Wikipedia

Verhoeven Open

The Verhoeven Open is a three-cushion billiards tournament held in Flushing, Queens in the US state of New York. The event is sanctioned by the Union Mondiale de Billard and the United States Billiard Association. The event was known as Sang Lee International Open between 2005 and 2008.[1]

2016 tournament logo
Martin Horn at the entrance of the Carom Café in 2016.

History

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Tournament poster of Sang Lee international Open inside of the Carom Café.
 
Michael Kang is the co-founder of the Carom Café and friend of Sang Lee.

Sang Lee International Open

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It was founded in 2005 as the Sang Lee International Open, named after Sang Lee, a Korean American player whose goal was to spread his principles as a player and restore the popularity of carom billiards in the United States. One year after his death in 2004, his friend Ira Lee initiated the tournament in tribute to him. It was organized by the United States Billiard Association (USBA) as a member of the world federation Union Mondiale de Billard. The venue for the tournament is the Carom Café, which was founded by Sang Lee (not Ira Lee who is not related to Sang) and his friend Michael Kang, who was also one of the best players in the United States at that time.

Contrary to most other tournaments it was not played in the set system, but to a predetermined score. The structure of the tournament has been changed several times since 2005.

The inaugural event (2005) was won by Sweden's Torbjörn Blomdahl. The 2006 and 2007 editions were both dominated by Frédéric Caudron of Belgium.[2][3] Roland Forthomme, also from Belgium, won it in 2008.[4] The 2008 edition was the last time the event was named as Sang Lee International Open.

Verhoeven Open

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After a four-year break, the tournament was relaunched in 2012 under the name Verhoeven Open Tournament (or short Verhoeven Open)[1] by Cindy Lee, CEO of billiards-event organizer Dragon Promotions.[5][unreliable source?]

In 2012, 20 players participated at the tournament. Winner was the local hero Pedro Piedrabuena, who beat Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden with 40:37 in the final. After a long pause of playing tournaments, the 75-year-old Belgian "Mr. 100 " Raymond Ceulemans was honors player of the tournament and could, after all, still occupy the seventh rank.[6]

Prize money and ranking points

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Prize Money 2007[7][unreliable source?]
Rank Prize
money (US$)		 Rank Prize
money (US$)
01 12,000 11 2,800
02 9,600 12 2,400
03 8,000 13 2,100
04 6,400 14 1,800
05 5,600 15 1,700
06 4,800 16 1,600
07 4,400 17 1,500
08 4,000 18 1,400
09 3,600 19 1,300
10 3,200 20 1,200
Bonuses
HS 300 BG 300
Total amount: 80,000 US$

The following table shows prize money and ranking points (only for USBA-players).[8]

Prize Money
Rank US$ Rank US$
01 8,000 11 550
02 5,000 12 550
03 4,000 13 500
04 3,500 14 500
05 2,700 15 450
06 2,200 16 450
07 1,700 17 425
08 1,200 18 425
09 1,000 19 400
10 800 20 400
Total amount: 34,750 US$
USBA-Points
Rank Points
1. 80
2. 60
3. 50
4. 40
5. & 6. 30
7. & 8. 25
9.–12. 20
13.–16. 15
17.–24 10
25.–32 05
≥ 33 03

Tournament statistic

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Jérémy Bury, winner of 2016

The GA shows the general average (all points ÷ all innings).

Men

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Sang Lee International Open
Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place GA Ref.
2005   Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,006   Semih Saygıner 1,998   Dick Jaspers 1,907
2006   Frédéric Caudron 1,881   Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,851   Semih Saygıner 1,741
2007   Frédéric Caudron 1,774   Dani Sánchez 1,889   Semih Saygıner 1,615
2008   Roland Forthomme 1,829   Frédéric Caudron 1,958   Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,707
Verhoeven Open Tournament
Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place GA Ref.
2012   Pedro Piedrabuena 1,592   Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,708   Roland Forthomme 1,658 [9]
2013   Frédéric Caudron 2,066   Eddy Merckx 1,886   Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,838 [10]
2014   Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,058   Eddy Merckx 1,941   Frédéric Caudron 1,927 [11]
2015   Dick Jaspers 2,097   Tayfun Taşdemir 1,715   Frédéric Caudron 1,931 [12]
2016   Jérémy Bury 1,542   Dick Jaspers 1,975   Eddy Merckx 1,775 [13]
2017   Cho Jae-ho 1,650   Eddy Leppens 1,897   Dani Sánchez 1,847 [14]
2018   Eddy Merckx 1,872   Dani Sánchez 1,937   Martin Horn 1,908
  Eddy Leppens 1,597
2019   Eddy Merckx 1,798   Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,777   Dani Sánchez 1,773

