2009 US Open Championships

The Open is over and we have only the second person to have won back to back Open Championships. Mika Immonen. Congrats is definetly in order. Well, maybe not, he is the one that knocked me out of the tournament. I guess I can get over it. Congratulations Mika. Enough about him lets talk more about me. I had the best finish of my four appearances. That would be a tied for 7th. I am very proud of this finish and am anticipating a better finish next year. I had three very close matches that could've very easily gone the other way. After my loss to Ralf I played Kieth Bennett where I was down by a score of 9-3 and as he said it, destiny took it's course. 9-4, 9-5, 9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-9. He did get to the hill first but it wasn't in his destiny as he called it. He broke and scratched where i proceeded to run that rack and break for the match. I broke the balls and had a very tough shot at the one. Looking back I definately should've played a safety but I didn't and I left him with a shot to win the match. He played the one and had a semi tough shot to pocket the two. He missed and I was in the process of runnin out when I was struck by the red light from someones camera. I stood up and took a moment to clear my mind and started to pocket the five ball. Again. It was there again. This time i had to tell her about it. So after I explained to her about her camera, I then prepared to shoot again but was to quick and missed it by four or five inches. He jumped to his feet like he had been resurrected and shouted "just like me" and what he meant was that I dogged it just like him. Well, I beg to differ. Anyway, he shot the five in and miscued on the six and completely hooked me with the eight ball. I kicked two rails, hit the six pretty full and left him a very difficult cut. He made the six very easily but was faced with another tough cut. Cue ball in the center of the table and the seven ball about ten inches off of the head rail about one and a half balls right of straight on. He over cuts the seven, cue ball hits right after the side pocket and then another two rail rails into the opposite side. Destiny! Stevie runs 7,8,9. Akagariyama. Japanese player that had just beat Huidji See, Niels Feijen, and Jeremy Sossei was my next opponent. We had a great match! Hill to hill he missed a long rail 30 degree cut on the seven ball in the corner on the foot side of the table. The seven hung in the corner with a pretty routine out on the 7,8,9. My next match with Imran Majid wasn't as close as the previous three. I won this match 11-3. It was an interesting first game. I won the lag and got very nice lay out on the break. I had made it to the four ball and gotten jacked up over the nine. I was cutting about a 30 degree cut into the side and hit the point and it ran up the rail into the corner. He threw his hands in the air and let out a yelp. I turned to him and said " Yeah, like you're not gonna get a roll this set." To tell you the truth I don't think he did. Karma? Who knows? I did play excellently well after missing the four ball. Then it was against Mika Immonen defending champion. Yes, that was definately one of the thoughts that went through my mind. Instead of just another person. He played the match really well and won 9-5. I missed a nine ball and a four ball cross side. So from here we are headed back to the Steve Mizerak Championships where I am defending champion. Blog to you soon. Thank you all for your continued support.

2009 US Open Championship Day 5

Well here we are at the 2009 US Open Championships and I have managed to win the first four matches. I won my first three matches by a combined score of 33-7 but last night was a bit closer. 11-10. I was playing Beau Runnigen from Minnesota and what a hellava match. He started very strong taking a 4-1 lead. I tied the match up at 4-4. He took the lead again 6-4 and stayed ahead till I tied it up at 8-8 and took the lead 10-8. The whole match I never got an open shot off the break and as I broke the 18 game I thought for just a moment I was about to and got kissed in the corner. He ran to the eight and missed while leaving me safe. I played safe and he got another roll. Trying to play safe he hung the cue ball in the corner and the eight in the middle of the table on the end rail. I played an ok safe considering what I was facing but wasn't good enough. He wins that game and breaks and runs the next rack and was on his way to doing the same in the 20th game but got jacked up over the seven ball shooting at the six and missed. I was faced with a semi tough shot and made it and ran the remainder of the rack to take the win. I play Ralf Souquet tonight at 10pm. You can watch the matches at accu-stats.com or watch brackets at azbilliards.com We are definetly in the hunt for a US Open title.