ALEX “The Lion” Pagulayan is now $12,000 richer after turning back American Shane Van Boening in the finals of the 4th Annual Billiard Factory World Summit of Pool at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Two other Filipino billiards masters Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Cebuano Warren Kiamco rounded up the top four following a tough round of eliminations.
Pagulayan started strong in the final race to seven as he erected an early 5-2 lead. Van Boening of South Dakota slowly crawled back into action to tie the game at 5-5 after the 10th rack.
However, that was the last time the American young gun saw the table as Pagulayan wiped out the next two racks to win the title, 7-5.
Van Boening, who was the lone undefeated player and grabbed the first finals seat, pocketed $5,000.
The 22-year-old native of Sioux Falls earlier defeated Pagulayan, 11-4, before the former WPC champion avenged his loss after trashing compatriot Bustamante in their semifinal game.
After losing to Pagulayan, Bustamante bounced back from the losers bracket with an 11-9 win over Lee Chen Man and then a 7-4 win over Kiamco.
However, Pagulayan scored a repeat over Django with an equally thrilling 7-5 win to play Van Boening in the finals.
Guinness
Meanwhile, the Filipino cue masters failed to stamp their class in the Guinness 9-Ball Tour as they all fell in the early rounds of the Malaysian Leg.
The last to fall was Lee Van Corteza who was ousted by Chao Fong-Pang, 9-5, late Saturday.
Earlier, tour debutant Roberto “Superman” Gomez, succumbed to international jitters and lost to Indonesia’s top gun Ricky Yang in the other quarterfinal match.
Yang started the game with a 3-1 lead but Gomez managed to tie the game at 3-all at the sixth rack.
Gomez was then poised to close the match following an 8-6 lead but Yang found his marks by winning three racks in a row to win the match 9-8.
World champion Ronato “Volcano” Alcano also failed to advanced as he was eliminated by Dharminder Singh Lilly of Indonesia. (RCM)
