NEWS -September 26, 2005  US Open 9-Ball – “Lion” Pagulayan is the new champion



14 US Open Champions with Barry Behrman
Buddy Hall - Reed Pierce - Rodney Morris - Efren Reyes - Corey Deuel - Nick Varner
Mike Le'Bron  - Earl Strickland - Tommy Kennedy - Steve Mizerek - Barry Behrman
Jeremy Jones - Ralf Souquet - Gabe Owen - Johnny Archer
 

256 players from more than 20 countries competed in a booked-out field at the 30th edition of the US Open 9-Ball Championships in Chesapeake, VA. For the first time in the 30 year history of the event, promoter and founder Barry Behrman had the tournament sanctioned by the two federations UPA and WPA.

In round one, I played Joonas Ohtonenh from Finland, whom I could defeat 11-1. My second opponent was Mark Corkum from Canada, who did not stand too much of a chance when I won 11-2. My third match against US player Shannon „The Cannon“ Daulton was another cup of tea. I was leading from the beginning and could keep my two racks advantage until half of the match. Then, I increased the lead to 10-6, before Daulton came back to 10-10 and he had the chance to win the match. But he missed an easy 2 ball in rack 21 and even pocketed the cue ball. I had ball in hand, won the rack and entered round 5. The TV match against 5 times US Open 9-Ball Champion Earl Strickland became the top match for me. I played very a very solid match and could defeat the eccentric player 11-7 and only missed one ball throughout the match. As so often, „The Pearl“ had a very disregarding attitude and was booed even by his own audience because of his stupid comments. In round 6, Sylver Ochoa (USA), a rather unknown player, was waiting for me. I gave away the first two racks and was trailing 0-2. But then I came back into the zone and took a 6-2 lead. A black break, a slightly missed rail shot and the match turned around. I had lost my game and Ochoa succeeded in everything. At 6-5, I had the opportunity to increase the lead to 7-5, but I missed the position from the 5 ball to the 6 ball by 5 centimetres, and Ochoa could equal the score. Then, the US player shot an ace and won two lucky racks to lead 6-9. At 7-10, the Texan missed his first match point and I fought myself back to 10-10. In the last rack, I had the break and could solve the only problem on the table with my second shot. Now, I only had to pocket the 2 ball which was located close to the cue ball and all the other balls were ready to be pocketed. But bad enough, the 2 ball remained hanging over the pocket and my opponent made use of this situation to win 11-10. This unnecessary defeat brought me into the losers bracket.


 

Finalarena
 

Here, I played PJ Massicotte from Canada, who gave me some hard times, but finally, I won 11-7 and entered the round of the last 16 players. Here I played against the Mexican player Ernesto Dominguez who lives in Los Angeles. The match went back and forth and I finally took a 6-3 lead. Then, I lost control over the match, because Dominguez had some lucky actions and I committed 4 cue ball fouls when playing rail shots. All of a sudden, I was trailing 6-10. However, I came back to 8-10. But another black break made my hopes vanish and I was eliminated after losing 8-11. The second German player, Andreas Roschkowsky, made it to the next round in this top class field, before losing to the strong Francisco Bustamante (PHI). The third German player, Thorsten Hohmann, could not defend his 2nd place from last year and finished on rank 65.

Alex Pagulayan from Canada, the 2002 finalist, entered the final undefeated. Here he was facing Jose Parica (PHI), who had defeated in a dramatic match his fellow countryman Bustamante 11-10 in the final of the losers bracket. Until 5-5, the match was very open, however, Parica had missed three times the opportunity to take the lead, playing a bit light-heartedly. A surprising number of mistakes were made on both sides and finally, the player from Canada also had the luck of a great champion. Both players acted over-nervously and were very eager to win this title, both having been runner-up in the past. Finally, Alex Pagulayan won a but lucky 11-6, but considering the entire tournament, he fully deserved this title of the new US Open 9-Ball Champion 2005. Fourth place went to Earl Strickland


 Pagulayan - Wych - Parica