WITH HIS RECENT win at the US Open – his fifth in total – Shane Van Boening has absolutely crushed the Team USA Mosconi Cup rankings, as he sealed his tenth appearance in the annual transatlantic tear-up. Van Boening is a whopping 157 points ahead of his nearest rival with just the final event to go – the Kuwait 9 Ball Open which gets underway next week.
He leads Skyler Woodward, who went pointless in Virginia, and now finishes on 248 points, having chosen to miss the final event of the season. In third place is Mike Dechaine, who leap-frogged Rodney Morris to move into the third automatic qualifying spot, with a 13th place finish at the Open.
Dechaine is 12 points behind second spot and 20 ahead of Morris and with both men playing in Kuwait there may well be a twist in the tail.
For Hall of Famer Morris to make the top three he needs to finish 20 points or more above Dechaine, or go past Woodward.
Best ways, Morris must reach the last 16 with Dechaine finishing out of the points to finish third, unless he reaches the quarter-finals in which case he will go ahead of Woodward regardless of where Dechaine finishes.
All Dechaine needs to do though, is just finish in the top 32 to go ahead of Woodward, and ensure his automatic spot in the side.
Following the conclusion of the Kuwait Open, the remaining two wildcards will be announced to complete the five-man team who will travel to London to attempt to win the Mosconi Cup for the first time since 2009.
Ranking after 27 events
1 Shane VAN BOENING 405
2 Skyler WOODWARD 248
3 Mike DECHAINE 236
4 Rodney MORRIS 216
5 Oscar Dominguez 190
6 Justin Bergman 159
7 Shaun Wilkie 150
8 Brandon Shuff 134
9 Josh Roberts 126
10 Shane McMinn 119
Tickets for the Mosconi Cup are available from www.matchroompool.com
2016 MOSCONI CUP is sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supply the Official Table. The cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel.
