Welsh Amateur Championship Final

The final of the Welsh Amateur Championship was held at Merthyr Labour Club on Saturday the 8th of April. It was a great day for Rhydian Richards who deservedly won his first Welsh Amateur tournament by beating Darren Morgan 8-4. It was a match between two experienced campaigners, with Morgan going for his third title 30 years after his first win.

Rhydian settled early on with a 45 break after a scrappy opening to take him 1-0 up. In the next frame Darren got in with 36 but a missed long red allowed Rhydian to pinch the frame with a 49 clearance for 2-0.  Darren got off the mark in the third with runs of 43 and 42, and made 30 in frame four - but Rhydian was now in full flow and made a an excellent clearance of 100 to lead 3-1. He then extended his lead further with an effort of 44 in the next. Darren was getting chances though, and managed to convert frame 6 with breaks of 59 and 56 proving there was still a long way to go. Importantly for Rhydian, he made a 57 which was enough to secure a 5-2 advantage going into the evenings final session.

The first frame of the evenings session could have gone either way, eventually Rhydian taking it on the blue. In the ninth frame, Rhydian went one away from victory with breaks of 37 and 43 for 7-2. But with his back firmly against the wall Darren made gutsy breaks of 74 and 51 to win two on the spin. Rhydian then made 45 in the last frame to leave Darren needing snookers and he obtained one along with a free ball, but a tricky miss on the black with just the last red remaining with a possible clearance on was his last chance and Rhydian duly wrapped up victory 8-4.

Commiserations to Darren, and big congratulations to Rhydian on his victory to become Welsh Amateur Champion 2017.