S U.K. G New World Order Asian and European Players Have Caught up to the U.S
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S U.K. G NEW WORLD ORDER ASIAN AND EUROPEAN PLAYERS HAVE CAUGHT UP TO THE U.S. IN POOL, WINNING THE VAST MAJORITY OF PRO TITLES AND PRIZE MONEY — AT HOME AND ABROAD. WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA? BY MASON KING 46 BD • OCTOBER 2006 UUS.inddS.indd 4466 99/12/06/12/06 99:48:04:48:04 AMAM SWEDEN GERMANY S THE FIELD of 200 players and two of them were qualifi ers — not version of Phil Mickelson — an enor- at the International Pool Tour’s top-ranked pros or IPT members. mously talented and big-hearted guy who debut event of 2006 dwindled But that was just one event, you say. It frequently stalls before the fi nal push. to six, the event’s TV-savvy was a fl uke. (Ironically, all three play like gangbusters Aorganizers corralled the fi nal competitors Perhaps. But it was a fairly accurate against Europe at the annual Mosconi and positioned them around a table for a representation of how the U.S. now Cup team competition, but don’t always grim-faced video promo. stacks up in international competition. fare as well in mano-a-mano events.) A camera suspended over the table Which is to say, beginning to lag behind “It’s not that the Americans do not have slowly rotated 360 degrees to reveal the players from Asia and Europe. the talent,” said Tony Robles, the most menacing face of each competitor — the The country that invented pool is now recent American winner (in 2004) of the top six players in the world at that mo- perhaps its third-best practitioner. Ameri- Billiard Congress of America’s annual ment. Efren Reyes, Marlon Manalo and cans on the whole are getting thumped in pro 9-ball championship, considered one newcomer Dennis Orcollo represented straight-up competition at major interna- of pool’s “major” events. “It’s just that the Philippines; red-hot Ralf Souquet tional tournaments, while players from the Europeans and the Asians and every- and Thorsten Hohmann fl ew the German Europe and Asia are strolling away with one else around the world are working fl ag; and plucky Russian Evgeny Stalev pro trophies on American soil. Not only that much harder on their games.” rounded out the group. that, they’re taking home a vast majority The evidence is plain in the tourna- But the truly intriguing development of the prize money. ment brackets and prize payouts of the wasn’t so much which players reached Meanwhile, America’s leading lights last 20 months. Billiards Digest culled the fi nal sextet, but rather who wasn’t are few and somewhat fallible. Johnny a list of 49 pro pool titles won between among the fi nalists. Archer has been carrying the load for the Jan. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006, and Although more than half the starting U.S., but blows hot and cold, and has re- found that Americans took home only fi eld of the IPT North American Open 8- cently performed best in mid-tier and in- 15 — or about 30 percent. Mind you, the Ball Championship hailed from the U.S. vitational events (see story on page 78). vast majority of those events were held in — 104 total — none were able to slip into Earl Strickland is arguably America’s the U.S. Even more shocking, American the fi nal bracket. Of the richest tourna- most reliable cue in international com- players pocketed a miniscule portion of ment in history. On their home turf in Las petition, yet he’s just as likely to suffer a the available fi rst-place prize money — Vegas. In fact, in the previous round, only foul-mouthed meltdown as take home a about $174,000 of just under $1.5 million three Americans breached the fi nal 18, trophy. Rodney Morris has become pool’s total, or 12 percent. BD • OCTOBER 2006 47 UUS.inddS.indd 4477 99/12/06/12/06 110:17:080:17:08 AAMM NEW WORLD ORDER HOW THE U.S. STACKS UP the history of the event. Pro Tournament Titles First-Place Prize Money Ortmann said at the time, “There are (Total: 49, since Jan. 1, 2005) (Total: $1,456,034, since Jan. 1, 2005) many good players in Europe, but we are CANADA: 2 CANADA all young, between 20 and 25 years old. (4%) $18,500 We still have much to learn, but I think 1% in fi ve years we will be even with the EUROPE: 14 Americans.” EUROPE U.S. (28.6%) $174,050 They learned quickly, along with some (Germany: 10) $546,000 37.5 % 11.9% fast-emerging Asian players. (Germany: $496,000) Created in 1990, the WPA’s World Pool U.S.: 15 Championship was dominated in its fi rst (30.6%) three years by Americans. Then, in 