Four days after Jimmy White was handing over the Steve Davis trophy to pal Ronnie O'Sullivan in the English Open, The Whirlwind has scooped silverware of his own. Seeing his pal O'Sullivan lift a ranking event trophy, some years since the Welsh Open must have inspired 55-year-old White to go to Redhill and kick-start his own form with a win.
White is now a double UK Champion in both junior and senior level as he beat Ken Doherty 4 - 2 in the final in Redhill at the Harlequin Theatre on Thursday night.
A packed audience of fans gathered to watch the six-times World finalist face 1997 World Champion Doherty, who has been in great form of late and showed that throughout the event - including making the highest break of the tournament, a 137 in an earlier round.
The match was also streamed on the Snooker Legends Youtube channel.
It's the first time White has won anything substantial since 2004 when he won his tenth ranking event on the tour, the 2004 Players Championship.
Hopes to kick on
White told Snooker Legends that in practice he felt like he couldn't miss a ball at times, but his performance in matches was patchy but he was hitting the ball well. "This game is all about confidence," he said.
He said the win in Redhill was a confidence boost for his professional tour hopes, and that he hoped he could "kick on" from the win,
The Whirlwind collected £7,500 and the UK Seniors trophy.
Ironically, Doherty and White were two players who were relegated from the tour last season but were awarded invitational two-year cards for their services to the game and Doherty, particularly, has been going through a spell of good form this season.
On route to the win, White beat two qualifying amateurs, who had got to the final stages in Redhill and they were Jonathan Bagley and Les Dodd, famous for putting tips on the top players, including Ronnie O'Sullivan. Bagley made a great account of himself in the event, with a 92 break during the tournament.
The other two qualifying amateurs also had great performances, Patrick Wallace and Gary Filtness, nicknamed the Blade, who was narrowly beaten early on in the event on the trademark Snooker Legends Black Ball decider.
Filtness is also a London coach, and is the coach behind the Blade Cue Coaching that is being used by some top pros on the professional circuit.
UK Championship 1992
Jimmy White's UK Championship 25 years ago brought him £70,000 where he beat John Parrott in the final 16 - 9. It was revenge for the year before where Parrott beat White in the World Championship final.
Parrott also was in the event in Redhill, but lost to Bagley.
On route to White's UK win, he beat Dylan Emery, David Roe, Willie Thorne, James Wattana, Alan McManus, and of course Parrott in the final. It was the last UK Championship final to be staged over two days and on the best of 31 frame format.
The next leg of the Snooker Legends World Seniors tour is the second qualifier of the World Seniors Champion event where amateurs over 40, will again get to next year join the Legends in a bid to win the World Seniors Championship which was last season won by Peter Lines.
The second qualifier begins from today (Friday) and runs through to Sunday at the Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli.
