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The Pool World Meets in Chesapeake
by Kirstin Pires
The 25th Anniversary edition of the fabled U.S. Open 9-Ball
Championship started off Monday morning with a record field of 286
players, but by the time the last nine ball drops tonight, the
field will be down to a more manageable 128.
Players from around the world seem to have crawled out of the
woodwork and traveled by plane, train and automobile to
Chesapeake, Va., for what has become American 9 ball's most
prestigious event. The complete roster of past champions (with the
exception of Louis Roberts, who is deceased, and Rodney Morris,
who is incarcerated) is here, although Mike Sigel, the event's
first winner, is selling cues rather than hitting balls with one.
Nearly 30 players from Japan- along with their attendant press
corps - are in the field. European power players Oliver
Ortmann (Germany), Ralf Souquet (Germany), Mika Immonen (Finland)
and Marcus Chamat (Sweden), along with players from Russia,
Norway, Switzerland, France, and of course Canada and the
Philippines, have converged on this uniquely American tournament.
Although a number of top players have found themselves on the left
side of one of four 96-slot flow charts (when promoter Barry
Behrman opened the field and signed up a total of 286 players,
tournament director Scott Smith went to a 512-player board), all
of the top contenders were still in action as of the end of the
1:00 rounds.
Nineteen ninety-four U.S. Open champ Efren Reyes, the winningest
player of the month, who took the Camel 8-Ball Pro tournament
three weeks ago in Las
Vegas and followed up with the U.S. Open One-Pocket title, last
week in Kalamazoo, Mich., is undefeated and takes on Canadian whiz
John Horsfall tonight at 9 p.m.
Mika Immonen, who took second to Reyes in Vegas, suffered an early
round disappointment to Milwaukee's Larry Nevel, 11-9, but plays
again tonight at 11 p.m. Nevel went on to meet Troy Frank, who
sent Nevel to keep Immonen company, 11-5.
The only back-to-back U.S. Open champ (1989, 90), Nick Varner,
went down to Jimmy Wetch, 11-9, in an early match. Wetch, at
one time one of the hottest prospects in pro pool, has not
competed in a tournament since last year's Open, but was able to
shake off the rust against Varner. Varner plays Ohio room owner
Chris Szuter at 11 p.m. tonight.
The cueists are playing for a purse of $211,000, with $50,000 for
the winner, and $250 going to 97th-128th place finishers.
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