Arizona Open 2026, Yuma, August 13-16

The biggest eye opener for me the past two weeks has been the play of Harrison Leinen (Fargo 707), an 18-year-old American from Minnesota.

He played in the Florida Open. Started out beating fellow American Vincent Goh (Fargo 643) by the score of 9-6. Then he beat the more experienced Nathan Childress (Fargo 744) by a surprising 9-1.

In the knockout stage, he beat Floridian Jason Jones (Fargo 687) in a tight 10-9 affair.

Finally he lost to Kledio Kaci 10-5 for a spot in the final 32. Harrison kept pace early, then Kledio went on a run. It wasn't really a mistake-laden match on Harrison's part, however. Kledio was just Kledio.

Last night he took AJ Manas to the wire in a 10-8 loss.

I know it is a very small sample size. I have only seen Leinen play twice. But he's impressed me as much as any young American player under the age of 30 save for Lukas Fracasso-Verner.

He looks calm and assured at the table. He's shown good positional play. He can move the ball without much effort. Breaks well. Plays on the quicker side. Doesn't overcomplicate things or agonize over what to do.

Leinen, who's nickname is Hank the Tank, has had good success in junior events going back to age 14, but apparently he's made a name for himself lately in money matches, according to Jeremy Jones. JJ was unfamiliar with Leinen before the Florida Open.

Flash in the pan? Maybe. But I would love to see him at more events. His self-confidence and speed of play suggest he could get a lot better. To he plays more like a 777 Fargo than a 707.
 
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JAM said:
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. :)
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otoh, shouldn't the US open be worth more than these events? it has more prestige.. it makes sense to me that a higher regarded and higher paying event gives more ranking points than for example florida open. all ranking system have flaws, but i just don't see a better one at the moment
 
jbart65 said:
The biggest eye opener for me the past two week has been the play of Harrison Leinen (Fargo 707), an 18-year-old American from Minnesota.

He played in the Florida Open. Started out beating fellow American Vincent Goh (Fargo 643) by the score of 9-6. Then he beat the more experienced Nathan Childress (Fargo 744) by a surprising 9-1.

In the knockout stage, he beat Floridian Jason Jones (Fargo 687) in a tight 10-9 affair.

Finally he lost to Kledio Kaci 10-5 for a spot in the final 32. Harrison kept pace early, then Kledio went on a run. It wasn't really a mistake-laden match on Harrison's part, however. Kledio was just Kledio.

Last night he took AJ Manas to the wire in a 10-8 loss.

I know it is a very small sample size. I have only seen Leinen play twice. But he's impressed me as much as any young American player under the age of 30 save for Lukas Fracasso-Verner.

He looks calm and assured at the table. He's shown good positional play. He can move the ball without much effort. Breaks well. Plays on the quicker side. Doesn't overcomplicate things or agonize over what to do.

Leinen, who's nickname is Hank the Tank, has had good success in junior events going back to age 14, but apparently he's made a name for himself lately in money matches, according to Jeremy Jones. JJ was unfamiliar with Leinen before the Florida Open.

Flash in the pan? Maybe. But I would love to see him at more events. His self-confidence and speed of play suggest he could get a lot better. To he plays more like a 777 Fargo than a 707.
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I agree with all of this. More importantly, he's a good dude! Very respectful and polite.
 
skogstokig said:
otoh, shouldn't the US open be worth more than these events? it has more prestige.. it makes sense to me that a higher regarded and higher paying event gives more ranking points than for example florida open. all ranking system have flaws, but i just don't see a better one at the moment
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A money ranking system would be fine if it were more gradualist and not top heavy.

The only other solution is to rank players based on how far they advance in tournaments, as is the case in tennis, but tournaments would have to be given different weights based on their prestige and how many top-ranked players participate. No way to avoid subjectivity or judgment calls.
 
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jbart65 said:
The biggest eye opener for me the past two weeks has been the play of Harrison Leinen (Fargo 707), an 18-year-old American from Minnesota.

He played in the Florida Open. Started out beating fellow American Vincent Goh (Fargo 643) by the score of 9-6. Then he beat the more experienced Nathan Childress (Fargo 744) by a surprising 9-1.

In the knockout stage, he beat Floridian Jason Jones (Fargo 687) in a tight 10-9 affair.

Finally he lost to Kledio Kaci 10-5 for a spot in the final 32. Harrison kept pace early, then Kledio went on a run. It wasn't really a mistake-laden match on Harrison's part, however. Kledio was just Kledio.

Last night he took AJ Manas to the wire in a 10-8 loss.

I know it is a very small sample size. I have only seen Leinen play twice. But he's impressed me as much as any young American player under the age of 30 save for Lukas Fracasso-Verner.

He looks calm and assured at the table. He's shown good positional play. He can move the ball without much effort. Breaks well. Plays on the quicker side. Doesn't overcomplicate things or agonize over what to do.

Leinen, who's nickname is Hank the Tank, has had good success in junior events going back to age 14, but apparently he's made a name for himself lately in money matches, according to Jeremy Jones. JJ was unfamiliar with Leinen before the Florida Open.

Flash in the pan? Maybe. But I would love to see him at more events. His self-confidence and speed of play suggest he could get a lot better. To he plays more like a 777 Fargo than a 707.
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Payne Mcbride is also impressing me.
 
