The Nugget & I, A Fans Story

"How many times have I been here before" That was the  thought that went through my head last Thursday as the clock ticked past midnight  and Steve Davis completed his stirring comeback from 3-1 down to beat Jamie Jones 4-3 in the ET3 event in Doncaster.He would go on to the last 16 on Saturday where he was narrowly defeated 4-3 by Marco Fu,but that is not what I'm here to write about,rather this is an account of how in an ever changing world "The Nugget" has remained the one constant in my life for the last 35 yrs.

Thinking about it maybe is was always going to be thus,as September 1978 was not only the month Steve turned professional but also the month of my birth.This happy coincidence has meant my life has run in parallel with the career of the great man and boy what a career it has been.

Obviously at this remove it would be impossible to remember the exact moment I started to watch snooker and follow Steve,but I do have vivid memories of the "85" World final and was sufficiently interested in it to remember been possibly the only Irishman crying for Steve (I was only 7) when Taylor potted that black to lift the title.

My other memory from this time was a trip to Dublin on the eve of my First Holy Communion and walking half the city with my ever so patient parents,as we searched in vain for a blazer with a black waistcoat so I could look like the main man on my big day.To my disgust the nearest we could find was a maroon one which I refused to wear as it was too "Alex Higgins"!

Moving on the next thing to cross off the list was to see him play As i've said before i was lucky enough to live within a few miles of Goffs,the home of the Irish Masters,so to my delight that chance came in 1987 when,with my father,we made the first of what was to become an annual pilgrimage to semi finals Saturday.His opponent on this occasion was Terry Griffiths and after Steve had recorded a 6-2 win I remember queuing for his autograph and only his,as after Steve signed my book I took it and walked away just as Terry was getting ready to scribe his name on it.

The 80's drew to an end with Steve claiming a 6th World title with his most comprehensive win to date,an 18-3 victory over John Parrott.Surely,I thought,as the new decade began that this dominance of the game was set to continue!

Of course we now know it didn't .A combination of the arrival  in the big time of Stephen Hendry (God how the 12 year old me hated him) and an alignment problem meant the man who had been almost unbeatable was now just another one of the pack. Titles were still won,but they were becoming fewer and further between.It should be noted that a despite this,a run of consistent form in 1994 had him just one victory away from regaining his World no.1 ranking but his world championship semi final defeat to Hendry meant that this would never again be the case.

The 90's rolled on and I would be lying to say it was always easy to watch,as it seemed at times that Steve's biggest opponent was not the man sitting in the opposite chair,but instead the ghost of his former self.That said though,as is often the case,this only made the victories,when they did come,all the sweeter.

The most sparkling of these at this time was his epic B&H Masters triumph over Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1997 at the old Wembley Conference Centre. This had looked most unlikely as Ronnie,playing snooker from the Gods raced into an 8-4 lead.Steve was not for lying down and he fought back to win 10-8.By this stage I had long given up watching the match from my armchair and was now kneeling in front of the tv willing every pot in.I think i still have the final stages on video somewhere.

Into a new century we moved and Steve seemed to change his outlook towards the game.Gone now the shackles of trying to compete with the past,but in their place an acceptance that everything must pass and a desire to keep trying to be competitive against a new generation of players.

This new approach has on occasion produced some stunning results,like his fabulous run to the final of the UK Championship in 2005 and his memorable second round victory over defending world champion John Higgins at the 2010 World Championship.(I'm not too proud to admit that this one also brought a tear to my eye) I for one couldn't think of  better way to sign off if indeed this is to be his last hurrah at the Crucible

As for me my one remaining wish  was to get a chance to play a frame against the great man and.thankfully that opportunity came in an exhibition,when I outbid all my rivals in a auction(I wont say how much I paid) to get that chance.The frame itself is something I will never forget as I struggled  to control my shaking hands to play my opening shot.Steve to his credit gave me a generous handicap and plenty of chances which,as I managed to start potting a few,was enough to see me win the frame.The result was only secondary though to the thrill of playing the great man and to be honest I would have been equally happy to have sat there watching Steve knock in a century against me.

Thats it then and here we stand on the 22nd August 2013 the day of Steve's 56th birthday and he is still holding back the tide with the occasional displays of brilliance.

As for myself I have finally accepted that I'm not going to make it on the baize and have instead turned my hand instead to writing about the sport I love.Obviously to that end I have to try and be as impartial as possible when composing articles but I hope having read this you will forgive me,if every so often,that goes out the window when The Nugget is playing.

