US Open May Provide Strongest Final Four Ever!

sjm said:
Tough not to think of our dear deceased AZB friend Rude Dog, who was a good friend of Rodney. Many will recall that AZB sent Rude Dog as its amateur representative to the US Open a few years ago, and how he related the wonderful experience he had while there. I'm sure Rude Dog is looking down and smiling.
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Yes . I'm glad you mentioned that, last nite as I was going through all the US Open threads,and he crossed my mind several times. RIP John (Rude Dog).


PS. That is when I started to really enjoy this fourm. What a great time he had!!

Tim
 
Well, we're down to 12 players now. Anyone left will come tied for 9th or better.

How about the Phillipine players? Efren Reyes and Roberto Gomez aren't even here, yet the Philippines still managed to land five of the last 12 spots in Francisco Bustamante, Jose Parica, Ronnie Alcano, Lee Van Corteza, and Warren Kiamco.

The US has four players left in Johnny Archer, Corey Deuel, Rodney Morris and Donnie Mills, with Mills the only one of the four not having won a US Open 9-ball chamionship already.

Europe has the last three spots, but what a three! Peach, Hohmann, and Immonen are all former world 9-ball champions, and Immonen and Hohmann have each finished 2nd in a US Open 9-ball event.

The last man standing in this collection of international superstars will have much to be proud of come Sunday.
 
sjm said:
Well, we're down to 12 players now. Anyone left will come tied for 9th or better.

How about the Phillipine players? Efren Reyes and Roberto Gomez aren't even here, yet the Philippines still managed to land five of the last 12 spots in Francisco Bustamante, Jose Parica, Ronnie Alcano, Lee Van Corteza, and Warren Kiamco.

The US has four players left in Johnny Archer, Corey Deuel, Rodney Morris and Donnie Mills, with Mills the only one of the four not having won a US Open 9-ball chamionship already.

Europe has the last three spots, but what a three! Peach, Hohmann, and Immonen are all former world 9-ball champions, and Immonen and Hohmann have each finished 2nd in a US Open 9-ball event.

The last man standing in this collection of international superstars will have much to be proud of come Sunday.
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Do not forget about Alex Pagulayan and Dennis Orcullo who are currently wreaking havoc in the grand finals of the on going GUINNESS TOUR in Jakarta, Indonesia. If they played in the Open, we might have had 7 out of 12 in the final 12.

BTW, the 2nd day of the Guinness tour will start streaming again at 12 midnight US EST tonight. I created another thread for this.,
 
Roy Steffensen said:
I still belive Alcano will win it. He is a monster. Shouldn't be allowed to play pool on such high level
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Ronnie just took out Buste 11-6! Parica fell to Mika, so his flame is flickering. I hope he can make it thru the LS to get to the finals. Archer and Peach are deadlocked at 7.
 
mosconiac said:
Ronnie just took out Buste 11-6! Parica fell to Mika, so his flame is flickering. I hope he can make it thru the LS to get to the finals. Archer and Peach are deadlocked at 7.
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This HAS to take at least another hour!!!
 
What's happening to Archer and Peach? Their match is taking forever! Shotclock should be enforced...I pity Warren, he has been waiting for his opponent for a long time now...
 
f210 said:
Do not forget about Alex Pagulayan and Dennis Orcullo who are currently wreaking havoc in the grand finals of the on going GUINNESS TOUR in Jakarta, Indonesia. If they played in the Open, we might have had 7 out of 12 in the final 12.

BTW, the 2nd day of the Guinness tour will start streaming again at 12 midnight US EST tonight. I created another thread for this.,
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Wow, you're right. Efren Reyes, Roberto Gomez, Dennis Orcullo and Alex Pagulayan all skip the US Open and the Philippines still manages five of the last twelve in the US Open field. Simply phenomenal!

....... as if we needed further validation of the depth of the talent pool in the Philippines.
 
The rich continue to get richer. The final four on the winner's side are:

Immonen (former World champion, former US Open runnerup)
Johnny Archer (former World Champion and US Open Champion)
Ronnie Alcano (former World Champion)
Rodney Morris (former US Open Champion)

Still lurking on the loser's side:

Thorsten Hohmann (former World champion, former US Open runnerup)
Corey Deuel (former US Open champion, former World Championships runnerup)
Daryl Peach (former World Champion)

Kiamco, Mills, and, arguably, Van Cortezza would qualify as cinderella stories. Far more likely is that we will see one of pool's most elite capture this coveted title. Enjoy the show.

