US Open 9 ball championship

The professional 9 ball circuit is IMO anything but professional and this year's event has just solidified that opinion.

Just a bit of history on the professional 9-ball circuit with regards to Alex Pagulyan....when he won the World Championship he had to wait about 6 months to be paid out. Does that seem professional to anyone? Seems like that kind of problem should/could/would only happen in some back room bar league event.

It's a one off right? Shouldn't see anything like that again from a "professional" organization right?

Fast forward to this year.....

Alex finished in 3rd place and was set to pocket some reasonable money (not great, just reasonable) only to once again get stiffed. OK, perhaps that might be a bit harsh, more accurate would be "delayed payment" but either way it's not an acceptable way to run what should be one of the biggest events in the sport.

Here's a statement from the organizer:

"It is with regret that I have to announce that due to a lack of seating (that I admit I did not properly envision) that I am having to delay the prize payments to my top 6 finishers at the U.S. Open. Shannon and I had many extra expenses this year such as building the wooden risers for the seats, and that along with the large storm that forced many to leave the event early and many more not to come at all for the final three days caused a major problem with our receivables. We were unable to provide proper seating for many fans and this caused us to come up between $20-30,000 short of our projections in the $10 all day and $10 all night ticket category alone. This was a major source of the shortfall. Another source is my insistence on adding the full $60,000 that I promised to add prior to having the difficulties explained above.

We expect all debts to be covered within the next two weeks. We still have sufficient revenues coming in from the event and will pay the money out as quickly as it comes in.
Finally, we hear you and agree with you. Next year we will be in one big room for the whole tournament again. It just works better for everyone and we have learned from our mistakes."



Whether or not Alex sees the money in that time frame is still up in the air, if history is anything to go by I wouldn't hold my breath.

Experiences like this are big red flags and I have to wonder why Alex persists with this sport.

With any luck this unfortunate situation will translate into Alex actually devoting his efforts towards snooker....finger crossed

Sadly happens with a lot of the 10-ball events in Philippines as well. Not a professional game in the slightest although the GB9 tour in the UK and the EuroTour are making big strides to make their events as professional as can be.