Veteran Filipino cue master Alex Pagulayan claimed his third title this year after topping the 2015 Buffalo Billiards Pro One- Pocket Championship held at the Metarie Pool Club in Louisiana, US. Pagulayan, a former Southeast Asian Games triple gold medalist, outclassed American Scott Frost in the finals, 5-1, to pocket the $16,000 top purse. Frost settled for $9,500 runner-up prize.
The 36-year-old Pagulayan earned the first finals slot by beating Frost in the semifinals of the winners’ bracket, 5-3.
Frost got the second finals berth via a 5-4 decision over compatriot Jeremy Jones in the losers’ column semifinals of the tournament, which employed a double elimination format. Earlier, Pagulayan defeated US bets Joey Gray in the first round (5-4), Jason Brown in the second round (5-3) and Justin Bergman in the quarterfinals (5-4).
In January, Pagulayan ruled the 2015 Derby City Classic One-Pocket Division and the 2015 Master of the Table. He also had runner- up finish in the 2015 DCC 9- Ball Division and third place in the 2015 DCC 10-Ball Challenge.
Meanwhile, world No. 1 Carlo Biado has been included in the initial list of world-class players competing in the 2015 World Pool Masters to be held in Manchester, England in August.
Joining him in the list are defending champion Shane Van Boening of US, former champions Darren Appleton of England and Neils Feijen of the Netherlands, Jayson Shaw of Scotland, Ralf Souquet of Germany, and last year’s runner-up Greece. Nikos Ekonomopoulos of Greece.(E. Noguera, MT)