NEWS  June 11, 2007  World Pool Masters – No way to defend the title

For the 15th time, the World Pool Masters gathered the 16 best players of the world in Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands, who competed for one of the most important titles. I was the defending champion, which is not always an advantage, because everybody else chases you. The draw made me play David Alcaide (ESP), a team fellow of the last Mosconi Cup. In the first rack, I made a position error on the 6 ball and then missed a rather easy 7 ball. But I could equal this mistake and shortly after, scored a break against the Spanish player. At 6-4, I had a black break and this was the beginning of my bad fate. At 6-6, I missed an easy 4 ball. Bad enough, I was not to come back to the table, because Alcaide won this rack and then shot an ace to win 8-6. The fact that the 9 ball travelled in 13 of 14 breaks in the direction of the right foot pocket indicates that the referee had some problems when racking up. I was very disappointed, because I played better than Alcaide and I had lost the match due to two stupid mistakes and a weird racking up. My bad humour was intensified by the fact that the Spanish player had played six or seven bad positions, but always saved himself with bank shots. Alcaide could improve his game throughout the tournament and even reached the final against German player Thomas Engert. Engert, in spite of fever and a bald cold, had fought his way into the final and scored his second Masters title after 2004 by winning 8-5. Third places went to Nick van den Berg (NED) and Pat Holtz (SCO).