UK Invasion Lands On U.S. Open

This year's U.S. Open sees a higher number of UK entries than usual, with ten players coming over the pond to see if they can take down the coveted title of U.S. OPEN winner!

The first and biggest name on the list is Darren "Dynamite" Appleton, who equaled Mika Immonen's fantastic feat of winning back to back US Opens in 2008 & 2009, by taking down his own two consecutive titles in 2010 & 2011. We are sure that Darren would love nothing better than to take down this year's event to make it a Three-peat.  All eyes will be watching Darren's progress over the arduous seven day event, to see if he can be the first player ever to make it three in a row.

The fact that this event is the last hooray in the chase for Mosconi Cup points for both the Europeans and the USA hopefuls has brought an influx of players that are in contention for this event to make a final attempt to secure a spot on this years dream team.

The other players are Multiple World Champion. Daryl Peach, who has been on a tear lately with four consecutive wins in Europe in the last three months. Next, we have World Champion Mark Gray, who just took down a GB9 event two weeks ago and has the game to do well in this event.

Multiple World Champion Karl Boyes is a definite threat and will be doing his best to put his name on the trophy.  We also have, from Scotland, Jason Shaw who is one of the most improved players in Europe. His latest win came just two weeks ago on the GB9 event.

Another World Champion, Chris Melling, will have the attention of the fans this year as he negotiates his way past his opponents throughout the weeks play. Chris's potting skills must be seen to be believed. Anyone who was lucky enough to see his so-called rookie performance at last year's Mosconi Cup in Las Vegas will know what I mean.

Another top UK player, Raj Hundal, is at the top of his game at this time and is in the top three in the USA points rankings at this time. Look for Raj to finish high in this event.

Next up we have the young gun, Phil Burford from Darlington, England, who spent almost three months on a road trip in the States this summer. This sharp shooting young man made many fans whilst beating all of the top US players that had the misfortune to meet him in tournaments. All eyes will be on 21 year old Mr. Burford to see if this child prodigy can better his 25th place from last year.

Finally, we have two young UK hopefuls that are over in the States for a three month road trip and are very excited to being a part of this year's US Open. They are Del Sim and Adam Shaw, who purchased an old car on landing in the States and looks to sell it a couple of days before they fly back. Very enterprising.

This is going to be a very exciting US Open with all eyes staring in the direction of Mr. Appleton. Can he do it?  Why not?  He found the wherewithal to pull it off last year and I am sure that he will be even more motivated this year!!! Maybe the odds are stacked against it, but I think that he has a great chance and we know he has the game.

What a great event this is! I cannot wait to arrive and feast my eyes on the biggest pool scene around and meet the many friends that I only see once a year at this event!