Women

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In 2013 for the first time a competition for women was held. It took place from July 14 to 16, right before the men's competition. Winner was world number one Therese Klompenhouwer from the Netherlands. She beat the four-time world champion Orie Hida from Japan 25:16 in 17 innings in the final. However Hida played the best individual average with 1,562. Klompenhouwer succeeded with 9 points in the best high run.[15]

In 2015 the women's tournament was called Jennifer Shim International.[16] The tournament was named in memory of the American elite player Jennifer Shim, who was shot on March 6, 2015, by her ex-boyfriend at the age of 41.[17][unreliable source?][18]

Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place/
Semi Finalists 		GA Ref.
Verhoeven Open Tournament
2013   Therese Klompenhouwer 1,016   Orie Hida 0,850   Park Su-ah 0,631 [15]
Jennifer Shim International
2015   Therese Klompenhouwer 1,123   Pheavy Srong 0,662   Orie Hida 0,970 [19][20]
2017   Therese Klompenhouwer 1,116   Orie Hida 1,035   Lee Mi-rae 0,648 [21]
2019   Han Ji-eun 0,863   Therese Klompenhouwer 1,195   Orie Hida 0,780 [22]
  Yuko Nishimoto 0,754

References

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  1. ^ a b "World top faces… Sayginer and Ceulemans". Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  2. ^ "Frederic Caudron is Champion at the 2006 Sang Lee International Open". AzBilliards.com. August 22, 2006. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  3. ^ "Caudron Comes From Behind To Defend Title". AzBilliards.com. August 19, 2007. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  4. ^ "Roland Forthomme wins Sang Lee International Open". AzBilliards.com. August 1, 2008. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  5. ^ "July 29 – Aug 5, 2012: Carom Cafe = Billiards Heaven on Earth". 3-Cushion Carom News. July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  6. ^ "Dreiband – Verhoeven Open Tournament – New York (USA) – 01.08.12 bis 05.08.12". Kozoom.com. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  7. ^ "Sang Lee International Open – Draw and Format (2007)". AzBilliards.com forum. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  8. ^ "General Infos". Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  9. ^ "Dreiband – Verhoeven Open Tournament – New York (USA) – 01.08.12 bis 05.08.12". Kozoom.com. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  10. ^ "2013 Verhoeven Open (Final Ranking)" (PDF). USBA.net. United States Billiard Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  11. ^ "Torbjorn Blomdahl wins the 2014 Verhoeven Open". Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  12. ^ "2015 Verhoeven Final Results". Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  13. ^ "Jeremy Bury wins Verhoeven Open". Professor Q Ball's National Pool & Billiard News. August 3, 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016.
  14. ^ "2017 Final Ranking" (PDF). United States Billiard Association. August 14, 2017.
  15. ^ a b "USBA Women's Invitational Tournament". Kozoom.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Women's world stars in Jennifer Shim tournament". Kozoom.com. June 17, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  17. ^ "RIP – Jennifer Shim". AzBilliards.com forum. March 22, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  18. ^ "The Three Cushion World Remembers Jennifer Shim with Women's International Championship". poolbuzz.org. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  19. ^ "Therese completes trilogy in New York". kozoom.com. July 21, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  20. ^ "3-Cushion – Jennifer Shim International – New York (USA) – 7/18/15 to 7/20/15". kozoom.com. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  21. ^ "Ranking Ladies 2017". Kozoom. July 6, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  22. ^ "Results Ladies 2019". Kozoom. August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
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