I predicted all the Arizona matches before the event. I got eight of the first 64 matches wrong. Predicted winner in bold:


Makkonen vs Bergman - Admittedly a homer pick. I actually thought Petri would win.

Bijisterbosch vs Brandon Shuff. Not really an upset.

Wiktor Zielinski vs Walter Laikre. Same old inconsistent Zielinski. Laikre,18, is committed to the tour and keeps getting better.

Dimitri Loukakis vs Lin Ta Li

Arseni Sevastyanov vs Jeffrey De Luna. Arseni hasn't done much since his surprise final appearance at the Philippines Open

Vitaly Patsura vs Michael Bundy. Patsura was a no-show.

Max Lechner vs Johnny Archer

Eklent Kaci vs Sun Yi Hsuan

I had Eklent getting to the Final 4, figuring his play in Florida would be a launching pad. Nope. Post-injury Eklent can't be counted on.
 
Jaden said:
Payne Mcbride is also impressing me.
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He should have beaten SVB in the first round in Florida. SVB said so. I didn't know McBride just turned 20. Thought he was a few years older than that.

He's just got to clean up erasable mistakes. Clearly felt the pressure on the TV table in Florida late in his match vs SVB.

Leinen plays more carefree and with more confidence. McBride reminds me a bit of Tyler with his lapses of indecision. Lot of time to correct it.
 
Not surprised Patsura was a no-show in Yuma. I am surprised there were not more no-shows. SVB said it took him 15 hours to get to Yuma. Got caught in a sandstorm. Other players talked about taking two planes or driving.

There's no question player attendance benefited from the event being held between the Florida and US opens. Eleven Filipinos even showed up.

Josh Filler said there was no place to practice for a few days before the event. Sounds like the hotel set up just the day before so there were no tables available. Filler said he spent a lot of time playing PlayStation because there was nothing else to do in the area.

The crowd seemed quite good, though, on the first day of the event and it had a nice vibe. Got to wonder if WNT can find a more easily accessible event in Arizona in the future. Like, say, Phoenix!
 
jbart65 said:
The biggest eye opener for me the past two weeks has been the play of Harrison Leinen (Fargo 707), an 18-year-old American from Minnesota.

He played in the Florida Open. Started out beating fellow American Vincent Goh (Fargo 643) by the score of 9-6. Then he beat the more experienced Nathan Childress (Fargo 744) by a surprising 9-1.

In the knockout stage, he beat Floridian Jason Jones (Fargo 687) in a tight 10-9 affair.

Finally he lost to Kledio Kaci 10-5 for a spot in the final 32. Harrison kept pace early, then Kledio went on a run. It wasn't really a mistake-laden match on Harrison's part, however. Kledio was just Kledio.

Last night he took AJ Manas to the wire in a 10-8 loss.

I know it is a very small sample size. I have only seen Leinen play twice. But he's impressed me as much as any young American player under the age of 30 save for Lukas Fracasso-Verner.

He looks calm and assured at the table. He's shown good positional play. He can move the ball without much effort. Breaks well. Plays on the quicker side. Doesn't overcomplicate things or agonize over what to do.

Leinen, who's nickname is Hank the Tank, has had good success in junior events going back to age 14, but apparently he's made a name for himself lately in money matches, according to Jeremy Jones. JJ was unfamiliar with Leinen before the Florida Open.

Flash in the pan? Maybe. But I would love to see him at more events. His self-confidence and speed of play suggest he could get a lot better. To he plays more like a 777 Fargo than a 707.
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i watched that match. leinen played well above 707 fargo, and really should have taken it to hill-hill. i think he overcompensated for the english in that miss. didn't look like he dogged it because of nerves
 
jbart65 said:
SVB said it took him 15 hours to get to Yuma. Got caught in a sandstorm. Other players talked about taking two planes or driving.
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Thanks for all the updates on the tourney. I know sandstorms are a real thing but like many of us I have visions of some Mad Max like movie when hearing of them in real life. Maybe Matchroom can get Tom Hardy in some promo spots if they return to Yuma.
 
We're getting the SVB v. Albin rematch too early, but that's one of the fun things about single elim. Gotta get it done under pressure, no second chances. That'll be a good one.
 
jbart65 said:
We are ... and we aren't!
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That's why I use the phrase "American-born" because depending on context one is more appropriate. For contrast: when talking MC, Fedor is an American. When talking the US's ability (or lack thereof) to develop talent, we need to discuss American-born players and Fedor definitely does not count.
 
axejunkie said:
Thanks for all the updates on the tourney. I know sandstorms are a real thing but like many of us I have visions of some Mad Max like movie when hearing of them in real life. Maybe Matchroom can get Tom Hardy in some promo spots if they return to Yuma.
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You think that sandstorms are bad in Arizona today? Look what we old timers had to put up with Back In The Day!

And when we got to the tournament we had to brush all the sand off the tables. "The Good Old Days", indeed.

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sudocrushms said:
We're getting the SVB v. Albin rematch too early, but that's one of the fun things about single elim. Gotta get it done under pressure, no second chances. That'll be a good one.
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That is really bad seeding to have those 2 in the second round. That basically means one of them heads home with $500. Not a great way for a promoter to get top notch players at their event!
 
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