Snooker in the USA?

The Snooker World Tour plans announced plans for tournaments all over the World. Germany (waiting for a while), Australia (Robertson) and Macau (Chinese fans) are all fine but one struck me as crazy. USA? U.S.A? Since when did they ever care about Snooker? I went to Florida recently and on the sports channels it was NFL, NFL, NFL, Baseball, Baseball, NBA and for like half an hour I discovered some Woman's Pool. The stories of great Woman's Snooker players are out there but they all seem to end with "and after realising she had no money she went off to play in the US Pool Tour and became rich again. Pool is big in America, Mosconi Cup in about a week (can't wait) proves that. But why has Snooker never taken off? Does anyone like Snooker in the States? Do they have their own tournaments? Detective Sammy is on the case.

The USA do have their own federation it turns out, The United States Snooker Federation. And it has it's own website, SnookerUSA.com.

The association was founded by a Brit born in 1991, Michael Collins who wanted to promote Snooker in the USA. It is a member of the IBSF and in 2006 California held the World Team Championships.

In May last year the USA Snooker Championships took place with Ahmed Aly El Sayed winning in the final. You can watch the First Frame here.

This forum proves there is a small but interested fan base and it would be great to see them getting excited if a tournament was announced. Who knows? Maybe a young budding star is out there and could be the first American Pro. Maybe one day, ESPN will be showing Snooker as well as their endless supply of Basketball and Ice Hockey (how can anyone find them interesting?).

Lets hope this proposed U.S Open goes ahead.