Lee Walker won a maiden World Seniors Championship title after a 5-4 victory over Jimmy White in the final on Sunday.
Walker fought his way back from 4-2 down, reeling off the last three frames to deny White a fourth success in the tournament.
It was a fitting ending for the Welshman, who had already demonstrated some remarkable battling qualities at the Crucible Theatre.
Walker coasted through his opening two fixtures with a brace of 3-0 wins against Tony Knowles and Stephen Hendry – compiling an excellent 121 against the latter.
But things got a lot tougher for the 46 year-old in the quarter-finals when he overturned an early 2-0 deficit to Ken Doherty, eventually prevailing 4-2.
There was an even bigger comeback in the semi-final, when he took the final four frames to deny reigning champion David Lilley in a decider.
Walker looked to be out of the running again in the world seniors final but managed to conjure another recovery act from the brink.
When White, who had produced two sparkling performances to beat Rory McLeod and Peter Lines in the earlier rounds, led by two frames with three to play, another title for the Whirlwind seemed inevitable.
But Walker discovered his scoring form at just the right time with breaks of 79 and 83 in the last two frames earning him the biggest victory of his career.
The former professional, who reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship 25 years ago, may now receive an invitation to the lucrative Champion of Champions – as has become customary in recent campaigns.
For White, it was disappointment at the last hurdle again after a similarly close loss at the same stage of the 2021 tournament.
Elsewhere, the competition’s pre-tournament favourite with the online bookies was Michael Holt, who exited at the quarter-final hurdle.
There are many options to bet on snooker online, meanwhile, and you can visit here to find a list of the best PayPal betting sites.
The 2022 World Seniors Championship also proved to be the last competitive tournament for John Parrott, with the 1991 world champion announcing his retirement from the game.
Results
Quarter-Finals
David Lilley 4-0 Michael Holt
Lee Walker 4-2 Ken Doherty
Jimmy White 4-1 Rory McLeod
Peter Lines 4-1 Nigel Bond
Semi-Finals
Lee Walker 4-3 David Lilley
Jimmy White 4-0 Peter Lines
Final
Lee Walker 5-4 Jimmy White
Featured photo credit: WSS
