Shane Van Boening (File photo courtesy of Dave Thomson - Medium Pool)
AS THE RACE for Mosconi Cup spots gets underway in earnest, it's America's top player Shane Van Boening who leads the way after the Turning Stone Winter Event which took place in December.
Van Boening, who came top of the US Mosconi Cup rankings in 2011, beat the likes of Mike Dechaine, Ralf Souquet, Dennis Hatch and Rodney Morris before over-turning Raj Hundal in a close fought final.
That puts the ‘South Dakota Kid' 40 points ahead of Morris in the early running with Dechaine filling out third place.
The US Mosconi Cup Ranking currently consists of five events. Points will be allocated as per the BCA Points List and each event will be weighted depending on total purse, size of field and number of top-ranked players competing.
Only players finishing in the last 32 of each event will be allocated points and at the conclusion, after the 2012 US Open, the top two players will automatically gain entry to the Mosconi Cup side.
The remaining three players will be Matchroom Sport wildcard picks although the ranking will play a part in this.
The next qualifying event is the Players Championship at Valley Forge which runs from 8th to 11th.
