.. he's a 799 fargo that just placed 5th in florida open, after a hill-hill QF loss against kazakis

edit: sorry, read the cakewalk reference wrong. but petri is still a tough opponent for anyone
By Fargo, Makkonen is the 25th best European player and the 78th best player in the world.

An unseeded player like Bergman will draw a top 64 seed in a 128-player major. Drawing Makkonen was an average draw, not a tough draw. As Team USA Mosconi worthiness is, at least in part, about whether one can beat the stars of European pool, a 10-5 loss to the 25th best player in Europe does not bode well.

The Bergman experiment is off to a very tough start. After a tied for 17th place finish at Vice City, the prep event to the Florida Open, he only reached the last 64 at the Florida Open and the last 128 at the Arizona Open. He has looked elite in just one match played to this point, and that was the win over Vogel at the Florida Open.

It's hard to imagine why he'd even be under consideration for Team USA at this point. All the evidence to this point suggests that he is an inconsistent ball pocketer on very tight equipment.

Still, I'm keeping an open mind, for the Phoenix Open and US Open 9ball remain as proving grounds for Justin. I am rooting hard for Justin to turn this around, but only the most delusional will get excited by what he has shown in WNT 9ball play to this point.
 
By Fargo, Makkonen is the 25th best European player and the 78th best player in the world.

An unseeded player like Bergman will draw a top 64 seed in a 128-player major. Drawing Makkonen was an average draw, not a tough draw. As Team USA Mosconi worthiness is, at least in part, about whether one can beat the stars of European pool, a 10-5 loss to the 25th best player in Europe does not bode well.

The Bergman experiment is off to a very tough start. After a tied for 17th place finish at Vice City, the prep event to the Florida Open, he only reached the last 64 at the Florida Open and the last 128 at the Arizona Open. He has looked elite in just one match played to this point, and that was the win over Vogel at the Florida Open.

It's hard to imagine why he'd even be under consideration for Team USA at this point. All the evidence to this point suggests that he is an inconsistent ball pocketer on very tight equipment.

Still, I'm keeping an open mind, for the Phoenix Open and US Open 9ball remain as proving grounds for Justin. I am rooting hard for Justin to turn this around, but only the most delusional will get excited by what he has shown in WNT 9ball play to this point.
Agreed and also think Styer gets a raw deal sometimes , along with SVB he is the most professional American player and has great fundamentals. Just needs to work on his mental game
 
Agreed and also think Styer gets a raw deal sometimes , along with SVB he is the most professional American player and has great fundamentals. Just needs to work on his mental game
Right now, with due respect to Woodward, Tyler Styer looks like America's second-best player.

Late addition: Third best if Fedor is viewed as American
 
Last edited:
I watched a handful of matches last night, mostly on delay. Skipped through in-between shots filler with FF.

*Skyler Woodward vs Nick Cacchione
*Sun Yi Hsuan vs Eklent Kaci
*Petri Makkonen vs Justin Bergman
*AJ Manas vs Harrison Leinen
*Yannick Pongers vs Payne McBride
*Tyler Styer vs Dean Shields
*Max Lechner vs Johnny Archer

Skyler was very sloppy the first 3-4 games, got in a groove for a long stretch, then finished sloppy. Definitely looks like a player who hasn't played a lot.

Sun Yi Hsuan ... never heard of him before. But chumps from Taipei rarely travel. He has a 778 Fargo and looked like it. He made very few glaring errors and ran out almost every rack when the table layout suggested he should.

Kaci did not make many mistakes, but he made a big one with the score 5-5 and a chance to take the lead. Missed an easy 6 trying to get down table for the 7. Next thing you know he's down 8-5. A repeat of what happened in his loss to SVB in Florida.

Makkonen struts around the table like he owns it, and Bergman gave him too many opportunities with his own inconsistent play. Petri really is a top 35 player when he's grooving. Wonder what he would do if he slimmed down and played the tour regularly.

AJ Manas got by Harrison Leinen, but not without a big fight. At 8-8 and breaking, Leinen had a chance to go up 9-8. He made a bad play on an unpocketable 2 ball and gave Manas an opening. AJ ran out from there. More on Leinen in another post.

Young MR. Pongers raced ahead like a thorough bred that he is, then the mental errors crept in as they often do. Payne McBride has really improved, but he always seems to make a killer mistake at the worst time.

Tyler Styer was solid vs Dean Shields. He didn't make many mistakes. But the ones he did cost him. Shields played very well in the most competitive match of the day.

Lechner should have beaten Archer. He made several glaring errors to cede the table. Max has not had a good year. In 2025, he was much better.

Archer, for his part, played very well. All his usual hallmarks, but with age, he struggles on very long, somewhat straight in shots. Every now and then he flubs a shot he should make, but it only happened once or twice vs Lechner.
 
Right now, with due respect to Woodward, Tyler Styer looks like America's second-best player.
There's no question. Skyler just turned 33 and he may already have peaked. He was still ascending in 2023-2024 and even the first part of 2025, but he has leveled off since then. The older you get, the more you need to stay in shape and practice.

The Mosconi has been his biggest payday for quite some time now.

After Tyler, the next most consistent "American" player is new citizen Thomas Hohmann.

Bergman, for his part, shows flashes of great play. But he looks like a guy who hasn't played competitive 9 ball vs the world's best players in a long time. The margin for error on the WNT is thin - and he doesn't give himself enough margin. A lapse on concentration now and then is all it takes.
 
Back
Top