This year's US Open has delivered in a big way.
 
Well, Van Van put a strangle hold on Parica and knocked him out. Archer finally put away Peach and Corey knocked out Buste. Donnie in a tough battle with Hohmann..9/9.
 
Last 8 ...

SJM said the Filapinos numbered 5 out of the last 12, but actually it was 5 out of the last 16, which 1/3 would be about what you would expect.

It looks like they will have 3 left out of the last 8 players, Alcano, Van Van, and still-hanging-in-there Kiamco.

Corey has to play Hohmann now. Van Van won, and Kiamco is on his way to winning, so that means Van Van and Kiamco will probably have to play.
 
Still haven't heard from anybody on the matter of what it would take for this event to produce the strongest final four of any nine ball event in history.

Revisiting the scene at the 2003 BCA Open to offer some more historical perspective, the final four and their recent accomplishments were as follows:

Johnny Archer had a US Open and World championship on his resume and won the 2000 BCA Open and was voted the 1990's player of the decade.

Ralf Souquet had won the US Open and the World Pool Masters in 2002, was the runnerup in the WPC in 2001, and won the US Open 14.1 title in 2000.

Mika Immonen won the 2001 World Championship and was the runnerup at the 2001 US Open.

Francisco Bustamante was the runnerup at the World Championships in 2002. losing 17-15 to Earl Strickland in a memorable final.

I don't recall ever being more excited about the final four of a nine ball event than I was at thiat event.

My question is ""What would top this?" and will it happen this wekeend at the US Open?
 
Snapshot9 said:
SJM said the Filapinos numbered 5 out of the last 12, but actually it was 5 out of the last 16, which 1/3 would be about what you would expect.

It looks like they will have 3 left out of the last 8 players, Alcano, Van Van, and still-hanging-in-there Kiamco.

Corey has to play Hohmann now. Van Van won, and Kiamco is on his way to winning, so that means Van Van and Kiamco will probably have to play.
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Look again....it was 5 Filipinos in the final 12: and Efren, Orcullo, Alex P. and Gomez were not even there

http://www.azbilliards.com/brackets/show256final.cfm?tourneynum=3266

The final 12 were:

Bustamante
Kiamco
Corteza
Parica
Alcano
Donnie Mills
Morris
Archer
Peach
Corey Deuel
Mika Immonen
Hohmann
 
OKay

Your right, but there were 5 out of last 16 too .... :D

Matches are underway currently!!! :smile:
 
Winners' bracket:

Rodney Morris and Ronnie Alcano are all tied at 3 games apiece.

Mika Immonen has so far froze Johnny Archer to his chair leading 5 games to zip.

Losers' bracket:

Corey Deuel is leading Thorsten Hohmann, 4 games to 2.

Warren Kiamco is 3 games clear off of Lee Vann Corteza, 6-3.
 
Seems we've lost Hohmann and Van Corteza, who tied for seventh place.

Immonen and Alcano, each with a World championship but neither with a US Open title, will play for the hot seat.

Archer and Deuel, each a former US Open champion, will square off for a spot in the final four. Morris, a US Open champion and Kiamco, the one longshot remaining, will battle for the other spot in the final four.

The plot thickens.
 
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Immonen and Alcano are great players and seem like decent guys I guess, never met them to be honest, but DAMN I hope Johnny, Corey or Rodney can pull this out.

This ones for JAM: GO USA!!!

Bud Green- tired of watching foreigners win most of the pool events. I'm used to us having ZERO chance at snooker, almost no chance at 3-C since Sang Lee died, but other than bank pool, we don't seem to be the favorites at ANYTHING these days.
 
bud green said:
Immonen and Alcano are great players and seem like decent guys I guess, never met them to be honest, but DAMN I hope Johnny, Corey or Rodney can pull this out.

This ones for JAM: GO USA!!!

Bud Green- tired of watching foreigners win most of the pool events. I'm used to us having ZERO chance at snooker, almost no chance at 3-C since Sang Lee died, but other than bank pool, we don't seem to be the favorites at ANYTHING these days.
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Rodney, Johnny, and Corey all have a shot here. The only one of the last six that would shock me by winning is Kiamco. Mika and Ronnie have the inside track to the title, but there is much pool left to be played.
 
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