Happy Birthday Steve and heres to the next 35 yrs .

ET 3 Bluebell Wood Open

Ricky Walden held off  a determined fightback from Marco Fu to win the deciding frame and claim the Bluebell Wood Open at the Doncaster Dome last night.

In a final that was hard fought and scrappy at times it was Walden who took a lengthy opening frame to lead 1-0.Fu leveled with a century in the next but it was Walden who pulled away again to lead 3-1.Fu to his credit battled back to win the next two to level at 3-3 and force the decider.

This turned into one of those long nervy deciders where both players had their chances before a fluked red allowed Walden in and he duly made the most of knocking in a smooth 65 to claim the title.

This was a fine win for Walden who must still have an odd sleepless night about how he let that World semi final against Hawkins slip from the his grasp.A crushing defeat like that has the potential to be a career defining moment for a player,but the surest way to dull the memory is to win matches against good players and that is what he did here,not just beating Fu in the final,but also with earlier wins over Ali Carter,Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy.

For Fu he will be slightly disappointed not to have claimed his second title of the season but he can be happy with how he fought here to get back into it and also with how he held off the fightback of Ding in the semi final when having lead 3-0 he saw Ding level at 3-3.Al this bodes well for him for the season ahead.

Of the games other big names the worlds top three ranked players all failed to negotiate the first round here with Neil Robertson & Judd Trump both losing deciding frames to Liang Wenbo & Ding Junhui and Mark Selby letting a 2-0 lead turn in to a 4-2 defeat to Vinnie Calabrese. 

Ronnie O Sullivan showed signs that he was not just here to punch in on the clock in coming back from 3-1 down to beat 15 Lyu Haotian in the first round,Haotian for his part impressed again in this match and there is little doubt that with the more experience he gets the higher his star is going to rise.Ronnie eventually went out in the last 32 to the impressive Peter Lines.

John Higgins also failed to reach the final day letting a 2-0 lead slip against Rod Lawler losing in the end 4-2.

Also a special word must be spared for Steve Davis,who may be only a few days away from his 56th birthday,but once again showed that the fire burns as bright as ever in reaching the last 16,,indeed his form here,not least in his fightback from 3-1 down against Jamie Jones, was as good as anything he has produced in recent years.He will have no doubt been annoyed with himself that he couldn't make the most of his chances when he lead eventual runner up Marco Fu 3-2 before eventually losing a tight decider.

So ends the tours stay in Doncaster with the venue coming in for some criticism for the uncomfortably warm playing conditions.Hopefully this is something that can be looked at in future as from a facilities point of view it seems to have been  vast improvment on other PTC venues,

Anyway onwards we go and it's off to Germany next weekend for ET4 The Paul Hunter Classic ..

A Round Up of Recent Events.

When those of us in this part of the world have in recent weeks been enjoying that rarest of meteorological occurrences,an actual summer,the 2013/14 snooker season has continued to find its feet crowning its two latest champions in Australia and Holland.

First we go to Bendigo where Marco Fu ended a six year drought.to claim his second ranking title and in the process break local hearts beating Neil Robertson 9-6 to lift the Australian Goldfields Open title.

Fu has always been a player who.when on form,is capable of beating anyone in the game but his problem has always been inconsistency.It would have been hard to believe when he reached the final of his first professional final,The  Grand Prix in 1998 that he would only have two ranking titles to his name by now though he has also reached the semi's at the Crucible & the final of both the UK Championship and the Masters but thats where he has found himself. That said I read he has now reached a level of contentment in his private life and this victory could lead to more of the same as the season progresses.He may yet finish his career the kind of CV his talent deserves.

For Robertson this would have been a bitter disappointment as he would have dearly loved to have won a title on home soil and with the future of this tournament yet to be decided he may not get another chance to do so.

Whereas the future of snooker in Australia may be in doubt the same can certainly not be said about Holland,where the circuit returned to packed houses for the first tournament held there in over twenty years,this past weekends Rotterdam Open.

It's funny how quickly things can change in this game. When Ronnie claimed his fifth World title in May much was written and talked about how his standard was still of such a high level whereas it appeared the other two great players of this era,John Higgins and Mark Williams, had seemingly begun to go into irreversible decline.

