Four players had qualified through tournament play. Khalil Diab and Don Payne had finished 1-2 at Edgie’s in Milpitas, CA, and received paid entry to Tacoma as well as $300 in expense money. Mazin Shooni had won the qualifier at Kirk’s in Decatur, IL, while Bob Spicknall had won the qualifier held earlier in Tacoma. The other 30 players were open entries.

The preliminary matches were played to 30 points. The major upset was Frank Torres not advancing out of his preliminary flight, as he lost to George Ashby (three time former national champion), Diab, and George Luchak (3rd place finisher in the qualifier held at Edgie’s). Torres’ 4-3 record was not enough to get a wild card spot, although he had some very good games, including 30 points in 13 innings (2.308).

In the “D” flight of the preliminaries, Shooni, Norm Lofgren, and Mike Bengels all had 7-1 records and advanced to the finals, using up one of the wild-cards. Michael Kang (8-0) and Sixto Jauregui (7-1) advanced from the “B” flight. In the “A” group, Sang Lee never allowed his opponent more than 16 points on his way to a sweep. Local players Jim Krei (6-1) and Bob Spicknall (5-2) also advanced from that flight. The $100 prize for high run out of the finals went to George Luchak for his nine.

The ten-player final round-robin was played to 40 points. When Sang Lee lost an early match to Sixto Jauregui, there was quite a buzz about a possible upset, as Lee still had to face his strongest competition. In 1999, Lee tied with Carlos Hallon on W/L and had won the play-off. But the upset was not to be as Lee held the rest of his opponents to fewer than 30 points each.

On his way to his eleventh consecutive US Championship title, Sang Chun Lee also picked up the high run award (10, tied by Ashby) and best game (40/19, 2.015 against Ashby).

The Elk’s Lodge in Tacoma was an ideal setting for the 2000 US 3-Cushion Championship. Bleachers for 100 spectators were set up, the five Verhoevens were freshly covered with Simonis 300, and the local papers, radio and TV provided coverage. The audience included both experienced players and newcomers who wanted to see what this 3-C stuff was all about. Darrel Stutesman, Norm Lofgren, and the dozens of other volunteers worked day and night to produce a gem of a tournament.

Paid admissions added over $2400 to the prize fund. Another $4400 was added by donations and auctions of cues and books to make a total prize fund of $17,000.

Bob Jewett
Secretary, USBA