3-Cushion
AMSTERDAM/OSDORP - Martien van der Spoel, a player in the Dutch league from the A1 Biljarts team, has snatched victory in the Amsterdam/Osdorp Grand Prix. The former balkline player, living in Nijmegen, defeated the tournament's best player Glenn Hoffman in the final 40-21 in 23 innings.
It was Martien van der Spoel's second victory in a Dutch Grand Prix: the first win he took two years ago also in Amsterdam/Osdorp. ,,I beat Dave Christiani in the final for my first win'', he said. ,,This time I faced Glenn Hofman and couldn't expect to win, because he was very strong and my year was not quite good until the Masters.''
Martien van der Spoel is not one of the very known players in his country. He is a 31 year old man who started playing billiards when he was ten, in the café where his mother used to work. ,,When I came from school, I took a cue and tried to play some balls.'' He later specialized in the balkline games and started to play three cushion when he was twenty. Seven years ago he made his debut in the premier league three cushion for the team from St. Willibrord.
The Grand Prix winner is married, has a little girl of four and a boy aged two. He works in the floors business, a 38 hours a week job, starting very early in the morning.
The Hague player Glenn Hoffman, his opponent in the final in Amsterdam, showed a great form until the final and played one of his best tournaments. He was the absolute favorite for the final victory. ,,I was even a bit afraid of him'', said Van der Spoel later, ,,because he performed so impressive in this tournament.''
Glenn Hoffman said before the final game: ,,I feel very strong right now, because I played some high averages and I made runs over ten in every match so far.'' Moreover, he played that superior match against Kay de Zwart (40 in 14) and reached a high level in his duel with Jean Paul de Bruijn.
The final game didn't reflect what happened in the rounds before. Suddenly, the roles were reversed: Martien van der Spoel dictated the game from the start, not Glenn Hoffman.
,,I was a little lucky with two shots, the positions were pretty good and I started with 27 in eight innings.'', he said. ,,Glenn was at fourteen out of eight, not so bad, but in the course of the game, he could not close that gap. My strong start was decisive for the win.'' He hardly scored high runs (three times seven), but could ran away at crucial moments in the game and defended masterfully.
The winner reached the final with a second place in the qualifying rounds in a group with Harrie van de Ven as winner. Then he beat Jean van Erp in the eighth finals 40-22, Wiljan van den Heuvel in the quarterfinals 40-18 and Barry van Beers in the semifinals 40-38.
Glenn Hoffman showed up with wins in the eighth finals vs Frans van Schaik (40-19) in the quarterfinals against Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-22) and in the semi-finals Raimond Burgman (40-32).
The Dutch champion Dick Jaspers was outplayed in the quarterfinals by Raimond Burgman.
The final ranking with averages:
1 Martien van der Spoel, 1.347
2 Glenn Hofman, 1.562
3 Raimond Burgman, 1.571
4 Barry van Beers, 1.307
5 Dick Jaspers, 1.721
6 Dave Christiani, 1.496
7 Jean Paul de Bruijn, 1.368
8 Wiljan van den Heuvel, 0.963.