19th September, Kuala Lumpur: Tim Mack of TeamUSA stamped his authority early in the 16-game Masters event today at the Sunway Pyramid Megalanes, taking over the lead and then consolidating his position with a string of high 200-plus games and finally placing his stamp of authority with a 278 in the 15th game.

In the position round, matched against the United Arab Emirates' Mohamed Al Qubaisi, Mack quickly settled the issue to take the first seed spot, winning 266-256, plus the ten points for the win, to finish with a new Championship record score of 3,943, bettering the previous high of 3,662.

In a desperate battle with fellow Australian Jason Belmonte, Michael Little got the edge in game eleven and won through to take the third spot.

Mack gave the credit for his top seed position for tomorrow's stepladder final to coaches Gordon Vadakin and Fred Borden. "We had great communication today," he said. "They are absolutely the best. The lanes changed a lot through the day and they read the lanes perfectly. 'Gordo' (Vadakin) gave me a kicker when I needed it most, especially in the second set, so I had some really good shots down the stretch."

Mack will have the pleasure of watching the first stepladder match between Al Qubaisi and Little over one game, the winner will be his competitor for the two-game Championship match.

"I'm tickled pink to be in the medals again. I want to change the colour to gold, I'm sick of silver!"

For further information, please contact Media Director, Keith Hale at KEITHHALE679@aol.com , media@mtbc.org.my or via the World Championships Media Room Phone +60 37492 0902.