To All U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships Players – Men and Women

     I am writing today from my heart, not my wallet. Since 2007, when Shane Van Boening won the U.S. Open, I have put myself in a tough situation by paying some players very late and no one else is to blame and believe me, this hurts no one more than it hurts me to have done so. This year my daughter, Shannon, who is also my official partner  at Q-Masters and the U.S. Open, has made much better business decisions and deals with T.V. to assure that this will never happen again. I sincerely apologize to those players who have been involved and I have no excuses, but ticket prices have not gone up in the past 20 years and still will not, such as Augusta National where you can get a soda for $1.00, beers for $2.00, and the most expensive sandwich is the Masters Club at $2.50. I have been going to the tournaments practice rounds from 1995-2009 and I have structured a lot of what they have done for our U.S. Open, green jackets, green sweaters, and gold vests since 2000. All I can say to the players is all will be well this year and Shannon and I will work tirelessly to make the proper business decisions as our cost goes up every year and gladly leaving entry fees at $500.00 and tickets for $10.00 day or night will not change in my lifetime and hopefully beyond. We have to make it work and we are going to do so, we simply have to.

          We have a lot going for us this year and after last year's full field of men and women playing alongside for the first time, this will also remain. We want the U.S. Open to grow in prize fund from $180,000.00 to $200,000.00-$300,000.00 in the near future, but that can only happen if we make better deals. My daughter is the smartest young woman I have ever known and with the help of out CPA and attorneys advice we are moving in the right direction and that is up for this year.

          Our overhead, just to break even, is around $150,000.00 and that is not easy. We, again, are in the process of signing contracts to assure our overhead and more are covered.  No there will not be a wheel barrel filled with hundred dollar bills, but we simply will have all of the funds to pay all players and rightfully so, before they leave town.

          Again, I cannot say enough about my partner and daughter, Shannon, who is great with everything she does and I have finally come to my old fashioned ways by giving her more responsibilities to help her “old man” out every day. I am finally listening to her more and more. After all, one day, she will be in charge of my roots with business and the U.S. Open. She is the greatest daughter a father could have and she also has helped me tremendously to be strong, stay clean, and to lean more towards the future rather than living in the past doing things the old fashioned way.

          We look forward to seeing all who attend this, our 36th annual, U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, October 16-22, 2011.


-Barry Behrman
 Founder and Promoter