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.

History

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 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. Roland Forthomme, also from Belgium, won it in 2008. 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) by Cindy Lee, CEO of billiards-event organizer Dragon Promotions.

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.

Prize money and ranking points Prize Money 2007 Rank Prizemoney (US$) Rank Prizemoney (US$) 1 11 2 12 3 13 4 14 5 15 6 16 7 17 8 18 9 19 10 20 Bonuses HS BG Total amount: US$ The following table shows prize money and ranking points (only for USBA-players). +Prize Money Rank US$ Rank US$ 1 11 2 12 3 13 4 14 5 15 6 16 7 17 8 18 9 19 10 20 Total amount: 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 5 ≥ 33 3

Tournament statistic

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

Men Sang Lee International Open Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place GA Ref.2005 Torbjörn Blomdahl2,006 Semih Saygıner1,998 Dick Jaspers 1,9072006 Frédéric Caudron1,881 Torbjörn Blomdahl1,851 Semih Saygıner1,7412007 Frédéric Caudron1,774 Dani Sánchez1,889 Semih Saygıner1,6152008 Roland Forthomme1,829 Frédéric Caudron1,958 Torbjörn Blomdahl1,707 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 2013 Frédéric Caudron 2,066 Eddy Merckx 1,886 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,838 2014 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,058 Eddy Merckx 1,941 Frédéric Caudron 1,927 2015 Dick Jaspers 2,097 Tayfun Taşdemir 1,715 Frédéric Caudron 1,931 2016 Jérémy Bury 1,542 Dick Jaspers 1,975 Eddy Merckx 1,775 2017 Cho Jae-ho 1,650 Eddy Leppens 1,897 Dani Sánchez 1,847 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 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.

In 2015 the women's tournament was called Jennifer Shim International. 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.

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 Jennifer Shim International 2015 Therese Klompenhouwer 1,123 Pheavy Srong 0,662 Orie Hida 0,970 2017 Therese Klompenhouwer 1,116 Orie Hida 1,035 Lee Mi-rae 0,648 2019 Han Ji-eun 0,863 Therese Klompenhouwer 1,195 Orie Hida 0,780 Yuko Nishimoto 0,754

References

External links

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