While John Higgins will be appearing in his fifth UK Championship final this Sunday, according to Dave Hendon’s twitter, referee Brendan Moore will be donning the white gloves for his first as he hopes to cap off what has been an excellent year for him in style…
It was only at the start of this year that Brendan was given his first ranking event final full stop as he took charge of the Newport final between John Higgins and Ali Carter, but with many of the more established names absent this week, he has now been entrusted with the second biggest tournament on the calendar in Telford.
Having had another final together with a number of matches in the World Championship now, Brendan has earned the right to take charge of a match of such magnitude and although the absence of other faces such as Eirian Williams and Jan Verhaas due to illness, as well as Michaela Tabb who has Mosconi Cup commitments to fulfil, it is in fact often the way in snooker that the opportunities for new faces to make an impact does come their way in such circumstances. Remember Leo Scullion being thrown in the deep end at the World Championship this year due to the absence of Jan Verhaas?
Hopefully the final will go according to plan for him and that Jan and Eirian will be back to full fitness for the Masters.