DARREN Appleton of Great Britain crushed American Shawn Putnam, 13-6, in Sunday’s finals to successfully defend his title in the 36th annual US Open 9-Ball Championships at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Appleton is the third player in tournament history to claim back-to-back titles since Mika Immonen of Finland in 2008/2009 and Nick Varner of the USA in 1989/1990.
This year, 251 players from over 30 countries vied for the most prestigious professional billiards title on US soil. Only four made the final day where each match would be a win-by-two format that never came into play.
Appleton, a former World 10-ball champion, ousted Filipino-Canadian Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, 11-7, for the hot seat match in the winners’ brackets.
Putnam arranged a titular showdown with Appleton after beating Pagulayan, 11-8, in their losers’ bracket game.
Other Filipino cue artists who saw action in the tournament were Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza, Jose “Amang” Parica, Antonio “Nickoy” Lining, Warren “Warrior” Kiamco, Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica, Jundel “Jano” Mazon, Deomark Alpajora, Israel Rota and Mhett Vergara. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino