Gary Wilson was delighted after sealing a maiden ranking title with a 9-2 victory over Joe O’Connor at the Scottish Open final on Sunday.
After ten successive seasons on the Main Tour when his form has frequently fluctuated, Wilson finally etched his name onto silverware.
In what was his third ranking event final, the 37 year-old settled quickly with an immediate contribution of 102 in the first frame.
But after his opponent had levelled with a run of 99, the key moment of the entire clash occurred in the third frame.
It looked like O’Connor was about to move in front, but the first-time finalist missed a routine pink to the middle pocket while on 64.
Wilson duly mopped up the remaining balls for a 67 clearance that proved pivotal in the overall outcome of the showdown.
O’Connor could muster just one more frame after that, with Wilson adding another break of 102 and further runs of 94 and 74 to comprehensively claim the Stephen Hendry Trophy.
“It means the world,” Gary Wilson told the World Snooker Tour soon after completing the Scottish Open triumph in Edinburgh.
“Many times over my career, I thought I’m never even going to get towards this stage. You’re watching people on the telly do it, and it looks harder and harder.”
“It is harder and harder, the standard is so good. I’ve been a bit fortunate this week in some aspects.
“I’m not going to put myself down at all, by any means. I’ve had some great results and I’ve played decent in spells.
“But it’s unbelievable to think the career I’ve had – it’s been so up and down – to actually finally win a tournament and fulfill a lifelong ambition since I was eight years old, it’s finally happened.
“It kind of does (make it more special that it’s finally arrived). In another aspect, you’ve always got that bit of ‘I could have done this years ago’.
“Maybe I’m just one of them that’s taken this sort of time to meld into a player that’s found that kind of balance.
“I’m not going to worry about how long it’s taken, I’m just so happy that it has (happened).
“I purposely tried to put no kind of expectation on myself. I’ve been in positions before, I’ve been in a couple of finals, I’ve lost situations in matches where I should have won.
“I tried my best all week – and really for the last number of tournaments for quite a while – I’ve just tried to have no expectation on myself.
“Just play and not get ahead of myself at any stage at all. Even at 8-2, you’re still thinking the worst could happen deep down.
“But it’s something that I’ve just learned to do over the years. After so many defeats, you just learn to accept everything a bit more.
“That’s all I’ve done this week, I’ve accepted anything that’s come and just got on with it.
“It was great to have my family there and Paul from the club. It was a core photo that of my closest team to me.
“It was really, really good, and they are memories that I’ll treasure forever – it’s a great time, I’m over the moon.
“I’m hoping deep down that it can be some kind of springboard. Not necessarily even to win more events, but to feel like I can play and enjoy it like I have for some of this week.
“I’ve enjoyed my game a bit more in the latter stages of this tournament. It’s how I’d like to keep playing, win or lose.”
By pocketing a champion’s cheque worth ยฃ80,000, Wilson will rise up to 18th in the official world rankings list – just one spot shy of his highest ever ranking.
The victory will open up several other opportunities for the competitor from Wallsend, including participation in at least two of the three Cazoo Series events this season and an invitation to next year’s Champion of Champions.
Featured photo credit: WST
I’ve had problems this week with the site. When I go to the homepage it’s not even got this story on Wilson’s win showing. The first thing you see is the post on Hendry’s YouTube channel. I found this post by typing into Google Gary Wilson Snooker HQ.
Thanks, Jay. This is good information, because I’ve noticed problems too and hits were oddly low during the Scottish Open. I thought I sourced the issue but maybe not. I’m still publishing articles most days, so the featured article on the homepage shouldn’t be days old. I’ll keep looking into it, cheers!
I didn’t see the tournament preview until day 4!
I don’t believe this is the problem, but there’s a very small chance it’s a caching issue on your end. You could try emptying your browser cache, or check the site in incognito mode (ctrl+shift+N for Chrome). Like I said, I’d be surprised if that’s the issue, but you could try it if you think the new articles aren’t appearing for you. I do think there’s something happening on my end, but I’ve contacted the technical support and they say everything looks fine. Frustrating anyway.
I’ve been on today and first story is about the ranking changes. I’d suggest this means things have been rectified. Thanks for the advice if there’s problem at my end.