9-Ball
Topic: Huge U.S. Open News: You wont believe

This comes direct from the APB (Association of Billiard Professionals):

ABP Pro Players Not Attending the 2011 US Open 9-Ball Championship
From ABP General Attorney Dennis Walsh

Chicago, Illinois- It is with regret that the general professional body of the Association of Billiard Professionals will not be attending the 2011 US Open 9-Ball Championship promoted by Mr.Barry Behrman. Nor will these ABP pros attend the Masters 10-Ball or any event promoted by Mr.Behrman because of monies owed to players and lack of secure funds of prize money before each of his events.

One of the goals of the Association of Billiards Professionals is to provide a platform where touring professionals can pursue the sport they love as a full time career and achieve reasonable financial success. To that end discussions have been ongoing since last year with representatives of the US Open and representatives of the ABP.

Repeated attempts by the ABP organization to obtain guarantees that the prize money will be in place have been refused and therefore it is with regret that the Association and its members have decided to neither support nor attend the 2011 US Open 9-Ball Championship. Notwithstanding the Association’s deep respect for Barry Behrman for his contribution to pool these many years, the players simply cannot commit their time and their expenses for an uncertain payday.

"As a former US Open 9-Ball champion, it's painful to not be able to attend this year, as it is always great to play in it. However, the ABP and its goals are more important than my personal goals, and we need to start taking the necessary steps to pave the way for the future of the game and its up and coming stars."- Rodney Morris, ABP Board of Directors

"It is with sadness that I must withdraw from one of my favourite tournaments ever. In doing so, I hope the sacrifices we are making raises the standard of the elements that our beautiful sport lacks. The ABP's goals are to the benefit of the sport and to restore the confidence of cooperation between players, associations and promoters alike. I stand behind this vision fully. " - Mika Immonen, ABP Board of Directors and Two time US Open 9-Ball Champion.

"The US Open is the greatest and most prestigious event on American soil. I am truly sorry we cannot attend this event. But we have an obligation to protect all players now and in the future. I am hopeful in the future all things will be worked out so all players can participate in all great and safe tournaments." - Johnny Archer, President of the ABP.

Regardless if this is a BCA or WPA Sanctioned event, the following ABP Professional Players will not attend:


Johnny Archer USA
Mika Immonen FIN
Efren Reyes PHI
Francisco Bustamante PHI
Darren Appleton ENG
Shane Van Boening USA
Rodney Morris USA
Alex Pagulayan PHI
Dennis Orcullo PHI
Thorsten Hohmann GER
Lee Van Corteza PHI
John Schmidt USA
Corey Deuel USA
Huidji See NED
Mike Sigel USA
Nick Varner USA
Buddy Hall USA
CJ Wiley USA
Tony Drago MLT
Raj Hundal ENG
Karl Boyes ENG
Imran Majid ENG
Marcus Chamat SWE
Roberto Gomez PHI
Carlo Biado PHI
Warren Kiamco PHI
Antonio Lining PHI
Jundel Mazon PHI
Shawn Putnam USA
Mike Davis USA
Stevie Moore USA
Oscar Dominguez USA
Charlie Williams USA
Dennis Hatch USA
Jeremy Jones USA
Allen Hopkins USA
Scott Frost USA
Ernesto Dominguez MEX
Kim Davenport USA
Rob Saez USA
Tony Crosby ENG
Art Wiggins USA
Tommy Najar USA

This list will be updated as more pro members join and may choose to not participate.

This should shake a few people up !!

IMO if this goes ahead this web site and others shud not acknowledge the us open is even happening to support these players

Doesn't the US Open count towards ranking points for the Mosconi Cup? A huge sacrifice for some of the lads not to attend this...sacrificing the chance of any points they could potentially gain, and also allowing others to catch-up and potentially take them over in the race for the Mosconi team.

Did last year

If the ABP can carry on wit this approach for other events where things aren't quite kosher, then hopefully they'll have the same success the PDPA eventually had in Darts - breaking away from the BDO to form the WDC (now the PDC).

I don't know the detail of what's gone on with Mr Behrman so can't comment on the rights or wrongs of this but what's clear is that for the ABP to have any teeth they were always going to reach this point where players stood toe to toe and made a big sacrifice. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Pro9 always tries to publish both sides of any story, for fairness and balance, and although I saw the following press release earlier in the week, when I contacted Barry Behrman for a copy I didn't receive a reply, hence, it didn't make it to the front page of Pro9 yet, but here it is...

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To All U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships Players - Men and Women

     I am writing today from my heart, not my wallet. Since 2007, when Shane Van Boening won the U.S. Open, I have put myself in a tough situation by paying some players very late and no one else is to blame and believe me, this hurts no one more than it hurts me to have done so. This year my daughter, Shannon, who is also my official partner at Q-Masters and the U.S. Open, has made much better business decisions and deals with T.V. to assure that this will never happen again. I sincerely apologize to those players who have been involved and I have no excuses, but ticket prices have not gone up in the past 20 years and still will not, such as Augusta National where you can get a soda for $1.00, beers for $2.00, and the most expensive sandwich is the Masters Club at $2.50. I have been going to the tournaments practice rounds from 1995-2009 and I have structured a lot of what they have done for our U.S. Open, green jackets, green sweaters, and gold vests since 2000. All I can say to the players is all will be well this year and Shannon and I will work tirelessly to make the proper business decisions as our cost goes up every year and gladly leaving entry fees at $500.00 and tickets for $10.00 day or night will not change in my lifetime and hopefully beyond. We have to make it work and we are going to do so, we simply have to.

