SHANE VAN BOENING, an ever-present in the US team at the past four Mosconi Cups, played his way back into contention for this year's side with victory at the US Open 10-Ball Championship at the Riviera, Las Vegas.
‘The South Dakota Kid' took down Spain's David Alcaide 11-6 in the championship match to cap a great week. Van Boening's win sees him climb to No.2 in the rankings from a lowly 10th spot.
Van Boening had recently returned from a lengthy sojourn in Asia which included a number of highly successful match ups in Manila. He played seven sets against the likes of Ronnie Alcano, Francisco Bustamante and Jeff De Luna and was undefeated.
All that high quality practice stood him in good stead for Las Vegas, and with four events to go in the qualifying series, Van Boening will be favourite to take one of the top three automatic positions.
56.5 points clear at the top, though, is Mike ‘The Fireball' Dechaine whose 7th place finish at the Riv ensured that he maintained his No.1 position. Corey Deuel, with seven Mosconi Cup appearances to his name, is zeroing in on Mo.8 as he finished third to jump two places into the coveted third spot, 55 points ahead of 2009 MVP Dennis Hatch.
Fallers include Shawn Putnam, Hatch and Earl Strickland who now finds himself in sixth spot. Johnny Archer creeps into the top ten for the first time.
The US Mosconi Cup Ranking consists of 10 events throughout the United States, culminating in the US Open in October. 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 players will be allowed to drop their worst finish of the ten event series. At the conclusion, after the 2011 US Open, the top three players will automatically gain entry to the Mosconi Cup side.
The remaining two players will be Matchroom Sport wildcard picks although the ranking will play a part in this.
American Mosconi Cup contenders take a break for nearly three months and reconvene in Connecticut from 11 to 14 August for Turning Stone Summer.
