Player: Jayson Shaw
Event: 2024 Mosconi Cup
Location: Orlando, Florida
Date: December 1, 2024



It's tough to argue against the fact that Jayson Shaw has made the Mosconi Cup his own. Entering the 2024 transatlantic tilt, he already had a half-dozen victories and two MVP awards in his back pocket. The pugnacious Scotsman wears his heart on his sleeve, whether in friendly crowds in Europe or more antagonistic settings in the U.S.

On a razor's edge between confidence and arrogance, Shaw thrives on the pressure and chaotic atmosphere of the Mosconi Cup. Whether his table presence fuels his play or vice versa, it's impossible to say.

At last year's Mosconi Cup, held in Orlando, Fla., in December, Shaw took the table in the first singles match of the day. With the Americans knotting the match at 3-3, the race-to-11 match points was clearly at a turning point early in the contest.

Facing 2024 Player of the Year Fedor Gorst, Shaw swiped two of the first three racks in the race-to-5 match. The American broke the rack, pocketing the 1 and 4 but failed to get a real angle on the 2.

Gorst decided to push out, ending in the position in the diagram. He willingly offered the tricky bank on the 2 as a tease, though that shot and playing position on the 3 were daunting.

Shaw, however, had other ideas. He spotted a two-way shot, where he'd bank the 2 toward the top left corner while sending the cue ball toward the 9 in the bottom right corner. Pulling the cue ball back after impact on the 2, Shaw sent it off the long rail below the side pocket, where it cleanly knocked the 9 into the pocket.

From there, Shaw took the match, 5-2, as Team Europe sprinted to an 11-6 win, earning Shaw his third MVP and seventh Mosconi Cup win in nine tries.

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