I believe there was 286 entries in that one.
Barry had so many on standby that he opened it.
I think Earl beat Okamura in the finals...who became known as Strokamura.
I hope the Pearl plays as well this tournament.
NOBODY has to like it .
C'MON EARL!!!!!!
You are right, as was Asbani, and I stand corrected.
Thanks to Pat Fleming and Accu-Stats, there's a record. This was the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Open, and it was, indeed, 286 player at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in the year 2000.
1999 was another full field of 256 players, $30,000 won by Archer.
1998 had Buddy Hall claiming victory and $25,000 in a 198-player field.
The 1997 U.S. Open was considered at that time the most successful ever, with a 180-player field.
Reid Pierce won in 1996 the $20,000 first-place prize with a 100-player field.
The tournaments before 1996, the data is hard to find, but do check out this Accu-Stats catalog. What a great find. It is loaded with pool stats and a good read in itself:
Accu-Stats Catalog.
Check out the picture of a young, slim and trim, military Buddy Hall below from this Accu-Stats catalog. Wow!
One thing for sure, the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship keeps going up, up, up each year with talent from around the globe, bigger money payouts, and great pool action, to boot.
