I assume you are talking about pool in the United States. Right? Because pool in Philippines, as an example, is pretty big. In fact, Efren Reyes is the Tiger Woods of the Philippines for sure!
My opinion, the reason why pool is not popular in America, is that pool is associated with hustling, much more than golf in America is associated with hustling.
Most Americans have little or no respect for professional pool players. There are even some within the American pool culture who think of professional pool player as:
"bottom-feeders";
"scum of the earth";
"homeless bums if they have no girlfriends";
and/or my favorite, "ranked well below garbage collectors."
Some of these same persons in the American pool culture who demean professional pool players are the very ones sitting in the front row when there is a gambling match in progress. They have a love-hate relationship, it seems to me, with pool players. Gambling is dirty and vile to them. Yet many of them seem to flock to the DCC in Louisville each year to see gambling at its finest.
Gambling is a hard sell to mainstream America, as is hustling. Minnesota Fats and Willie Mosconi brought pool in the limelight with their back-and-forth banter they shared in their grudge matches. ESPN picked right up on it, but it soon faded in popularity. Pool never shined so bright as it did when these two guys were in their prime in America.
Pool did enjoy a small pick-me-up in popularity when a movie came out starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise hustling their way to a big tournament in Atlantic City, but it wasn't enough to keep pool thriving in the professional sports realm.
That said, pool is popular in America for social shooters, bar bangers, and league players. It is the best thing going for pool, in fact, in the States.
Professional pool is dead in the water. With rack riggers in 9-ball, no legitimate ranking system for American male pros, at least one that is adhered to, and low payouts for most tournaments, professional pool continues to have one tire in the mud in America.
I have been a pool enthusiast my entire adult life, and I am 54 years old today. The best times I ever had in pool was when I was a social shooter, bar banger, and league player. My opinion of professional pool, after seeing it up front and close, is not a good one. I had a much better time with pool when I did not follow the American tournament trail. Professional pool offers not much for an American professional player.
Which brings me to my usual retort. The existing lot of American professional players is diminishing. Like the great white American buffalo, they wander in a wilderness with not much to thrive on. In the words of one great American legend, "a little bone with not much meat on it." Soon these fine American thoroughbreds will venture overseas where the opportunities will become abundant. JMHO, FWIW!
JAM
