Santos Sambajon of the Philippines and Glenn Coutts of New Zealand have been bumped from the International Pool Tour’s debut season after failing to submit their player agreements, according to IPT officials.

That means that there are two more open spots for the multimillion-dollar 8-ball tour, scheduled to kick off its 2006 season at an undetermined date near mid-year.

Both Sambajon and Coutts received exemptions from attending the IPT’s mandatory player meeting in Orlando, Fla., last December, at which players were presented the agreements, said IPT tour director Deno Andrews. Sambajon cited personal reasons for missing the meeting, and Coutts was contracted to play in a tournament in Australia.

However, neither player followed up on repeated attempts from the IPT to contact them via phone and/or e-mail, Andrews said. Neither player met the Jan. 13th deadline for submitting their agreements.

The two shooters are the ninth and tenth players to be expelled or excused from the tour. Four qualifying tournaments were arranged for the first eight open spots, the first of which occurred Jan. 14-15 in Louisville, Ky. A fifth qualifier will be added to fill the two new empty slots, most likely in Europe, Andrews said.