THE HANDBALL MESSAGE BOARD

Tucson, AZ, WPH Press, 2/5/17- It’s Vegas week, as the R48, WR48, SR48, and WPH Outdoor heads to the Entertainment Capital of the World for the ’18 Royal Flush Bob Harris Open, showcasing the greatest show inside four walls. Check out some Royal Flush fun facts, qualifier preview, WR48 and SR48 fun facts, and much more.

Royal Flush Fun Facts

• The Royal flush ’18 is the first Race 4 Eight stop in Vegas history
• 4-Bagger: R48, WR48, SR48, and WPH Outdoor at the same stop
• First six-spot qualifier in R48 history
• Emmett Peixoto (R48 Pre Qualifier at the Olympic Club) and Stephen Cooney (Pittsburgh R48 Pre Qualifier) earned direct entry into the Royal Flush ’18 Vegas R48 draw by winning R48 pre qualifiers with two players in the R48 top 25 entered
• The R48 Vegas blind draw will be a “Throwback Blind Draw,” meaning the top four ranked qualifiers will blind draw to play the 5-8 Elite 8 pros and the bottom four ranked qualifiers will blind draw to face the 1-4 Elite 8 pros
• Abraham Montijo and Shorty Ruiz are the only players to have qualified in all three R48 stops this season (Atlanta, Tucson, Montana)
• The Elite 8 are 20-4 (83%) in the round of 16 vs. qualifiers through the first two events of the R48 7 (Atlanta, Tucson, Montana)

Six-spot Qualifier

Vic Perez: Perez was invited to the R48 Montana two weeks ago and just missed an invite to Vegas. Perez is a giant killer, with R48 wins against Ortiz, Fink, Shanks, Carroll, and the Cordovas

Highest R48 finish: 3rd

Notable wins this season: Fink, Iglesias, Chavez

Jonathan Iglesias: Former Elite 8 invitee with R48 wins against Moreno, Lenning, Perez, Chavez, Luis Cordova, and Daniel Cordova

Highest R48 finish: 3rd

Notable wins this season: Pesch, Montijo, Cooney

Peter Funchion: Funchion is making a huge splash in his first two events this season, notching seventh and ninth place finishes

Highest R48 finish: 7th

Notable wins this season: Chavez, Peixoto, Daniel Cordova

Abraham Montijo: Former Elite 8 invitee with his sights set on a return to the top of the sport

Highest R48 finish: 5th

Notable wins this season: Schneider, Mattioni

Shorty Ruiz: current 3WallBall Small Ball world champion making his move up the R48 rankings this season

Highest R48 finish: 10th

Notable wins this season: Pesch, McCrystal

Adam Bernhard: Cerebral lob-serving assassin making his first start on the R48 7 season

Highest R48 finish: 10th

Notable wins this season: n/a

Top Qualifier contenders

Ryan Pesch: Narrowly missed qualifying for the third consecutive event this season in Montana, failing to convert a 22-18 lead in Montana’s qualifier final

Notable wins this season: Bowler

Patrick Funchion: Schooled in the Irish style, Funchion is a dangerous marksman capable to making a deep run in Vegas

Notable wins this season: n/a

Dalton Beall: 6-time Oregon state champion with the game to test the best, ranking not what it could be because of six consecutive playoff forfeits

Notable wins this season: Iglesias

Erik Torres: One of the game’s most talented two-handed juggernauts making his first start of the season. Look out!

Notable wins this season: n/a

Jeff Streibig: Midwestern scrapper who is largely unknown, even to his potential opponents. The secret will not be kept much longer

Notable wins this season: n/a

John Wayne Cortez: Looks like a pro and plays like a pro. Why isn’t he is pro? JWC might just be by the end of the week

Notable wins this season: n/a

WR48

• Catriona Casey looks to bounce back from just her second WR48 loss (Tucson) in 14 WR48 starts
• Aimee Tuohey aims to keep her semifinal streak intact (4 semifinal appearances in 4WR48 starts)
• Eight ranked WR48 pros entered (most in WR48 history)
• No American born player has ever won a WR48 event (all 14 WR48 champions have been from Ireland: Casey, Reilly, McMahon)

SR48

• First time two players in the R48 Elite 8 are entered in a SR48 draw (Chavez, Fink)
• Marcos Chavez has won nine of 12 SR48 events held since January of 2014
• Chavez has won the last three SR48 events (U.S. Open ’16, Minnesota ’16, Salt Lake City ’17)
• First SR48 start for 40+ national champion George Garcia Jr.
• 55-year old Dan Armijo the oldest top three seed in SR48 history

WPH Outdoor 4-Wall Big Ball Doubles

• Former or current WPH Outdoor #1’s Samzon Hernandez, Manny Suarez, and Alfredo Morales entered
• Two-time defending WPH Outdoor X-Fest champion Timbo Gonzalez entered with 2017 WPH Outdoor #3 Shorty Ruiz
• WPH Outdoor Iceman ’18 doubles champions Alfredo Morales and Esteban Erazo looking to sweep the WPH Outdoor ’18 4-Wall Big Ball west coast swing (Iceman and Royal Flush)
• Brian Medina is the only player to have entered all three WPH Outdoor 7 events this season (Florida Cup, Iceman, Royal Flush)

What happens at the ’18 Royal Flush Vegas will not stay in Vegas! Follow all of the action on wphlive.tv. The qualifier starts at 9 am pst on Friday, February 9 with wall-to-wall matches from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon. The live broadcast starts on ESPN3 here on Saturday, February 10 at 10 am

For FAQ’s on the Vegas event, go here

To see the ’18 Las Vegas Royal Flush press release, go here

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer