ZUNDERT - On the closing day of the Christmas tournament in Zundert, the Dutch armada was larger than ever. And yet, it was Frédéric Caudron's resume that saw a new milestone added at the close of the year. The Belgian world champion 3-cushion completed an altogether marvelous season with his 10th Zundert title, after his victory over Jean Paul de Bruijn, who could also look back at a splendid tournament.
The final format was an experimental 75 points, in three sessions of 25. Caudron's experience, his passion for the game, his undying ambition and his ability to combine superb attack with solid defense, were too much even for De Bruijn's excellent form in this week. Three Dutchmen, armed to the teeth, were challenged to deny the world nr. 1 his record 10th victory. The Belgian was up for it, even in the lion's den where he had played in 19 editions since 1995, and won on nine occasions (not counting 1 pentathlon).
He first dismissed Dave Christiani in the semifinal (50-39 in 25), to face Jean Paul de Bruijn, his Dallinga teammate, in the final. ,,I must be very careful'', Caudron warned himself, because he had surprisingly lost to the Dutch champion in the group stage. In the early innings of the match, he could not pull away from his opponent, but managed to do so from the 20th inning when the score was 44-25.
The second break in sight, he had laid the foundation for his win. Martin Spoormans, spectator and connoisseur, whispered: ,,Fred is guilty of a little gallery play, if not, he would have had a much bigger lead.'' Not that it was so easy. Jean Paul de Bruijn found a second wind and scored fine, technical points to reduce the deficit to 51-43 in 26 innings. Right after the break, Caudron found his stride again, ran a 10 to make it 61-43 and smelled the stable.
He reached it at 75-55 in 36 innings. No matter how well-liked Jean Paul de Bruijn was, no matter how much support he got as the Dutch favorite, nobody could deny that Caudron's victory was well deserved. The tournament record was broken in this, the 24th edition, to set it at 1.548.
According to the archivists, that is the best general tournament average ever seen in Europe, in a tournament with 16 players. Columnist Bert van Manen found a higher tournament average in a few editions of the Crystal Kelly event, but only eight or ten of the world's best took part there. The record: 1.755 in 2005.
The Christmas tournament lived up to its reputation as a crowd-puller. Director Toine Roks said on the closing day: ,,We have 170 seats in the room, and they were taken in all 17 sessions. My estimate is, that we've had 2500 to 3000 spectators in total, for all matches.''
The final score for the tournament (average, high run):
1 Frédéric Caudron, 2.091-12
2 Jean Paul de Bruijn, 1.613-11
3 Barry van Beers, 1.618-10
4 Dave Christiani, 1.496-12
5 Tayfun Tasdemir, 1.559-12
6 Eddy Merckx, 1.742-12
7 Jef Philipoom, 1.558-12
8 Roland Forthomme, 1.448-9
9 Eddy Leppens, 1.661-11
10 Jean van Erp, 1.361-11
11 Raimond Burgman, 1.612-8
12 Peter Ceulemans, 1.367-5
13 Frans van Kuyk, 1.333-7
14 Gerwin Valentijn, 1.282-8
15 Glenn Hofman, 1.393-10
16 Martin Spoormans, 1.197-8.
Tournament average: 1.548.