John Higgins wins a record 4th Welsh Title

John Higgins recorded a 9-3 victory over Ben Woolaston in tonight's final in Cardiff.

The Wizard of Wishaw won his first ranking title since the 2012 Shanghai Masters and his 26th ranking event. Higgins was throughout the stronger player as Ben Woolaston struggled to get anything going in his first full ranking event final. Despite being outplayed in the first session, it was an outrageous fluke for Higgins prevented Woolaston leveling the session at 4-4. Instead Higgins took a crucial 5-3 advantage into the evening session.


In the first frame of the evening session Higgins potted a great long red and made twenty before going in-off while splitting the red. Woolaston was never able to get an easy opportunity though and was snatching at any half chance. John wasn't really missing but was running out of position and there was a real feeling of tension for both players. A similar pattern followed in a very tense 2nd frame which Higgins also won. Once 7-3 infront Higgins relaxed and was able to take the next two frames relatively easily.

Unfortunately it wasn't a great final, John did enough to win comfortably without ever really needing to raise his game, while Ben struggled to settle his nerves. However only a few weeks after losing to an amateur in the China Open qualifying this has proven to be the best week of Ben Woolaston's career and he will hope to build on it for the remaining few weeks of the season. He will rise to a career high ranking of 28 and a similar deep run in a ranking event could see him challenge for the top 16.

For John he has all buy cemented his place in the top 16 for the remainder of the season and will be looking to kick on from this weeks success. I've been saying for a few tournaments I believe I've seen some form in Higgins & that it's been the mental side of the game that's been letting him down. It will be interesting to see if he stops beating himself up over little set backs in matches and return to the granite match player which has led him to Four world titles.

The snooker schedule is packed in the lead up to the World Championships in April. Next up is a few of the smaller events before a ranking event pile up in mid March. The players will be flying to Poland in a week for the Gydnia Open.

O'Sullivan wins Best Picture at the Welsh Open

There are a lot of arguments about how the standard at the top of snooker has gotten worse, this may or may not be true. However I would argue that the standard bearer, Ronnie O'Sullivan, is actually playing the best snooker of his career at the moment. His opponents are mere shadows of their normal self when they play him, allowing him to flow graciously around the table. Mesmerizing his millions of fans and envious compatriots.

Sunday provided another moment of genius for the already 3 hour Oscar winning drama that would be his highlight reel. A 7 minute 25 seconds 147 in the final frame of the final, admittedly the score was 8-3 at the time and the risk was worth taking. Along the way he hit some of the most beautifully executed shots, technical feats that Alfonso Cuaron would have been proud of. The left handed red into the green pocket where he screwed back perfectly for the black was impossibly difficult in an exhibition, let alone the last red of a 147. Stephen Hendry on twitter called it "one of the best shots he's ever seen", nothing else needs to be said.

I'm listening to Coldplay's new single Magic while writing this and it feels very apt. I've never been O'Sullivan's greatest fan, however I'm a fan of snooker and there is no denying he brings more moments of magic than most.

I suppose I should get some stats out of the way:

3rd Welsh Open Title (Joint most wins with John Higgins & Stephen Hendry)
12th Maximum break (now top of all time 147 list)
26th Ranking Event (3rd on his own now, only two behind Steve Davis & 10 behind Hendry)

Ding reached another final in this remarkable season he is having, having won 39 of his 43 ranking event matches this season he is making a charge at Neil Robertson's number one ranking. I was glad we saw a smidgen of his limitless talent tonight when he won the opening two frames with superbly crafted centuries. Sadly it was all too late and a slow, nervy start in the afternoon cost him dearly.

The tournament as a whole was excellent in the latter stages. I still stand by my original opinion that the early rounds should be played away from the venue, they are dull and it's not fair for players to be traveling long distances in the middle of a tournament.

Next up is the Haikou World Open, where Mark Allen has reigned supreme for the previous two years. Can the Antrim potter make it a three peat.