Verhoeven Open

The Verhoeven Open is a three-cushion billiards tournament held in Flushing, Queens. 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

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

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 widow 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 Lee 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

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]

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 honorous player of the tournament and could, after all, still occupy the seventh rank.[6]

Prize money & ranking points

Prize Money 2007[7]
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

Jérémy Bury, winner of 2016.

The GA shows the Ggeneral Aaverage (all points ÷ all innings).

Men

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

In 2013 for the first time a competition for women was held. It took place from 14 to 16 July, 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 6 March 2015 by her ex-boyfriend at the age of 41.[17][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

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

External links

• Sang Lee International Tournament Official Site
• Sang Lee International 2007 Photos
• Sang Lee International 2008 Photos
• Video Tribute to Sang Lee