ROSMALEN - Barry van Beers (Brabant), in a good form all the year, has won the Rosmalen Grand Prix. In the final, he was the better of Sam van Etten, whom he defeated 40-28 in 23 after a better start (28-10 in 14) and a decisive final after the young North Holland player had come back to ten points. Barry van Beers played 1,430 over his entire tournament. ''I am very satisfied with that, especially because I never actually play my best tournaments in Rosmalen.'' The podium was further completed by Glenn Hofman and Frans van Schaik.
The run-up to the final games was surprising, because Jean Paul de Bruijn lost to Frits Broeders, Raymund Swertz to Frans van Schaik and Jeffrey Jorissen to Sam van Etten, among others. Barry van Beers eliminated two of the outspoken contenders: first at the last sixteen Jerry Hermans 40-20 in 24, in the next round Dave Christiani 40-34 in 27 and in the semi-final Glenn Hofman 40-29 in 27. ''I had a better start in those games, my opponents still came back, but I was able to finish well after that,'' Van Beers said in his afterthought.
Barry van Beers is still on his way to billiard success in several areas. He is playing with Dekker Keukens in the cup final and in the play-offs, in which Topbiljart Zundert is the next opponent, after which the winner of that duel will play against SIS Schoonmaak for the Dutch team championship. Barry van Beers previously won Grand Prix tournaments in Amsterdam and The Hague. ’’I have been in a final eight times in total, in which Dick Jaspers often was my opponent.''
Sam van Etten surprised Jeffrey Jorissen in the quarter-finals 40-12 in 24, an exceptionally riant score. The same goes for Glenn Hofman, who beat Jean Paul de Bruijn's conqueror Frits Broeders in that round 40-12 in 21.
Frans van Schaik seemed on his way to a win against Sam van Etten, but squandered his lead in the closing stages: 40-36 in 34. In that semi-final, Barry van Beers went past Glenn Hofman with 40-29 in 27.
Sam van Etten could be more than satisfied with his final place in a Grand Prix.