Although Jon was looking forward to The World Championship (held July 1-9 in Cardiff, Wales), he was a little down because there is not a steady tour over in the United States right now.  Because there is not a  solid foundation, some of the players' mind sets are out of it, and it also affected Jon a little bit.  "It's disappointing and aggravating and because so, I am not practicing like I usually do, like I did last year," and he says that the players "are a little disgusted" about it. 

But, Jon says he is battling through it and he's still practicing, just not like he used to.

Going into the tournament, his ultimate goal was to "go and win it; to become the World Champion." Jon added, "In this tournament, you are either the Champion or you are not; if you come in last place or 2nd place, it doesn't matter; there's only one Champion." 

For the qualifying rounds, Jon was in a tough situation after his very first match.  In the qualifying rounds, 6 players play round robin and the top 4 stay in the tournament and the bottom 2 are eliminated.  Jon lost his first match 7-4, to Niclas Bergendorff from Sweden. 

As stated above, he was more unprepared than before, and so he was nervous after losing the first round.  "I knew I had to pick up the pace a little bit," Jon said. His next match was against Akikumo Toshikawa from Japan.  Toshikawa had Jon down 6-3 and Jon got worried, "if I lost, I would have been down 0-2 in the qualifying rounds, which means I would have HAD to win my next three to qualify."  Jon ended up winning 7-6!

This was a great confidence booster for Jon!  Instead of being down 0-2, he was 1-1, with three matches to go.  Later that same day, he played Leon Hogg from Australia and beat him 7-1.  At this point, Jon says, "I had a good match and a good day."   He's sitting good at 2-1.  By the next day, his mind set has completely changed; one day he almost doesn't make the cut and today he for sure made it! 

The next day he played Alex Lely from Holland and beat him 7-1!  He was locked in now for the qualifying spot and at this point, could almost even win his group.  Jon played Yi Che Kuo from Taipei next and lost 7-1.  He didn't win enough games to win his group, but he finished 3rd in his group and was seeded number 48 out of 64 for the next round!

For the next matches, it was single elimination and a race to 9.  Jon had to play Ernesto Dominguez from Mexico,  first.  He was concerned about playing Dominguez because (1) Ernesto was playing well and (2) he had beaten Efren Reyes in his group.  But, Jon beat Ernesto 9-4 and commented, "I played really well."

Jon then had to play Chris Melling, a young snooker player from London, England.  Jon had previously played him in Vegas and beat him.  Jon says, "going in to the match, I figured I had him mentally beat, but he was still playing well."   Chris had Jon down 5-2 and at this point, Jon started bearing down and playing the solid pool that he knows he is capable of.  He says, "I didn't take any wild chances, played good safeties and my break kicked in."  Jon slowed the pace down, checking all angles, making sure no simple errors would occur and in the process, changed Chris' rhythm (who was shooting fast, but well).  Jon eventually won 9-5!

Jon's roommate over in Wales was Corey Deuel, and as most traveling pool players find, they end up playing each other.  Jon's next match was with Corey Deuel.  At this stage in the single elimination tournament, the race is extended from 9 to 11.

The match started and when Jon was up 4-2, he scratched in the side on the 7 ball, and instead of going up 5-2, it was 4-3.  Momentum seemed to change and next thing you know, Corey is leading 9-4.  Jon catches up and ties it 9-9!  On the 19th game, Jon has to jack up on a "little tough" 7 ball.  He over cuts it and Corey wins that game.  Score: 10-9.  Jon wins the next game and ties it again: 10-10.  Hill-hill and Jon is breaking.  Jon makes two balls on the break (the 4 ball and the 6 ball).  The one is sitting in the pocket and he has a shot on it, but he will need to bank the 2 ball to get shape on the 3 ball.  He makes the one, banks the two, and the cue ball got away from him a little.  He was going to use the 5 ball as his stop ball, but he missed hitting the five to get shape, and left himself a tough cut on the 3 ball in the side pocket.  "The 3 ball is really borderline if it can even go or not," Jon says about the shot.  He shoots, and misses the whole 3 ball.  The table is wide open with the 3,5,7,8 and 9 left and Corey gets out, wins the game and the match.  Jon says disappointingly, "if I make the 3, I am out."

Jon finished in 9th place, his fourth trip to the World Championships, and earned himself $3,500.  Out of 96 players, only 13 Americans played in this event, and Jon was one of 4 Americans to last that long in the tournament!  Congratulations on a great week, Jon!

As a side note...Jon spoke very highly of the many snooker players playing in this 9-ball event.  He commented how well they played and how impressed he was with their straight shooting.  The best matched he watched was between previous Champion Efren Reyes and snooker Champion Steve Davis (now regarded by many as the best match on TV).