Evening all. One loose end from North Carolina got tied up in the small hours, and it was worth the wait. Then it is over to Leicester, where the Champion of Champions has one survivor, one upset and a group final on the table as I type, and on to Korea, where a 7-point run in the last set won a round of the PBA Team League.
CHEROKEE: COUSINS GETS HIS REVENGE ON THE HILL
Tom Cousins is the National Open champion at the Ultimate Pool USA Grand Finals. He beat Tyler Styer 6–5 in a hill-hill final at Harrah's Cherokee, and it was the last match of the whole week, per Billiard News quoting the official DigitalPool bracket. The decider dragged on so long that the bracket stamps the finish at 06:16 UK time this morning, more than three hours after the final broke off.
The Englishman will have enjoyed this one. Earlier in the week he lost the National Shootout final 5–4 to Oscar Dominguez after leading 3–0. This time he was the one holding his nerve.
- Field: 512 players, with $20,000 to the winner
- Semi-finals: Cousins beat Joe Prince 7–3, Styer beat Gerson Martinez Boza 7–5
- Final: Cousins beat Styer 6–5
Three for Fefilova-Styer
Styer can at least share the drive home with the most decorated player of the week. Margaret Fefilova-Styer won the National Women's Open 6–1 over Skylar Hess. That is her third title in Cherokee, after Monday's Women's Shootout and the National Pairs she won alongside her husband on Friday. She beat Sofia Mast 6–1 in the semi-final, and Hess beat Rachel Lang 6–2 in the other.
Mixed Pairs: Benoit and Melling
The Mixed Pairs final was put back twice from its Saturday slot and was finally played on Sunday afternoon. Ashley Benoit and Chris Melling beat Avah Weems and Oscar Dominguez 6–2. It is a nice one for Melling, who lost the National Pairs final with Shane Van Boening on Friday night. He and Benoit also ended the Styers' pairs double 6–1 in the semi-final. Weems and Dominguez got there by edging Van Boening and Mast 6–5.
Cohen Bradford won the National Junior Open, and that is Grand Finals week done: Rack Of Ages took the $112,000 8-Ball Teams title, Armstrong All-Stars the 10-Ball Teams, plus the shootouts, pairs and every open.
LEICESTER: SELBY SURVIVES, HAWKINS DOESN'T
Mark Selby's title defence at the Champion of Champions very nearly ended before teatime. Alfie Burden, here as Shoot Out champion, took the defending champion all the way in the best-of-seven opener before Selby won the decider for a 4–3 win in front of his home crowd at the Mattioli Arena.
The upset came next. Scottish Open champion Chris Wakelin beat Welsh Open champion Barry Hawkins 4–1. Hawkins went into the match with a 3–2 head-to-head lead, but Wakelin won their last meeting 6–5 at the 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters, and it was Wakelin on top again today.
Tonight: Selby v Wakelin, best of 11, broke off at 7pm UK time on ITV. The winner goes into Friday night's semi-final. The loser leaves with £17,500, while Burden and Hawkins take £12,500 each.
Tomorrow (Group Two):
- 1pm: Neil Robertson v Panchaya Channoi
- To follow: Judd Trump v Jak Jones
- 7pm: the two winners, best of 11
KOREA: HUONS WIN A SECOND ROUND, AND MORALES FINISHES IT
Late on Sunday at the KINTEX PBA Stadium in Goyang, Huons beat Hana Card 4–3 to win round four of the PBA Team League, per Yonhap and Newsis. They finished on 20 points from seven wins and two defeats, one point ahead of NH Nonghyup Card, who had won five in a row to close the gap.
The final day came down to the seventh set. Colombia's Robinson Morales trailed Han Ji-seung 2–4 when he ran seven in the third inning, then finished it off 11–4 in four innings. If he had lost, Huons would have taken only one point, and the round would have gone to NH Nonghyup. Kim Ga-young won two sets for Hana Card, the women's doubles and the women's singles, which crushed Kim Se-yeon 9–2, but Hana Card still finished ninth.
- MVP: Kang Dong-koong, 12 wins and 5 defeats across singles and doubles with an average of 1.860. It is his second round MVP of the season.
- The record book: Huons also won round two in August, and only NH Nonghyup Card (2023–24) and SK Rent-a-car (2024–25) had won two rounds in a single season before them. Kang has his eye on a first-ever third.
- Next up: Dream Tour event five from 14 to 17 November, then the Huons PBA-LPBA Championship from 21 November. Team League round five resumes in January.
ON THE RADAR
- Tuesday: Champion of Champions Group Two, Leicester (ITV)
- Wednesday: Universal Open Ho Chi Minh breaks off, 9-ball, World Nineball Tour
- Thursday: IBSF World Snooker Championships open in Indore
- 13–15 Nov: IPA Tour Grand Final, Bolton (scores on CueScore)
Would you rather have the shootout or the open on your CV? Cousins now has a runner-up spot in one and the title in the other from the same week. Tell us below.
I'll have the Selby–Wakelin result in the morning.
— Reggie
Sources: Billiard News, DigitalPool, Sportshorts, snooker.org, TNT Sports, Yonhap, Newsis, The Hankyoreh. Feature image: “DFC 1080 A pair of hands setting a rack of colorful billiard balls on a blue pool table ready for the break” by PattayaPatrol, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
