1. World 9 Ball
2. US Open 9 Ball
3. China Open
4. World Pool Masters
5. Guiness 9 Ball ??? All Japan??
It's tough because most of the tournaments are going to 10 ball now.
The Guinness 9 Ball Tour (formerly the San Miguel Asian 9 Ball Tour) almost went defunct and has just recently began promoting on a very limited basis.
The San Miguel Asian 9 Ball tour was from Mar 15-16, 2003 until Sept 16-17, 2006. Then Guinness took over from April 20-22, 2007 until Oct 24-26, 2008.
Guinness at least has a pulse as far as promoting events in Asia again.
My choices for most prestigious (sp?) 9 ball events now are....
1. The World 9 Ball Championship (On again, off again...scheduled & rescheduled)
2. The U.S. Open
3. The Derby City Classic 9 Ball
4.
5.
In other words, after those majors, all the rest (Turning Stone, All-Japan,
Joss Tour Final, Euro Tour events, etc) are all about the same caliber.
World Pool Masters is nice but it's an invitational with a small field.