         We have a lot going for us this year and after last year’s full field of men and women playing alongside for the first time, this will also remain. We want the U.S. Open to grow in prize fund from $180,000.00 to $200,000.00-$300,000.00 in the near future, but that can only happen if we make better deals. My daughter is the smartest young woman I have ever known and with the help of out CPA and attorneys advice we are moving in the right direction and that is up for this year.

         Our overhead, just to break even, is around $150,000.00 and that is not easy. We, again, are in the process of signing contracts to assure our overhead and more are covered. No there will not be a wheel barrel filled with hundred dollar bills, but we simply will have all of the funds to pay all players and rightfully so, before they leave town.

         Again, I cannot say enough about my partner and daughter, Shannon, who is great with everything she does and I have finally come to my old fashioned ways by giving her more responsibilities to help her “old man” out every day. I am finally listening to her more and more. After all, one day, she will be in charge of my roots with business and the U.S. Open. She is the greatest daughter a father could have and she also has helped me tremendously to be strong, stay clean, and to lean more towards the future rather than living in the past doing things the old fashioned way.

         We look forward to seeing all who attend this, our 36th annual, U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, October 16-22, 2011.


-Barry Behrman
Founder and Promoter

Source: www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?storynum=8881

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Barry has had to make a similar plea for the last couple of years, after repeated delays with paying players their prize money, but he has often made a loss and had to dip into his own money to sort things out, and he has worked tirelessly to provide a really enjoyable tournament for fans and players, and it would be an absolute tragedy if this iconic tournament gets scuttled.

I really hope a way is found to resolve this issue - and fast!


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Authorised Pro9 forum advertiser/sponsor

Perhaps more interesting than the list of players NOT attending is the list of ABP registered players who ARE attending. So the ABP themselves are not united on this issue, which is not a very good start for a new players organisation. I can appreciate there will be differing opinions on this within the players and BDK himself has offered some insight into the alternative point of view but surely the ABP has to united and speak with a single voice if it is to be taken seriously?

Here's the list of those who are reported to be members of the ABP but have not withdrawn from the US Open (this information sourced from Pro9 who apparently sourced from ABP):

Ralf Souquet (GER)
Niels Feijen (NED)
Chris Melling (ENG)
Mark Gray (ENG)
Thomas Engert (GER)
Scott Higgins (ENG)
Oliver Ortmann (GER)
David Alcaide (ESP)
Tony Robles (USA)
Ronnie Wiseman (CAN)
Jeremy Sossei (USA)
Tommy Kennedy (USA)
John Morra (CAN)
Ben Zimmer (USA)
Larry Phlegar (USA)
Chris Szuter (USA)
Brian White (USA)
Jeff Crawford (USA)
Bill Mccollum (USA)
Jeff Beckley (USA)
Bill Incardona (USA)
Stefano Palinga (ITA)
Corey Harper (USA)
Ron Park (USA)
James Barraks (USA)
Justin Daniels (USA)
Dan Wallace (USA)
James Roberts (USA)

There are a lot of good players who have not associated with the ABP.
Perhaps this is not that they don't believe in the concept of a Players Association but that the ABP is not going the right way of achieving that goal.

On 2011-07-07 12:08 , Doug Wrote:
But this is why all previous attempts to have any kind of players association has failed. They need to be actively involved in making it happen and join the board if they don't believe it's taking the right direction. If they simply wait for an association to come along which does things exactly how they would like they will be waiting a long time and no improvements will be made to the game.

Johan would be a good guy to lead a players association.

There are mosconi points at stake and players like chris melling will wanna stay top of the rankings maybe sometimes money isn't all what all players are about, they want to compete at the highest level and chris has the game for the mosconi he is vibrant and a exciting player and he loves being on tv lol

On 2011-07-07 13:31 , crashnburn Wrote:
Chris is nailed on for the Mosconi so if anyone is in a position to be able to miss the US Open it's him.

The only way I am gonna miss the us open is if matchroom sport decide to take the us open off their ranking list for the mosconi. I have given nobody permission to put my name on the list and I am gonna be the only person to make that decision.ps I'm sick of people telling me I'm nailed on for mosconi when there are plenty of points up for grabs. I will be in when the last event is over hopefully that's when I will be happy. I'm taking nothing for granted.

Maybe the ABP should speak to Matchroom and have the US Open taken from the Mosconi points list?

way i read it chris is that your not on the list of players not attending(first list)correct me if im wrong but isnt the 2nd list of players that are attending.

arnt all the players supposably sticking together through argument or whatever it is,be interesting if they dont,be like miners strike lol

On 2011-07-07 23:54 , cuesportkid Wrote:
You are on the ABP's list of registered players but you are not on the list issued by the ABP of people not attending the US Open.

As far as Mosconi points are concerned you are in the limelight in the pool world now due to your achievements so you can expect people to give their views on who might be in and who might be out. Thats part of the excitement of the Mosconi Cup so rather than be sick of it you'd better get used to it