1993, steely Taiwanese ace Fong-Pang Chao, ASIA: 18 ASIA 26, sauntered off with the international 9- (36.7%) $717,484 (Philippines: 14) 49.3% ball title, followed in the next three years (Philippines: $572,484) by winners from Japan and Germany. The U.S. has claimed the title once since 2000. As Asians and Europeans continue to excel in international competition, what O gauge America’s performance matched the U.S. in title wins — has become painfully evident is that these Tversus the world’s other pool 14 to 15. new powerhouses of pool take player de- powerhouses, BD culled the winners • Asians and Europeans together velopment much more seriously than the of 49 pro pool events held between won a whopping 87 percent of the U.S., with extensive support systems for Jan. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006. available fi rst-place prize money billiards, and even assistance offered by Some surprising fi ndings: — more than $1.26 million. regional and national governments. The perfect example today is 17-year- • Although 82 percent of the events METHODOLOGY: Chosen events had old Chia-Ching Wu, current WPA world were held in the U.S. (40 of 49), a minimum of $6,000 in fi rst-place 8-ball and 9-ball champion and the prod- American players won less than a prize money, with the exception of uct of Taiwan’s national push for bil- third of the titles overall (15). the 2005 World Games. Chosen liard excellence started by pool promoter • The Philippines, which has rough- events either took place in the U.S. Yung-Hui Tu. ly one-third of America’s population or had a representative sampling of In 1988, Tu founded the Chinese Tai- (88 million to 295 million), almost U.S. players. pei Billiards Association, which created a supporting infrastructure for all elements of the sport — setting rules, promoting The shift in the balance of power is real, renewed practice regimens. training, organizing pro and amateur and the international pool community has “We’ve always said for years that if ranks, and staging hundreds of tourna- taken notice. there were big money in pool, the level ments for all levels of play. “I would say that Europe as a whole is of play would go up,” said American The game’s popularity skyrocketed stronger than the U.S. as a whole, and I Charlie Williams. “You’re going to see with subsequent medal wins in the Asian don’t think either one of them is competi- the level of pro pool in the U.S. defi nitely Games, and again in 2000 when Chao tive to Asia,” said John Lewis, treasurer go up.” won his second world title. Schoolkids and board member of the World Pool- Of course, as seen at the IPT’s North suddenly had heroes. In the early 1990s, Billiard Association (WPA). American 8-Ball Open, the rest of the Taiwan’s National Sports Council accord- Several circumstances have contribut- world got the same memo. ed billiards the same status as high-school ed to America’s slip to pedestrian status. sports like basketball, soccer and ping- In the last 20 years, several nations have HE PHILIPPINES fi red the fi rst pong. As of late 2005, 20 high schools built pool support organizations and net- Tbig salvo in this international melee fi elded billiard teams, using school time works that are now churning out world when 30-year-old Efren Reyes dropped and resources to develop young talents champions. At the same time, promising into Red’s Open 9-Ball Championship in through professional coaching and regu- foreign players are now more likely to 1985 under an assumed name and blew lar competition. Wu emerged from such travel to pool hotspots like the U.S. and away the 108-player fi eld. But Reyes’ a program. earn valuable road experience. And many subsequent barnstorming tours of the Similarly, Europe has extensive infra- American players had become lackadaisi- U.S. at fi rst could have been considered structure for competition and player de- cal about practicing their craft, in the face an anomaly. velopment. The European Pocket Billiard of meager tournament purses that barely The fi rst real sign of a sea change came Federation, the continent’s governing averaged out to a living wage. in 1989, when 22-year-old German Oli- body for pool, counts 36 member coun- Money is a reliable motivator. The giant ver Ortmann shocked the fi eld at the BCA tries with separate governing bodies, prize funds now offered by the IPT have U.S. Open 14.1 Championships by beat- many of which sponsor juniors programs sparked a tsunami of optimism among ing Steve Mizerak, 200-186, for the title.