The Master and The Apprentice

Tuesday 9th December

Sunday saw a titanic struggle between the Master and the Apprentice.  Ronnie just seems to get better and better, there are no real weaknesses in his game.  A few years ago one watched Ronnie half hoping and half dreading a breakdown; he was impetuous and troubled and would often throw away matches needlessly, and we were never sure if he would simply toss in his snooker cue and call it a day.  But he has had a renaissance of late and seems to have his demons under control at last.   Approaching forty he has simply become the most accomplished snooker player on the circuit, some would even say the best ever.

Judd Trump bounced onto the scene a few years ago with an energy and brilliance that was shocking.  He was flash and brash and played snooker in a reckless cavalier style, reminiscent of Alex Higgins and Jimmy White at their best.   He didn’t really bother with safety play; he didn’t need to.  Just as Stephen Hendry had taught all the younger players, if you could see the potting angle of a red you had to go for it, regardless of how the balls were situated or even if there was a colour available afterwards.

The UK Championship is the second most important Snooker Tournament and both Ronnie and Judd had sailed through the early rounds but both had had to dig deep to win their respective Semis.  Ronnie sailed through the opening frames of the final and at 9-4 Judd looked out of it.  The next frame was key, Ronnie only needed to win this to be Champion and Judd looked out of it, holding his head in his hands as he missed easy red after easy red.  Somehow Judd scraped through this very scrappy frame.  But still the pundits all expected an easy win for the master Ronnie.  But the Apprentice came out and stunned us all with three frames of immaculate snooker; three massive breaks and two centuries later and the score was 9-8, Ronnie hardly playing a shot.  A scrappy frame followed but somehow Judd won that too.  9-all and it was down to the last frame.  Ronnie had an early break but didn’t score heavily, then Judd stroked in a few balls.  But Ronnie laid a brilliant snooker and Judd left a red half on.  Hesitantly with all his former confidence in tatters Ronnie limped over the line.  Ronnie said after that he was completely out of it and sure he was going to lose and playing on auto-pilot the last few shots.  It won’t be long one feels before the Apprentice becomes the Master.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump