Snooker

Ronnie done the damage yesterday to be fair. He forced Ali into making the errors, and Ronnie just cleaned up.

Ali Carter is no mug, he is a very decent snooker player and his safety shots are immense. I think he perhaps should have attacked Ronnie a bit more instead of playing so safe, but I think it was a case of damage limitation in the end. He fell behind by several frames and it was always going to be a struggle to come close, let alone win.

All week Ronnie has been world class, his break against Carter in the 7th frame was nothing short of perfection.

Ronnie won the championship primarily because he had his matchplay head on. When he is focussed, concentrated and applying himself there is nobody better. We all know that his natural talent is phenomenal indeed in my view he is the most naturally talented player of all time. In this championship he hardly ever chose the wrong shot, he didn't lose patience or control. His safety was exemplary, pot percentage excellent, positional play top class. It was the most disciplined tournament I have ever seen from him and this year more than any other we have seen a complete player produce his controlled best. A thoroughly worthy champion.

Nah. It wasnt cos of that. It was simply that best two players Higgins and selby were ko in first round. If they got started it cud have been a differant tournament. But no doubt ronnie is awesome and great to watch when he's on fire. Just makes it look so easy

Miserable Maguire won his first ranking event since 2008 in a tense final frame.

Does anyone else watch the Eurosport coverage? Usually they cover most of the tournaments, even the crappy minor ones. Joe Johnson is a lot more bearable commentator than John Virgo. Mind you, so is everybody in the entire universe.

Don't like Maguire or his attitude. Makes Andy Murray look positively delirious with joy.
His whole demeanour and way he behaves is not at all endearing imo.

I do watch the Eurosport coverage and quite like it actually. Mike Hallett is a decent commentator.

I find it quirky to see who's a better commentator than I would have thought. I remember Neal Foulds had a go on the BBC a while back and was more interesting than he ever was as a player.

Neal Foulds is on ITV4 now, commentating on this Haikou World Open.

Quite strange to watch, with very few people in the crowd: decent pots / safetys often being met with absolute silence.
The lack of BBC "comedy" throughout is most refreshing.

"The road to Good Intentions be paved with Hell"

That might explain why he hasn't been on the BBC lately...

Still bizarre to have so many tournaments in the calendar now...

So then Ronnie O'Sullivan is to return to defend his world title at the Crucible in April.
Good to have him back after his self imposed exile. His brand of snooker remains the most watchable of anyone when he is in full flow. The tournament would not be the same without the reigning champion being there to defend the title.

Saw some of Mark Allen's match with Ryan Day the other day. Day won the 2nd frame to lead 2-0, but Allen kept on, clearing up for some table time even though he couldn't win the frame. He went on to win 5-2, and is in tomorrow's final against Matthew Stevens.

I note Clive Everton is on ITV4 commentary. He's not quite as bad as Virgo, and I mellowed to him when he had that accident a few years back. And because he's not John Virgo.