Congratulations to Jimmy White who has just beaten world number 17 Barry Hawkins to take his first title in over five years out in Thailand…
Jimmy White 8-6 Barry Hawkins
As has often been the case with White this week, he started slowly, losing the first two frames to give himself an early deficit. Again however, he managed to turn it around and with the aid of a 61 break in frame nine, moved into a 6-4 lead, needing just two more for the title.
Although Barry managed to regroup and take the next two and level again, it was not to be his day as Jimmy made a final push towards an eventual 8-6 victory to succeed Ricky Walden as the Sangsom 6-Red Champion. Though the event is only six-reds, it is nevertheless Jimmy’s first tournament victory since the Players Championship in 2004 and one that was hard-earned when you look at the players he has had to beat this week.
For Barry, who of course narrowly missed out on a return to the top 16 last season, it again is a case of so near and yet so far, but he has played well to get to the final and will hopefully go into the season with the confidence to perform well in the ranking events.