12th: Ford makes Riga final months after clinging
on to tour spot (August) - This was a nice moment for Tom at the time particularly after the couple of years he had had on the baize. While it was nice to see it doesn't really stick out as one of the main memories of the year.
11th: Ben Woollaston reaches maiden ranking final (February) - A similar feeling for me applies to Ben Woollaston making the Welsh Open final here. While it was a great moment to see him start to kick on and reach a first ranking final, because he didn't win the title and it hasn't led to greater things as yet, it doesn't feel like a pivotal moment in the grand scheme of 2015.
10th: Gould so close to maiden ranking title (July) - This was a good confidence boosting moment for Martin Gould, especially just a few months on from blowing his chance to make the final of the World Grand Prix, and while it would have hurt to lose for a while ultimately he didn't lose the final, John simply won it. He has taken confidence from it as you can see from performances since but again the moment doesn't carry the same magic as certain others.
9th: McLeod grabs first ever tournament win (October) - What a moment this was for Rory McLeod over the course of a weekend a the Ruhr Open for him to win his first professional tournament. To get him higher up on this list though with the stuff of legend in 2015 it would have to be a full ranking title, but that doesn't take anything away from what he achieved.
8th: Davis rolls back the years in black ball
thriller (April) - 30 years on from the 1985 black ball final it was just nice to see Steve Davis still competing, but to be playing well and winning matches in deciding frames on the black it was wonderful, even if it was just a one-off event.
7th: World Cup winners beat world finalists (June) - The reason this one was in 7th place is simply because, as good a moment as it was to see Zhou Yuelong beat Stuart Bingham and Yan Bingtao beat Shaun Murphy (unless you'd been invited to watch and was supporting Shaun!!), this wasn't even the Chinese teenagers best moment of 2015, so how could it be mine.
6th: White wins Indian Open and Shoot-out in
magical 10 days (March) - In the moment these were two fantastic victories and have really spurred him on up the rankings with greater confidence and are surely the start of great things to come. Winning once a year is enough for most players but to win twice in the space of a couple of weeks for your two biggest pay days in snooker really is magical.
5th: Young Chinese pair win World Cup (June) - This was of course the event I referred to earlier when Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong won the World Cup in Wuxi representing China B, against all of the odds. They weren't even meant to be the best Chinese representatives in the event, purely there some may say to make up the numbers but instead we saw a glimpse into the future and two players who are going to be here for a very long time indeed.
4th: Murphy finally completes Triple Crown (January) - The special thing for me about Shaun Murphy finally winning the Masters to complete snookers Triple Crown was how close he had come before, how long it had been since he completed the second leg by winning the 2008 UK Championship, and some of the worrying reflections he had immediately after his exit in the 2014 Masters. You could see the delight and relief in his body language and expressions immediately after a 10-2 stylish thrashing of Neil Robertson. It was right up there with the snooker memories of 2015.
3rd: Wenbo jumps for joy as he earns Masters spot (December) - The whole achievement with Wenbo here was getting into a Triple Crown final and securing his spot in the Masters but the real magic with this came with the 'heart on sleeve' philosophy to the play of Liang Wenbo. Especially in the semi-final you could see how much pressure he was under, while his celebrations after each one of his victories in the Last 32, 16, quarter and semi-finals was special to watch and well worth a podium finish in my countdown here.
2nd: Wilson wins in Shanghai as qualifier (September) - He was a qualifier. He nearly didn't get his visa to even attend the tournament. There was certainly no easy draw for Kyren Wilson and a couple of deciders against top players like Ding Junhui and Judd Trump were negotiated with the style that made this such a phenomenal moment. To see someone so young rise through the pack and win his first ranking event shows the sort of potential that we are talking about here with Kyren and there are going to be plenty more magic moments to come from him but second place is by no means bad for your first effort!!!
1st: Bingham’s tearful Triumph (May) - The winner by far though has to be the World Championship victory for Stuart Bingham at the Crucible in May. Like Kyren he didn't do it the easy way with victories against three former world champions and another one in the making in Judd Trump. After his wins against Ronnie and Judd you could see the tears in his interviews and see what it meant to him and just speaking to him about it now you can pick up two things. The first is that this couldn't happen to a nicer, more deserving player as he relishes everything that comes with being a world champion, and the second is very much an extension of the first in that he is such a snooker geek, lover and enthusiast that he appreciates what being a world champion means. He has worked so hard for this moment that it would take a sheer lack of heart for me to not give him first place on my countdown.
There you have it then Stuart Bingham and his Crucible win is by far my moment of 2015. I'm sure there will be many great moments in snooker in 2016 too so I look forward to getting the 2016 of snooker underway.
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