Billy Thorpe has severely criticised the Mosconi Cup qualification rules after being told that he’s no longer eligible moments before a match at the recent US Open Championship.
Rules for earning a spot on the respective American and European teams state that players must not miss more than two events that are considered majors on the World Nineball Tour calendar.
Thorpe skipped both March’s European Open in Bosnia and Herzegovina and May’s UK Open due to financial reasons, and then didn’t enter last month’s Arizona Open, unaware that he would therefore become ineligible.
The two-time Mosconi Cup champion was informed of the ruling just before heading out to play eventual runner-up Robbie Capito in the US Open last 16, an unexpected conversation which came as a significant surprise to him.
“Right before I went out to play Robbie in the final 16, the Mosconi Cup somehow got brought up,” Thorpe said on social media. “That’s when I was told I’m not eligible to play because I missed too many ‘majors’.
“In my opinion, this is a terrible rule for our sport. Players shouldn’t be forced to attend events they can’t make or events that simply don’t make financial sense for them.
“At the end of the day, I’ll take responsibility for my part. I guess I needed to read my emails better and know the rules. If I had known missing Yuma would make me ineligible, I would’ve gone to Arizona even though, financially, it made absolutely zero sense for me.
“It was single elimination and three to four hours from the nearest airport. For me, that’s a terrible financial decision. But if I had known I needed to attend to remain eligible for the Mosconi Cup, I would’ve sucked it up and gone.
“I also heard through the grapevine that certain players were being ‘told’ or ‘warned’ that they needed to go to Yuma to qualify. I obviously wasn’t one of those players. I have no idea if that’s actually true and that’s simply what I heard, so I’m not accusing anybody of anything.
“At the end of the day, it was my responsibility to know the rules, and it is what it is. So when you see the rankings and don’t see Billy Thorpe anywhere across the board, there’s your answer as to why.
“In my opinion, it’s one of the dumbest rules I’ve seen in pool. We shouldn’t be forced to attend any event in our careers. Period. End of story. It’s already hard enough to make a living playing this game.
“With that being said, I have zero chance of being on the Mosconi Cup team this year because I’m not eligible, and that’s all good. I’ll still be rooting for Team USA to win no matter what.”
Lukas Fracasso-Verner will be impacted by the same ruling after missing the US Open, the Florida Open and the Arizona Open due to a car accident, despite a potential injury or health clause in the contract being unknown.
World number seven Johann Chua and Chinese Taipei Open runner-up Ronel Nalaunan, meanwhile, was ruled out of Reyes Cup contention as the potential highest-ranked Filipino player after missing numerous major events.