Fast forward a couple of monthes and Higgins has already claimed the first EPTC in Bulgaria as well as finishing runner up in the Wuxi Classic and now Williams has claimed his first title since the 2011 German Masters beating Mark Selby 4-3 in the final to win the Rotterdam Open.

The green shoots of a recovery in form had been there in  Bulgaria last month but here he seemed to step it up another level with at time a display of long potting and fearless break building that was reminiscent of ten years ago when he was an almost unstoppable force.Maybe this win was just the spark at 38 that Williams needed and it might yet spark a rich autumnal harvest in his career.

Away from the table last week we also got the news that India will be hosting its first ranking event this season when the Indian Open takes place in Delhi this October.This is great news as the profile of the sport in India has grown in recent years with the emergence of Pandkaj Advani and Aditya Mehta .Hopefully this will lead to even more people in India getting an appreciation for the game that did actually begin in that country.Certainly in Advani & Mehta the game could not have any finer ambassadors there.

Finally I like everyone else in the snooker world was delighted to hear the news in Friday that Ali Carter has got the all clear following his recent cancer scare and will return to action in time for the Shanghai Masters.Hopefully he can now put this behind him and get back to what he does best.

Wuxi Classic Final.

Neil Robertson lifted the first ranking title of the new season after he fought back to beat John Higgins 10-7 in what was a high quality Wuxi Classic final.

Robertson recently returned to the world no.1 spot and his victory here means he is likely to stay there for a long time,such is the lead he now enjoys over his nearest pursuer .

Here he certainly performed like a world no.1 after this one had threatened to get away from him in the first session as Higgins,playing the sort of snooker that saw him reach the final without much fuss,quickly established a 5-2 lead.

Robertson had been slightly subdued up to this point but suddenly started to find his form and won the last two of the session to be just 5-4 behind at the end of the play.

He started the evening session in the same vein and unbelievably took the first four frames to make it six in a row and lead 8-5 going into the mid session interval. Higgins safety game was unusually below par but he still managed to stop the rot in the next to close to 8-6.

The one thing we do know when we get a final between two of the games proven winners is that neither will blink with the winning line in sight and Robertson moved within one of the title,taking the next to lead 9-6.

He looked like sealing victory in the next when he established a 50 point lead,but Higgins,as he has done so often,dug deep and with the help of a wonderful positional shot from brown to blue he closed to 9-7.

Robertson again failed to make the most of an early chance on the next,but another unexpected safety error from Higgins gifted him the chance he needed and he did enough to secure the win 10-7.

For Robertson this was his second title in China in a row after he took last seasons China Open in  April and  though every title is to be celebrated,he will be particularly pleased here to have won beating an in form Higgins.There was a time over the last couple of seasons where it appeared as if Robertson was beginning to get bogged down in matches and this was stopping him play his natural game,but he seems to have started this season with a different approach and he is reaping the benefits of it.

As for Higgins he will be disappointed to have lost having lead by so much early on,but when you consider how badly he was playing towards the end of last season and the fact he is using a new cue he can take a lot confidence from this going into the rest of the campaign.He has looked back like his old self when in among the balls and you have to feel he will only improve further as the season goes on.I think talk of his demise can certainly be forgotten for a while.

That is it from the first full ranking tournament of the season then and I think if its a sign of things to come we are in for great season.Next up is the Australian Open which unfortunately will be missing some of the games big stars who have decided not to enter.It will though of course feature Robertson who will be desperate to make it back to back ranking titles by winning on home soil.

Wuxi Classic Final preview

The final of the Wuxi Classic 2013 will be between the circuits two in form players,as John Higgins squares off against Neil Robertson tomorrow in search of the seasons first ranking title as well as the £80,000 top prize.

This may have been the first tournament to use the flat 128 draw but the one thing that has always rung true,no matter what the system and that is that the players who are playing the best snooker in each half of the draw will come through and here was no exception.

Robertson was the first of the two to reach the final as beat his Crucible conqueror Robert Milkins 6-2.This one was never really close as Robertson,having taken a scrappy opener,went through the gears to lead 4-0 at the interval.Milkins managed to get on the board taking the next and then reduced the deficit to 4-2,but Robertson again stepped in to seal a straight forward win.

In the second semi final Higgins recorded an equally emphatic win against his old adversary Matthew Stevens,,also winning by a scoreline of 6-2. This one maybe was a little closer then the score suggests,but despite having chances in most frames Stevens could never really take advantage and it was Higgins who,once in,always looked likely to punish the Welshman. It wasn't until Higgins at 5-0 stood one away from victory that Stevens eventually got going,but 5-2 was as close as he could get and Higgins saw out the win with a break of 101 to set up the final most neutrals would have wanted.

