History
In its first edition in 1976, the U.S. Open was contested by just 16 players. Over the years, the number of participants steadily increased, reaching its current level of 256 players.
Today the larger Men's Division is a restrictive male-only event, though it is otherwise a true "open" tournament, in that the only requirement is the payment of the entry fee, which was $600 in 2008. The total purse for the tournament at that time was $200,000, where the winner was awarded $40,000.
Barry Behrman is the tournament promoter of the Men's Division, and has been since its inception.
The tournament's original venue was Q-Master Billiards pool room, located in Norfolk, Virginia, which hosted the event, other than one year, until 1988. From 1997 to 2011, the U.S. Open Men's Division was held at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Virginia. After Behrman refused to pay money owed for the Chesapeake venue, the 2012 U.S. Open was held in Virginia Beach, VA.
Unlike the Men's Division, the U.S. Open for women is not a true "open" event. Each female player must qualify through the WPBA, the professional women's billiards tour based in the United States, in order to compete in this annual event. The Women's Division tournament is held in different locations each year.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)