Therese Klompenhouwer (1983-) is a Dutch professional three-cushion player and the most successful woman in the history of the sport — the undisputed ‘Queen of three-cushion’.
Career highlights
- UMB Women’s World Three-Cushion Champion — six times, the joint-most in history
- CEB European Ladies Three-Cushion Champion — thirteen times, an outright record
- 17-time Dutch National Three-Cushion Champion
- World Games three-cushion gold medallist
- Regularly competes in open events against the world’s top male professionals — and beats them
Playing style
Klompenhouwer is precise, calm and deeply positional — a player who wins on geometry rather than nerve. Having switched from free game (vrije partij) to three-cushion at nineteen, she carried over an exceptional feel for the cue ball into a discipline she now reads through system. She leans heavily on the Diamond System for long table-length routes, building each point so the next ball is already half-played, in the same systematic tradition as Dick Jaspers and the measured patience of Dani Sánchez.
Signature strengths
- System-based route calculation — long around-the-table shots played by the diamonds, not by feel alone
- Positional control that leaves the next shot easy rather than forcing the spectacular one
- Unshakeable composure under pressure, the same unhurried tempo whether she leads or trails
Legacy
Klompenhouwer did more than collect titles — she opened the discipline for women worldwide, proving on equal terms against the best men that three-cushion is a game of system and not of strength. In the era of Torbjörn Blomdahl and the great male champions, she made ‘the best woman in the world’ an inadequate description and simply became one of the finest players in the world.
Practise the systematic shot
Klompenhouwer wins by the diamonds. Drill the system route she relies on — free, in your browser.
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