Mark Joyce emerged victorious from a talented field at the Pro-Am Pink Ribbon event in the South West Snooker Academy on Sunday after a 4-0 triumph over Michael Holt.
Holt returned to Gloucester as the defending champion having won the inaugural charity tournament 6-5 against Jimmy White 12 months ago.
However, he could not prevent English countryman Joyce from claiming the first trophy of the new season.
Despite carrying no ranking points, the annual tournament is quickly becoming a favourite for the many of the Tour players with an opportunity to gain some much needed practice before more important matters get under way at the end of the month.
As well as Holt and White, world champion John Higgins, fellow Scot Stephen Maguire and seasoned professionals like Joe Perry and Ryan Day were in attendance.
It was Joyce, though, who came through as the unlikely winner and pocketed a tidy sum of £2,400 for what was really just a fun weekend to help raise some money for Breast Cancer Awareness.
27 year-old Joyce has been on the scene for a considerable amount of time without enjoying much success.
As an amateur he won the European Under 19s Championship tin 2001 and the English Amateur Championship five years later but has largely struggled on the professional circuit.
Joyce’s finest moment came during last season’s UK Championship – the calendar’s second biggest ranking event behind the Worlds – when he ousted Ali Carter and Judd Trump on his was to a maiden quarter-final appearance.
However, his achievements over the past few days will undoubtedly live long in his memory as well, especially given the fact that he beat White, Maguire and Higgins on route to the final.
With each round during the Pink Ribbon best of 7, Joyce will surely have the confidence in his ability to do some damage in the Players Tour Championship series, which uses a similar format, and improve on his current world ranking of 42.
The first PTC event of the 2011/12 campaign is, incredibly, only two weeks away.
