Move over guys, women to compete in 9-ball tourney

The world's top pool players are here aiming to pocket some of the $180,000 prize purse at the 35th annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.

Some local players also have their eyes on the competition and money, including the $40,000 top prize.

Earlier this week, Jacki and Bill Duggan were at Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach warming up for the tournament that starts today at the Chesapeake Conference Center.

"The U.S. Open is so huge, and I never ever thought there would be an opportunity for a female to shoot in it," Jacki Duggan said. "I thought, 'You know this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.' "

This is the first year women will compete against the men at the Open.

The Duggans of course would like to win some of the money, but their passion for pool has already paid off in romance.

The couple met in 2006. She lived in Suffolk and he in Virginia Beach. They traveled to Las Vegas for a tournament to meet face to face.

"We met out there, and then we started to date a couple months later," she said. "Then we started playing pool together. We went out the next year and played doubles in a national event and finished fifth out of at least a couple hundred teams. And it's history from there."

They headed back to Las Vegas the following year to get married.

They live in Virginia Beach now. She's a contracting officer for the Department of Defense and he's a Norfolk Firefighter. Both said the billiards bug bit them back when they were 18. Now on weekends they often head to a tournament up north or in North Carolina.

"Hopefully, if we do well in the tournament, we'll win enough money to pay for the trip," Bill said.

"And we've done that," Jacki said.

"Plenty of times," Bill added finishing her sentence.

Bill has won three ranked tour events. He played in the U.S. Open in 2006, losing his first match, winning his second and losing his third.

The pair frequent Q-Masters to face off with friends even though they own the same Diamond Pro-Am table used in the tournament.

"There's a different focus and concentration when you are playing somebody else," Jacki Duggan said. "You can practice at home and you can practice drills and different shots, but when you have competition, you are faced with different obstacles."

As the Duggans practiced, Q-Masters owner and tournament founder Barry Behrman had his hands full making sure all would be ready in just few days.

"It's the calm before the storm," he said, picking up a ringing phone.

He was in his office checking off his long list of must-dos: banners here, balls and triangles ordered, rooms arranged for sponsors, order roses for each woman who walks into the ballroom during the tournament...

Soon the 16 4-1/2-foot-by-9-foot slate pool tables will be loaded into the Center's ballroom and await the players. Behrman is confident of filling the full field of 256. Players have signed up from a couple dozen countries, including England, Denmark, Turkey, Australia, Austria, Japan, Bulgaria, India and the Philippines. The 1,000 seats await spectators. Vendors will ring the Center's hallways selling custom pool cues and leather cases, and CDs and books aimed to sharpen one's game.

Behrman is especially excited about Efren Reyes, nicknamed "The Magician," and others from the Philippines who will play.

Behrman recently visited the Philippines and was impressed with the county's beauty but more so with the people's regard for the game.

Behrman said he got the idea of opening the U.S. Open to women when he turned on the TV earlier this year and caught Kelly Kulick become the first woman to win a title against men on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour.

Behrman checked with the Women's Professional Billiards Association to make sure they didn't have an event on his weekend. Twenty-five women have signed up for the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the most prestigious tournament in the world," Bill Duggan said.

"If anybody thinks they have what it takes, they can enter. To me, this is the true world championship because it is not limited to just people on the pro tour. It's exciting."