Evening, Reggie here. The number I could not give you at lunchtime is in: Rack Of Ages are Ultimate Pool USA's 8-ball teams champions after a final at Harrah's Cherokee that broke off on Saturday night and finished on Sunday morning. Elsewhere, Eddy Merckx put on a finals-day masterclass in South Korea, Brazil is down to two men for a professional snooker card, and Bolton's amateur blackball title is going to the wire tonight.
RACK OF AGES TAKE THE $112,000 — AFTER NEARLY TWELVE HOURS
Rack Of Ages beat Amigos 25–17 in the 8-Ball Teams final, per Billiard News, quoting the official DigitalPool bracket. The match broke off at 8:13pm Eastern on Saturday and the bracket timestamps the finish at 12:55 UTC on Sunday, so the best part of twelve hours at the table. Rack Of Ages got their noses in front early and Amigos never reeled them back in.
That is a turn-up of sorts. Amigos had been the bracket's heavy hitters all week, 37–5 over Lotomofos and 44–13 over San Antonio's Drunken Masters in the quarter-finals, before surviving How You Like Me Now 17–16 in Saturday's semi. Rack Of Ages took the harder road:
- Beat Armstrong All-Stars 25–19, barely a day after the All-Stars had won the 10-Ball Teams trophy
- Beat Lucky Break Birmingham 24–12 in the quarter-finals
- Beat Big Time Rockets 31–12 in the semi-finals
- Beat Amigos 25–17 in the final
The money: $112,000 to the champions, billed by Ultimate Pool USA as the biggest top prize in league pool history, from a $282,000 purse. Amigos take $50,000, How You Like Me Now and Big Time Rockets $20,000 each, and the beaten quarter-finalists $10,000 apiece.
That closes the team side of Grand Finals week, after Tyler Styer and Margaret Fefilova-Styer won the National Pairs and Armstrong All-Stars the 10-Ball Teams. The Mixed Pairs final and the three Sunday opens are still to be settled, with brackets on DigitalPool.
YANGGU: MERCKX NEEDS 16 INNINGS
Overnight from Gangwon Province, Belgium's Eddy Merckx won the Yanggu 3-Cushion World Cup, beating the Netherlands' Glenn Hofman 50–23 in the final. Xports News has the numbers: 50 points in 16 innings, an average of 3.125, with a high run of 8. Hofman, chasing a first World Cup title, managed 23 in 15 innings with a high run of 9.
Hofman's route to the final went through his own countryman Dick Jaspers in the semis, while Merckx saw off 2022 world champion Tayfun Taşdemir. Earlier in the week Hofman had handed Taşdemir his only defeat of the event in the groups. Korea's home challenge, world number one Cho Myung-woo included, did not reach the last four. Replays are on SOOP's billiards channel.
CRICIUMA: ONE FRAME IN, ONE CARD ON THE LINE
The Pan American Open final at Mampituba Country Club is Daniel Holoyda against Noel Rodrigues Moreira, best of nine, and the winner takes a two-year World Snooker Tour card from 2027–28. At my last look on snooker.org, Moreira had nicked a tight opener 48–46.
The semi-finals went very differently:
- Daniel Holoyda beat Jason Williams 4–1, with breaks of 61, 51 and 52
- Noel Rodrigues Moreira beat Claudio Menechini 4–3, winning the decider 63–28
Moreira had not dropped a frame in the knockout rounds before Menechini took him the distance. Igor Figueiredo came through this event last year, so whoever wins tonight follows a fairly well-trodden path from Brazil to the pro ranks.
BOLTON: FOUR LEFT, ONE STILL TO BE FOUND
The IPA Amateur Series Grand Final at Royal Sports Lounge in Farnworth is down to its semi-finals, scores on CueScore. Josh Thomond, who dropped into the losers' half when Kyle Brown beat him 8–4 this morning, has fought all the way back. He beat Wade Morley 6–5 in losers' qualification, Shaun Moore 8–5 in the last 16 and Harvey Cunnah 8–6 in the quarters, and is now playing Scott Mackenzie for a place in the final.
Quarter-finals:
- Jonathan Bushnell beat Harry Reay 8–2
- Josh Thomond beat Harvey Cunnah 8–6
- Scott Mackenzie beat Kevin McLeod 8–5
- Harjeet Singh v Jack Park, 7–6 to Park and still on the table when I checked
Bushnell waits for the Singh–Park winner. The final, race to 8, was listed for 7:00pm, so expect a late finish.
WHERE TO WATCH TOMORROW
The Champion of Champions starts at Leicester's Mattioli Arena at 1:00pm on Monday, live on ITV in the UK, on DAZN in Germany, Fox Sports in Australia and Viaplay in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Territories without a broadcaster get it on WNT TV and Matchroom Multi Sport's YouTube channel. Group One is Mark Selby against Alfie Burden, then Barry Hawkins against Chris Wakelin, with the winners back at 7:00pm in a best-of-11 group final.
The IPA's own Tour Grand Final follows in Bolton next weekend, 13 to 15 November, with professional, open, amateur and ladies' events listed on CueScore.
I'll have the Criciuma champion and the Bolton winner in the morning.
— Reggie
Feature image: “Cherokee - Harrah's Casino Cherokee - View From Parking Tower” by Jared, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.