So what of the final,Well it may only be June but this really has the potential to be one of the matches of the season as these two giants of the game come in here on top form.Robertson,by virtue of his recent performance will be the World no.1 no matter what happens here but he would dearly love to add this title to his China Open success from last season.Higgins though,fresh from his victory over Robertson in the final of the ET1 event in Bulgaria a fortnight ago will fancy his chances of claiming a remarkable 26th ranking title.

I fancy this to be close but \I just think Higgins might have enough to win it, possibly by a scoreline as close as 10-8

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Wuxi Classic The final four.

A repeat of the recent Bulgarian Open final clash between John Higgins and Neil Robertson is very much still on the cards after todays Quarter finals action in Wuxi .

The talk that Higgins was a spent force in the game is starting to look a tad premature and the way the coasted through the field to reach the quarter final suggested he is very much on the way back to his best form.That said it was expected that he would face a much sterner test today against a confident Joe Perry but in truth it didn't materialize as he secured a  comfortable 5-2 win.

His opponent in the semi final will be Matthew Stevens who brought the run of Irelands Davy Morris to an end also by a scoreline of 5-2.Still though this has been a remarkable week for Morris,when you consider that only a month ago he was battling through Q school just to get back on the tour.He has always been highly thought of in Irish snooker circles and hopefully now is when he starts to deliver on that promise.

As for Stevens he has always played well in China and reached the final of last seasons World Open.He has always had a big result in him but I really don't see him denying Higgins another ranking final appearance.

The other form man this season has been Neil Robertson and he came through a really tough test against Cao Yupeng to reach the semi final finally in what was a high quality match.The match seemed to have turned when Robertson missed a black to lead 4-2 and then found himself 4-3 down,but he once again showed us what a battled hardened player he has become to come through 5-4.

It would be hard not to feel a little sorry for Cao as he played well enough to beat most players but on this evidence we could finally have another Chinese with the potential to win titles  and in turn maybe take some of the pressure off Ding who has been carrying his nations hopes for so long.

Robertson's opponent will Robert Milkins after he saw off the challenge of Anthony Hamilton by a score of 5-3 Milkins has been another man who has started to flourish again in this new era of constant snooker and has claimed some big scalps of late,not least Robertson himself in in the first round at the Crucible..On this occasion though I feel Robertson will be too strong and will set up a dream final with Higgins on Sunday.

So we have now moved from  a flat 128 to 4 for the first time in a ranking event and what have we learned? Well I think we have seen that the players who are playing the best snooker reach the semi finals.who knew?

Wuxi Classic & then there were 16

After a hectic few days in the Wuxi Classic,16 men remain in contention to lift the first full ranking title of the season.

The first tournament of the year is always likely to produce some shock results as many of the games top players probably haven't fully committed to their practice routines yet, That certainly seemed to be the case with Trump and Allen as both bowed out limply.

They were joined on the plane home by recent World championship runner up Barry Hawkins who went down 5-4 to CaoYupeng.and Stuart Bingham who lost 5-2 to Anthony Hamilton.

Also failing to make an impact was local favourite Ding Junhui who once again failed to make an impact on homesoil going out 5-1 to Joe Perry,Perry's confidence of course is sky high after his victory in the ATC1 at the weekend.

It hasn't been all bad for the games stars though as John Higgins kept up his fine start to the season by breezing through his first few matches and once again looks the man to beat.Also rekindling some of his old form is Mark Williams who fresh from a good run in ETC1 produced a high quality display to edge past Jack Lisowski.5-4.

Also into the last 16 is David Morris who will be playing at this stage of a ranking event for the first time.Davy has been talked about in snooker circles in Ireland for a long time now and after failing to make a real impact first time around,but after coming through Q School he seems determined to make the most of his second chance.

There is just a quick look at some of the highlights of the week so far and no doubt theings wil be a lot clearer following tomorrows action

Heres the last 16 in full 

Robert Milkins v Scott Donaldson

Mark Williams v Anthony Hamilton

Ben Woollaston v Cao Yupeng

Mark King v Neil Robertson

David Gilbert v Joe Perry

John Higgins , Xiao Goudong

Peter Lines Matthew Stevens

Ali Carter v David Morris