Best player never to have won a major

Terry Ardeno

Terry Ardeno

I still love my wife
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Just for the sake of defining "major" for this thread, let's keep it to mean either a World 9 Ball Championship, a U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship, a Derby City Classic 9 Ball Championship or a BCA Open 9 Ball Championship.

So, in the discipline of 9 Ball only, who is the best player never to have won a title?

My vote would be Francisco Bustamonte. A great player and a wonderful guy who came up in the Strickland / Reyes/ Archer era.
 
Luat?

Terry Ardeno said:
Just for the sake of defining "major" for this thread, let's keep it to mean either a World 9 Ball Championship, a U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship, a Derby City Classic 9 Ball Championship or a BCA Open 9 Ball Championship.

So, in the discipline of 9 Ball only, who is the best player never to have won a title?

My vote would be Francisco Bustamonte. A great player and a wonderful guy who came up in the Strickland / Reyes/ Archer era.
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Has Luat ever won a major? He is one of my favorites
 
Jose Parica...hands down. He has about 5 top 5 finishes at the U.S. Open. JMO.

Southpaw
 
gforces1911 said:
Has Luat ever won a major? He is one of my favorites
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He won the World 8 Ball IIRC, not on the above list of 'Majors' but could easily be considered as a Major win.
 
Terry Ardeno said:
Just for the sake of defining "major" for this thread, let's keep it to mean either a World 9 Ball Championship, a U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship, a Derby City Classic 9 Ball Championship or a BCA Open 9 Ball Championship.

So, in the discipline of 9 Ball only, who is the best player never to have won a title?

My vote would be Francisco Bustamonte. A great player and a wonderful guy who came up in the Strickland / Reyes/ Archer era.
Click to expand...

I'll take the same vote as you... Bustamante
 
Terry Ardeno said:
Just for the sake of defining "major" for this thread, let's keep it to mean either a World 9 Ball Championship, a U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship, a Derby City Classic 9 Ball Championship or a BCA Open 9 Ball Championship.

So, in the discipline of 9 Ball only, who is the best player never to have won a title?

My vote would be Francisco Bustamonte. A great player and a wonderful guy who came up in the Strickland / Reyes/ Archer era.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Many titles but none of the ones you have listed.
 
Busty, hands down, Parica coming at second maybe.
Then again, I wouldn't consider Derby 9-ball as a Major, probably not even BCA, eventhough it is already close.

It is hard to determin 'Major'. Sometimes I feel only 9-ball WPC and 9-ball US-Opens are majors from the annual event calendar.

There are All Japan Open and Japan Open, which are strong field tournaments with long history, but like DCC, I cannot compare those with the WPC and US-Open.

Busty has won many tournaments, which are easily considered as big or even bigger, than Derby at least, but he's not having a World Title under his belt.

Luat's win at 8-ball was some sort of a 'world title', but not official World Championships..
 
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Hasnt Bustamante won the International Challenge of Champions? If so, that could be considered a "Major". By "best" player, I look at someone that plays all games not just best 9 ball player of best 8 ball player. And I think Parica has to fall into the "best all around" player to never win a Major. JMO.

Southpaw
 
Although it might seem as quite aukward and all, but I believe the only person that should've been due (for a long time now) to win *a* championship (most likely in Straight Pool) should go to Jose Garcia.
 
Lol Lol

Thats funny, nice one.

Kieth has won the first ever $25,000.00 event in Bighamton.(SP)
Not included on the list, but pretty huge back then.





bigskyjake said:
I'm gonna go with the ringtailed wildcat in your avatar
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Marvel said:
Busty, hands down Parica coming at second maybe.
Then again, I wouldn't consider Derby 9-ball as a Major, probably not even BCA, eventhough it is already close.

It is hard to determin 'Major'. Sometimes I feel only 9-ball WPC and 9-ball US-Opens are majors from the annual event calendar.

There are All Japan Open and Japan Open, which are strong field tournaments with long history, but like DCC, I cannot compare those with the WPC and US-Open.

Busty has won many tournaments, which are easily considered as big or even bigger, than Derby at least, but he's not having a World Title under his belt.

Luat's win at 8-ball was some sort of a 'world title', but not official World Championships..
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DCC is an open event and not all of the 300-400 players are champions, but pretty much every top player plays. The only top players who are missing are the Taiwanese. However, I don't recall them playing at the U.S. Open or BCA Open either. It seems that DCC is often over-looked as a major, but I believe that it has the largest(and maybe the hardest) field of any tournament like it.
 
Southpaw said:
Hasnt Bustamante won the International Challenge of Champions? If so, that could be considered a "Major". By "best" player, I look at someone that plays all games not just best 9 ball player of best 8 ball player. And I think Parica has to fall into the "best all around" player to never win a Major. JMO.

Southpaw
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He has, but it is a 8 players field..

First, we should all agree what is a 'Major'.


Even to win a 'World Championships', can be misleading, as from 93 to 96 there were two different 'World Champioships', also at 1999...
 
rossaroni said:
DCC is an open event and not all of the 300-400 players are champions, but pretty much every top player plays. The only top players who are missing are the Taiwanese. However, I don't recall them playing at the U.S. Open or BCA Open either. It seems that DCC is often over-looked as a major, but I believe that it has the largest(and maybe the hardest) field of any tournament like it.
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I do respect the tournament a lot. To win it, is for sure a hard task.
Still, the format and the prize money don't give it the status of a Major, IMHO.

To win the WPC, it is whole different story (especially after 1999, when Matchroom gathered the top pros to a OFFICIAL World Championships, also they raised the prize money and most likely the conditions also to a different level).
To win a US-Open, comes near at second, and the others not even close. Maybe I'd consider BCA the to be the most prestigious after them, but not yet in the same league..
 
Still, the format and the prize money don't give it the status of a Major, IMHO
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Can you elaborate on this? Specifically the first part just to educate me. what are the differences in formats?
 
1996 World 9 Ball Champion

gforces1911 said:
Has Luat ever won a major? He is one of my favorites
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Luat actually won the PBT Camel World 9 Ball Championship in 1996. Varner was 2nd.

In 1977-1980, 1983 & 1984, 1993-1996 and 1999, there were sometimes
2 or more championships that various promoters billed as "World 9 Ball Championships." Each field was filled with whoever wanted to enter, and it was the promoter's right to bill it as they saw fit. Sort of like the scene in boxing today, with several (WBC,WBA, IBF, et al) differing "champions"

One last note, the field that Luat bested was a tough one, and he IS a worthy winner of that title.
 
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