Maximum and out
Northern Ireland's Jason Prince produced the Dream break of 147 in his
match againt Ian Brumby, but to little avail, as the important break
proved to be 58, from Brumby in the decider.
New boys in, old boys out, old boys in and new boys out
This topsy turvy day's play saw 20 seeds fail to take their appointed
places in the next round. Old boys who fell by the wayside included
New Zealand Dene O'Kane, who seems to be struggling recently to
negotiate the tricky qualifying rounds. Dennis Taylor bade farewell to
the British Open, leaving him just the World championship to make one
final mark on Snooker history. Recipients of their venue tickets were
John Read, and Michael Holt. Early season front runner Shokat Ali and
recent Asian Games Gold Medallist failed to qualify for the second day
running, as Worcester's Dave Finbow earned another chance to make
inroads into the ranking list.
Venue debutant in April will be Llanelli's Philip Williams. Williams has
battled since 1992 to make the breakthrough and today's battle was one
of the longest. In a match that lasted 4 hours 57 minutes Williams
overcame Preston's Ian McCulloch 5-4, having cleared the colours to
the pink in the decider to "collapse" over the line! Williams has held
an early 3-0 lead before McCulloch surged back to take a 4-3 lead,
Williams won a scrappy 8th to level, before the dramatic 54 minute
decider. McCulloch forced 4 consecutives fouls out of Williams on the
last red, but Williams held his nerve to take his chance on the
colours. He will now face an equally stubborn opponent - Brian Morgan
at the venue.
The qualifying rounds merit little attention in the media, but back in
the players' home clubs, the tension rises as time passes. Terry
Griffiths Matchroom is Williams' home club and hanging on the phones
were his fellow pros Terry Griffiths, Mark J Williams, Matthew Stevens
and Mark Fenton, as well as his fellow members and team mates who
congregated in the club to await the news. One ironic footnote to the
drama was that because the match time ran so late, Phil was unable to
get home in time to take his place in his team's league match and a
substitute had to be summoned at the last moment!
Marco Fu included breaks of 80 and 118 as he saw off Karl Broughton
5-3 to take his place against Anthony Hamilton.
Davon's Darren Clarke completed a happy double qualifier in the
Scottish and The British Open as today he beat the obstinate Scot Euan Henderson,
with a vital 77 in the decider.
Ireland's Michael Judge crowned his victory with 100 as he breezed
past Stuart Pettman 5-1.
Derby's David Roe and Chris Scanlon produced another thrilling match
that ended 74-55 in Roe's favour in the final frame. Roe reproduced
his vintage form as he stroked in 134 in response to an earlier run of
110 from Scanlon.
Jonathan Birch safely qualified again, but having drawn Ronnie O'Sullivan
in the Scottish, he can take little comfort from now
drawing Stephen Hendry in the British - some giant killing there to be done.
High breaks in the British Open - rounds one to five
