The first thing I want to say about this is that the Ruhr
Open as a whole is one of the weirdest events we’ve had on the snooker circuit
for some time. Rory McLeod coming out on top is by far the highlight though and
a clear moment of the month for October.
The funny thing about this whole thing is how Rory’s highest
break in the entire tournament was 67 in the first round against Craig
Steadman. His opponent in the final Tian Pengfei, had two breaks that were
higher than that in the final alone, to win the only two frames he was able to
achieve. In the modern era of snooker
that is unprecedented.
His wins in the event came against Craig Steadman, Jamie
Jones, Mark King, Ben Woollaston, Mark Davis, Mike Dunn and Tian Pengfei. Only
two of those players were ranked lower than him coming into the event, which
out of 7 isn’t a bad haul at all. Just a week or so before this event he had
lost his International Championship qualifier to Daniel Wells 6-1 and then
failed to win any of his next four matches. (Vs Baird in Bulgaria, Vs Neil
Robertson in the Champion of Champions, Vs Cope in the UK Championships and Vs
Surety in Gibraltar).
At the age of 44 and having first turned professional 24
years beforehand the match against Tian in the final, was his first final in an
event that carried any kind of ranking importance.
On the first day it was a true battle, he was victorious
against Craig Steadman 4-2 before two deciders against Jamie Jones and Mark
King. Rory is a fantastic battler though and this would not have fazed him one
back. He had the Saturday off before coming back on the Sunday for the Last 16.
Out of the 16 players remaining, only 5 of them were in the top 16 and with Mark
Williams playing Mark Selby and Mark Allen playing Barry Hawkins two of those
were guaranteed to go.
In the Last 16 Rory beat Ben Woollaston 4-1 while Williams
beat Selby, Hawkins beat Allen and Shaun Murphy was sent packing by the much
lower ranked Tian Pengfei 4-1. That left only two top 16 players for the
quarter-finals and they were both beaten as Mark Williams lost to Mike Dunn and
David Gilbert saw off Barry Hawkins. Mark Davis is still well up there in the
rankings though and was quite the challenge for Rory McLeod. Despite breaks of
69 and 81 from Davis and not a single break of above 50 from Rory he still ran
out the 4-2 winner and was into the semi-finals.
Now, with the semi-finalists of Mike Dunn, Rory McLeod,
David Gilbert and Tian Pengfei it was a massive opportunity for one of these
guys and McLeod was the man that grabbed his. Dunn was seen off by McLeod 4-1,
while Pengfei managed to eventually beat David Gilbert 4-3 on the pink.
It was the first final of any ranking importance for both players
and you would expect it to be a tense affair. Pengfei only scored 25 points in
the first couple of frames and was 2-0 behind early, but he hit back in frame
three with a run of 74, while a break of 58 from Rory was the cornerstone in
him moving a frame away from the match at 3-1. A 106 kept the Chinese player in
it but a run of 55 from Rory sealed a famous win and a magical moment.
The moment is improved by the fact it got Rory into the
Champion of Champions, and has almost guaranteed his tour safety for the next
two years, as that is a battle he could have easily been involved in. A place
in the Players Championship finals guarantees him further money, while he has a
chance of World Grand Prix qualification if he can put something together
between the time of writing at the Christmas period and Gdynia after that run
of loses he has suffered since (though German Masters qualification helps
steady the ship). When you add all of that to the maiden McLeod title itself
and how hard he has worked to achieve that it is a clear winner of the moment
of the month nomination for October.
There are not many more nominations to go, so come back tomorrow to find out the penultimate one, coming from November.
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