Staying on course

ALEX “The Lion” Pagulayan was the lone Filipino master to stay in hunt for the hot seat after handing Efren “The Magician” Reyes an 11-5 defeat in the Finals Bracket of the 37th Annual US Open 9-Ball Championships in Holiday Inn in Virginia yesterday.

Pagulayan, the 2005 champion, will play American Shane Van Boening for the hot seat today.

Van Boening is the last player that stood against the Filipino masters.

Pagulayan topped his bracket after handing American Johnny Archer an 11-7 beating before playing Reyes in the Finals Bracket.

Reyes earlier defeated compatriot Dennis “The Robocop” Orcullo to top his bracket.

The Filipino masters, however, had a show of force as Pagulayan, Reyes and Jose “Amang “ Parica all topped their brackets, while Orcullo and Ronnie Alcano rose from the one loss side to make it to the Finals Bracket.

Parica scored an 11-10 win over British Jayson Shaw before losing to Van Boening, 11-5, for his first defeat.

Orcullo, on the other hand, eliminated China’s He Wen Li, 11-8, and Alcano ousted Neils Feijen of The Netherlands 11-5 after losing to Van Boening in their bracket.

Alcano then beat China’s Jung Lin Chang, 11-7. Unfortunately his campaign ended when he lost to Reyes, 11-9, on his next assignment.

Parica was eliminated by Orcullo following an 11-4 rout.

After losing to Reyes, Orcullo bounced from the losers’ bracket by eliminating defending champion Darren Appleton, 11-7, before playing Parica.

Reyes and Orcullo will once more lock horns. The winner between the two willl then play the loser between Pagulayan and Van Boening, who were still playing late last night.

The loser between Reyes and Orcullo is already assured to pocket $6,000 while Alcano and Parica are guaranteed to get $4,000 each.

The champion will pocket $25,000, the runner-up will go home with $15,000 and the third placer will bag $10,000.

The cash-rich tournament awards cash prizes to cue artists up to the 96th placer.