By MARK REY MONTEJO
Veteran cue artist Lee Van Corteza kicked off his American tour with a bang after pulling off a come-from-behind 15-14 final win over Dutch Yannick Pongers to reign supreme in the Rally in the Shenandoah Valley at On Cue Sports Bar & Grill in Front Royal, Virginia over the weekend.
Heading into the race-to-15 finale with an unblemished record, the 46-year-old Corteza didn’t show any signs of slowing down as he demonstrated his sheer will and came back from a 7-13 deficit off a 7-1 run that forced a hill-hill before he completed his final salvo against his much-younger foe.
Aside from proving that he still got it against much younger foes, Corteza bagged the grand winner’s purse of $10,000 (P573,460) and certainly, a morale booster ahead for bigger competitions later this month.
The 20-year-old Pongers, on the other hand, settled for $5,000 (P286,730) runner-up prize in the 64-man event where Corteza was the lone Filipino bet who participated.
Prior to his title win, the Southeast Asian Games multi-medalist claimed the scalps of Americans Nathan Childress (13-9) and American Long (11-6), and Swedish Walter Laikre (11-6).
He also toppled hometown bets Brandon Shuff (9-3), Kashton Keeton (9-6), and Long (9-6) in the preliminaries.
Meanwhile, Corteza will join world champion Carlo Biado, Johann Chua, and AJ Manas in the Florida Open Pool Championship in Orlando slated Aug. 5 to 10.
The Florida Open would be the second out of five competitions on American soil with Battle of the Bull, McDermott Classic, and the most coveted of the all, US Open Pool Championship to unfurl days after.
