Thank G-d for AZ Billiards.  Since the WPBA can’t seem to figure out how to make a .pdf file, AZB stepped up and posted the brackets for the US Open.  The story here is of course who decided to noshow.  Conspicuous by their absence are Yu Ram Cha, the Doctor of Thugenomics Jeanette Lee, there are really too many to name.  By my count, there are at least 15 regional players filling spots for WPBA noshows.

Anyhoo, here are my thoughts on the brackets:

This is the most competitive of the 8. Jasmin Ouschan should cruise to the 3rd round where she’ll likely meet Iris Ranola or, um, well… here’s the thing. The other top player in this bracket is someone that I cannot mention by name for fear that Cogglius the Gluttonous will find his way out of The Hole and smite me with his fearsome hamhocks. Because he prefers I do not sayeth her name, so I shall just refer to her henceforth as she who must not be named, or SWMNBN for short. A matchup of Jasmin vs. SWMNBN would be a fun one to watch. If there was a stream. Which there is not.

No questions here.  Vivian Villareal skates into the redraw without much of a workout.

Two of my favorite regional players, Ashley Nandrasy and Niki Rasmussen get stuck in the same bracket as Kelly Fisher.  I’d love to call for an upset, but Kelly’s got too much game for my girls.

This one is built for Karen Corr.  The Librarian should have no issues getting to the 3rd round where she’ll likely meet Nicole “specs” Keeney or Line the village bicyicle Kjoersvik.

Another bracket made for the top player.  XTP should cruise to a 3rd round matchup with Jennifer Barretta.  As much as I dig the JBar, I think XTP is going to find her way to the redraw on the winner’s side.

This is an interesting one.  Allison Fisher will likely meet up with the always lovely Liz Ford in the 2nd round.  Before you go and scoff though, keep in mind that Liz finished 9th in the San Diego Classic, so a win over the mighty AF is not out of the question.

This should be a cakewalk for Gerda Hofstatter.  There really isn’t anyone in her bracket that has enough game to knock her to the losers side.

In the final bracket, we should see an interesting matchup in the 3rd round of Ga Young Kim and Monica Webb.  In the end though GYK will use the power of her fancy new chesticles to throw Monica off her game, making it to the redraw and kicking Monica to the losers side.

And there you have it.  As for who is going to win, this is really a toss-up.  Most of the players are going to have some serious ring rust.  The ones who participated in the BCAPL pro matches should have an advantage over the ones who took the time off to focus on GTL.  I’d love to see both SWMNBN and Liz Ford make it back to the TV rounds of course.  I think though, I’m going with Kelly Fisher as the pick to win this event.  I do however reserve the right to change my pick based on the redraws.