Orcollo, the world No. 1, and Mazon have been seeded to the main draw while Roberto Gomez, Carlo Biado, Warren Kiamco, Jeffrey de Luna, Jech-Jech Limen and John Salazar have to go through a qualification tournament at the Kenari Billard Hall to join them.
Apart from 34 Indonesian players, Mazon will face a roster of top class Filipinos led by Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez and Carlo “Cool” Biado.
Also vying for the top prize of $41,000 are American Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen of Finland, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and Ricky Yang and Irsal Nasution of Indonesia.
“I hope that a Filipino will win again,” said Orcollo, the reigning world 8-ball champion who was a semifinalist in the recent world 9-ball championship.
Mazon beat Nasution, 10-5, in the final last year after a searing comeback from 1-5.
Orcollo goes into the tournament as the sport’s top money earner halfway through the World Pool-Billiards Association season, racking up $81,740 in earnings.