After Taiwan's cueists dominated the Guinness 9-Ball Tour for a year and a half, the balance of power appears to have swung back towards the Philippines. Alex Pagulayan won July's Singapore leg of the Asian professional tour, and Dennis Orcollo snapped off last weekend's stop in Guangzhou, China.
Before Pagulayan's win, Taiwan had captured all six titles of 2007 and the first three of this season. Chang Jung Lin has collected six titles in that time.
But the all-Filipino final between Orcollo and Pagulayan at the Singapore stop has changed the momentum on tour.
At this past weekend's event in Guangzhou, Orcollo breezed into the final. He won his two group matches, then posted 9-1 victories in his quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
Taiwan's Wang Hung Hsiang, meanwhile, was shaking up the other side of the bracket. He sent Chang home with a 9-4 in in the quarterfinal round, then edged Pagulayan in a hill-hill semifinal.
On the hill in the final, 10-7, Orcollo failed to pocket the 3 on a seemingly easy attempt, allowing Wang to win the rack.
The Filipino ace then committed another foul in the 19th rack and his Taiwanese foe converted on a 1-9 combination to narrow the gap to 10–9.
Wang was tripped up in the next rack, missing the 2 ball, leaving Orcollo to clean the table for his first win on the Guinness Tour.
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