World Snooker Centre - Pontins - Prestatyn - North Wales

28th / 29th March 2009

Peter Gilchrist secured his second EBOS title of the season by defeating Billy Bousfield in the final of the 2009 Welsh Open in Prestatyn, and taking the winners cheque for £450. His centuries of 143 and 125 were enough to put pay to Bousfield's challenge which had seen him compile four single and one double (260) century in previous rounds.

Gilchrist showed some impressive form right from the word go in the group stages, aided by breaks of 202 and 261. The break building continued in his demolition of Irelands Phil Martin in last 16, aided by the tournaments highest break of 312 which netted him another £50.

Gilchrist's quarter final with fellow professional Geet Sethi brought together two of the worlds best players with a total of 10 World Titles between them. However, a below par Sethi was no match for Gilchrist who rattled in further breaks of 125, 179 and 215, only countered by a 162 from Sethi when 400+ behind midway through the match. Gilchrist's Semi-Final saw him overcome Polish Open Champion Matthew Sutton, who himself had beaten former professional Roxton Chapman in the Quarter Finals. Chapman had started slowly in the group matches, but found form and great touch in demolishing the challenge of current English Amateur Champion Martin Goodwill with a superb break of 259 unfinished in the last 16.

Other notable performances saw former Professional and recent English Amateur runner-up John Murphy quietly make his way through to the Semi-Finals, compiling a 201 break in his Quarter Final with Rob Hall.

A modified Plate Competition (200up or 45 minutes) saw England's Phil Davis narrowly overcome this season's Plate specialist and U19 Champion Michael Williams in the final, to take the £60 winner's cheque.

38 players divided into 8 groups

		GROUP 3	M.Goodwill	G.Sethi	R.McCrum	P.Thornton	Wins	For	Against	Diff	Position
		Martin Goodwill		302 (50,52)	364 (77)	471 (146,233)	3	1137	352	785	1st
		Geet Sethi	187 (50,60)		543 (95,73,58,77,110)	425 (85,68,165)	2	1155	449	706	2nd
		Paul Thornton	79	75	158		1	312	1052	-740	3rd
		Robert McCrum	86	72		156	0	314	1064	-751	4th

Match report from Paul Thornton (pictured above)

I took part in this event and really enjoyed the experience, It was the Welsh Open leg of the EBOS Series which travels the globe. 38 players took part and each put into a group of 4or 5 players. I played 3, 1 hour matches, on the Tournament match tables. 

All matches were timed to just 1 hour of play.

  Geet Sethi 

First match I played Geet Sethi from India (8 x World Champion). 

Geet Sethi won this close match 425-75. with breaks of 68, 85 and 165.

  Martin Goodwill 

Second match I played, mostly watched, Martin Goodwill  

(6x and current English Champion) 

Martin Goodwill won 471-79 with breaks of 146 and 233.

  Robert McCrum 

Third Match I played Robert McCrum from Ireland. 

I hit some good form and won  158-156.  An end to a match i won't forget. 

We both kept scoring not really knowing exactly when the bell was going to go.

So in the end i finished 3rd Place out of the 4 players. The top 2 in the group go through to last 16. 

I returned the next day to play in the Plate Competition.

My first round opponent in the plate competition was C.W. Steiner from Austria. 

C.W. Steiner

I had an ok game but lost by 19 points. 

Final score being 113-94 in a timed 45 minute match.

I hope to try again next year after a lot more practice....