1999 U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship
Tape #249b-10
Jim Rempe vs. Jeremy Jones
It is Accu-Stats time again and this month we travel back to the granddaddy of all 9-ball tournaments, the US Open. Our video this month is from last years US Open and features Jeremy Jones and Jim Rempe playing a race to 11 in the final four players on the winners side.
1999 was a break out year for Jeremy Jones while Jim Rempe has been a top 9-ball player for years so this match promised to be a great match between the young gun and the long time gunslinger.
The match on this tape started at 12:15 at night and both players are understandably tired. The first few games have a few uncharacteristic mistakes that neither player would ordinarily make.
Jeremy moves out into a quick lead but he doesn't get there by running racks as he has problems with his break in the beginning and couldn't seem to stay at the table after he would win a game.
Rempe is able to fight back to a tie score at the midway point of the match. At this point, an interesting thing happens. The match had been filled with back and forth games with Rempe shooting more safeties and Jeremy shooting more offense but the match was still anyone's to win.
With the score tied 6-6, Jeremy turns his game up a notch and we get to see exactly why he had such an amazing year last year. Jeremy gets up to shoot with a very difficult table in front of him and proceeds to run out much to the amazement of the announcers. This seems to propel him along as he continues to run 3 racks before he finally gives Rempe another shot. Rempe hangs a ball in the pocket in this game and Jeremy quickly runs to the hill.
Rempe fights back and wins another game but at the beginning of the 19th game, Jeremy shoots the shot of the match as he jumps a full ball to make the 1 and draw back for shape on the 2 allowing him to run yet another rack.
The announcers for this match are Mark Wilson and Jay Helfert. Both announcers are very good but I honestly think Mark Wilson was better last month when he was announcing Jon Kucharo's match. We get the excellent multiple camera angles and telestrator that Accu-Stats usually provides. The telestrator doesn't get a lot of work but it is used in the right places.
There is no post match interview but considering it was 2:00 AM when the match ended, I can understand why.
While I would certainly recommend this video to fans of the game of 9-ball, the play of Jeremy at the end makes this video even more of a pleasure than it already was. I found myself rewinding shots a couple times to check them out again.
As an added bonus, there were 2 shots that came up in the match that Jeremy Jones tried that the announcers had questions on what exactly he was trying. We contacted Jeremy and got the answers...
AZB:
In your first shot in the first game of the match, Rempe left you a straight in 4 ball with the next ball, the 6-ball, tied up on the other side of the table. You tried something that didn't quite work the way you wanted it to. Can you tell us what you were trying there?
Jeremy:
I was trying to shoot the 4-9 combination. It was an impossible out from where I was. In fact, Rempe made an incredible shot, about as good a shot as you could make, and he still didn't get out.
AZB:
Late in the match when you were running racks, you left a tough shot on the 6-ball which you banked in, with perfect shape on the 7. The announcers were questioning whether you were trying to make the 6 or shoot it safe. Which was it?
Jeremy:
I was trying a two way shot. Trying to bank the six in and trying to position the cue behind the seven so that if I missed I would play safe.
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