Roland Garcia capped a relentless undefeated week at Skinny Bob’s Billiards by fending off Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura in the grand finale.
The experienced Filipino cue artist pocketed the $17,500 top prize thanks to a commanding run without dropping a single match throughout the tournament.
Garcia set the tempo in the early rounds, only conceding four racks in his opening two matches to ease past Josh Kondo and Joey Torres.
The former World Championship finalist then took care of three American players in the later rounds, brushing aside Ryan Robinson and starlet Gavin Ray Matthew before overwhelming Marcus Hodge 9-1 to reach the last eight.
In the winners’ bracket quarter-finals, he faced Jeffrey De Luna in a heavyweight Filipino bout, where Garcia continued his clinical march with a 9-4 win to set up a match against German prodigy Felix Vogel.
Vogel was undefeated until he faced Garcia, sending household names such as Billy Thorpe and Shane van Boening to the losers’ side.
But the 18-year-old was no match for the veteran Garcia, who won 9-4 and punched his ticket to the final.
His opponent, Patsura, who is no stranger to Skinny Bob’s, having claimed the nine-ball title in 2022 and 2024, took a completely different route to the championship game.
The Ukrainian was defeated early by Van Boening and had to fight through the unforgiving one-loss side. By pure talent and resilience, he overcame 10 gruelling matches, beating Chohan, Thorpe, De Luna and Vogel to make the final.
However, Garcia refused to give up his momentum, outlasting Patsura in the final to bring another coveted American open title to the Philippines.
Garcia, the winner of the 53rd Texas Open, becomes the third Filipino winner of the tournament, joining Dennis Orcollo in 2020 and Warren Kiamco in 2013.
