Ramil Gallego, Antonio Lining and US-based Jose "Amang" Parica and Santos Sambajon all made it to the next round with scrambling victories late Monday, completing the Philippines’ impressive stint in the opener of the $3 million event where the Filipinos, led by the reigning World Cup champions Efren "Bata" Reyes and Francisco "Django" Bustamante, all made it to the next round.
Gallego scored two wins to finish second in Group 37, so did Sambajon, who posted three victories to claim the No. 2 spot in Group 32, while Lining scored two victories then nipped Japanese Mori Manabu for the third and last spot in Group 19. Parica also escaped elimination by salvaging the third slot in Group 18 where he edged veteran Jeremy Jones of the US.
Unlike the four, Reyes, Bustamante and the six other RP bets breezed through the first round with emphatic sweep of the round-robin series among five players. The other Filipinos who advanced were Dennis Orcollo, Marlon Manalo, Warren Kiamco, Ronnie Alcano, Rodolfo Luat and former world 9-ball champion Alex Pagulayan.
Round 2 will have the 120 players grouped in 20 of six players each with the top three advancing to the next round. Those who will fail to advance will earn $7,000.
The second round, however, looks far more challenging for the RP stars.
Kiamco is grouped with Nick Varner and Johnny Archers in Match 41, two of the US top bets along with Danny Harriman and Dennis Hatch, also of the US, and Englishman Brian Saleh, while Manalo and Gallego found themselves in Match 42 in the group of Scot Karl Boyles, Americans Lee Heuwagen and Dallas West and Taiwanese Hsia Hui-kai.
Orcollo heads Match 43 that includes Neil Raybone, Ernesto Dominguez, Shannon Daulton, Markus Juva and Louis Butera, while Reyes, who won the inaugural World Cup of Pool with Bustamante in Wales, recently, is the player to watch in Match 44 with the likes of Italian Fabio Petroni, Chris Melling of Scotland, Englishwoman Allison Fisher, and Americans Samuel Jones and Kim Davenport.
Sambajon is in Group 47 along with Sarah Ellerby of Britain, Dimitri Jungo, Americans Rodney Morris and David Matlock and Takeshi Okumura of Japan, while Alcano heads Group 51 that includes Sandor Tot, Jon Kucharo, Jason Kirkwood, John Younger and Roland Acosta.
Bustamante hopes to dominate Group 52 that includes Nick Van Den Berg, Carl Morris, Ben Nunan, Chu Hung-ming and Tang Hoa of the US, while Pagulayan eyes a spot in the third round against the likes of Vincent Facquet, Tony Robles, Jasmin Ouschan, Imran Majid and Frank Hernandez in Group 53.
Parica tries to make the most of his stint in Group 54 as he battles Mika Immonen of Finland, Cliff Joyner of the US, Alejandro Carvajal, Gerry Watson and Tony Chohan, while Lining will be up against the likes of fancied American Earl Strickland, Shane Van Boening, Furuta Kazuo, Gabriel Owen and Larry Schwartz in Group 55.
Luat anchors the Philippines second campaign in Group 58 that includes Tony Drago, Michael Zimmerman, Adam Wheeler, Thomas Kennedy and Jayson Shaw.
Sixth players will advance to the next round where they will grouped into 12 of five players each with the top three advancing to the fourth round. Losers will receive ,000 each.