Out with the old, in with the new. That's what happened in the just concluded Philippine 9-Ball Open, where we saw two veterans of Philippine Billiards namely Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante fail to get past the the semi-finals - both bowing to much younger opponents.
The 53 year old Efren Reyes clearly showed his age committing several unforced errors, even missing the crucial 9-ball in his last frame that automatically handed the match to the 35 year old Antonio Gabica - who went on to win the finals, beating Ronnie Alcano.
In the other semi-final match, 44 year old Francisco Bustamante lost to the 34 year old Ronnie Alcano in a thrilling finish that saw the game go "hill-hill" (12-all) in this race to 13 semi finals match. Unlike Reyes however, Bustamante showed more spunk and may have attributed his loss to "the breaks of the game." At any rate, the trend continued where the two-time defending Champion of this tournament, was eliminated by a younger player.
Could Reyes and Bustamante be going the way of Jose Parica - who, at his advanced age still manages to win US pool tournaments - but remains an insignificant force in world class tournaments?
Are we witnessing the change in the landscape of Philippine billiards?
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