Dominic Dale produced a remarkable escape to win the sixth Players Tour Championship title of the season in Sheffield tonight.
Dale needed three snookers in the deciding frame of the final against Martin Gould but got them and then cleared from last red to black to secure a dramatic 4-3 victory.
He is the eighth different winner on the PTC and EPTC series this season and certain to be part of the 24-man grand finals next March.
Snooker has long had to put up with ignorant people decrying it for a lack of ‘characters’ – whatever that actually means.
Well, Dominic is certainly a character.
When you ask a snooker player what their other interests are they usually say golf and poker.
Not Dom. He’s into opera, 1950s British comedy films, the life and death of Marylin Monroe, antique clocks and watches and all manner of other weird and wonderful pursuits.
Last week he compered the Jimmy White v Tony Drago exhibition in Gloucester wearing a full length velvet suit replete with top hat that made him look like a cross between Willy Wonka and Larry Grayson.
These days he lives in Vienna but is registered to represent Wales and I still well remember him necking a bucket full of champagne following the Welsh triumph in the inaugural Nations Cup in 1999.
He genuinely doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. He is who he is and he’s happy with that.
Dominic has never been in the top 16 but is one of only 25 players to have won more than one ranking title.
His first came out of the blue. In 1997, he reached the Grand Prix final but came up against John Higgins who was at that time playing the best snooker in the world.
Dale won 9-6. He would be the first to admit it went to his head a little. Perhaps he thought he had made the big time but he failed to kick on.
Then ten years and several outfits later he won another ranking title, the 2007 Shanghai Masters, playing supremely confident snooker in the final session to see off Ryan Day.
Dominic is a one off. He’s known as ‘The Spaceman’ for his eccentricity but it should not be forgotten just what a good player he is when he puts it all together.
Last week after the exhibition we had a drink in the hotel where a bloke came over to him and asked if he was still playing.
It’s a question Dominic could forgive because he appears on TV only sporadically these days.
But he proved tonight that he is still a player and maybe this great escape will give him the confidence he needs for another resurgence in what has been, fittingly, a career stranger than most.
19 comments:
"He genuinely doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. He is who he is and he’s happy with that."
i love that part :)
congrats Dominic!
This PTC had an interesting final: Gould has been threatening a breakthrough for a while and Dale has form for producing the goods. Arguably the best player to never make the top 16, although he would have under the new system because he spent long periods provisionally in the top 16.
Dead pleased for him, some way to win a final is that.
Martin will be back too.
It is impressive that he has won three events in his career while being so inconsistent. Gould looks a good bet for a top 16 place soon
Another defeat shatched from the jaws of victory by Gould.
Hope he wins something significant soon because he strikes the ball as well as anyone.
All credit to Dale, i thought Gould would walk it but Dale seemingly has made a career of shocking people.
Alpha
I'm really pleased for Dominic. He's one of snooker's good guys and is great fun too. He's cultured, thoughtful, eccentric and a gentleman with it.
Be the person you want to be in life, not the person other people expect you to be.
What is the difference between being 'normal' and 'boring' anyway?
I remember seeing a feature a few years ago from his old house in Neath; his interests are genuine and he also cares deeply about the history of snooker.
A real individual and a credit to the game. Well done, Dominic!
Well done dom a great win for a great guy and beat some pretty good players along the way made up for the old taff
I would now be concerned for Gould as an emerging force in the game.
A setback like this, coupled with the Robertson comeback, is not going to make it any easier for him to get over the line in future tournaments.
Two fine players in recent years, Jamie Cope and Ding, looked immune to pressure when they arrived on the scene.
After a couple of heartbreaking setbacks, they have both underperformed since.
I know Ding has won majors, but to me he looked better before he lost the masters final to O'Sullivan than he has since.
Cope, when he reached the two ranking finals, looked a certainty to shortly win an event, but after losing in the worlds to Higgins from 2 down with 3 to play, and to Selby in the UK from 4 down with 5 to play, hasn't come close to a title until Shanghai this season where he imploded against Jamie Burnett.
I hope these fine players can put their woes behind them. They both have positives now with Cope firmly in the top 16 and Ding winning a bit more.
It remains to be seen whether Gould can continue on his ascent or whether mental "scar tissue" has formed.
I hope that these setbacks don't effect them too much,but it may come down to their mental strength.I'm a firm believer that Jimmy White's career may have been much different for example, if it wasn't for his missed red when 15-14 up against Alex Higgins in the 1982 world semi.
Nice work up there by Dominic but all credits for Martin Gould as well.
I certailny hope kildare cueman's concerns will be proven wrong by Martin. Hopefuly he will look at his recent defeat from the positive side (first ever ranking event final, although "only" minor), not negative (another match lost that should have been won). I am sure there is an awful lot of close games lost in the careers of a much more acclaimed players than Martin is right now, without any significant harm done to them.
He, somehow, was always kind of player who was interesting to watch - in a way. Since coming on the pro circuit he always had that aura of part-time player, part-time casino-guy that was both funny and intriguing to watch. He often seemed lost yet addicted to what was currently going on around the table. When on form, he was fun to follow, but when not, it could get pretty ugly down there.
But I was utterly astonished by how calm and deadly he looked in the World Open. He most certainly had the deadliest aura of all the players competing in Glasgow this year. Where did he got it, and when, I have no idea. In the end, what he was missing was a bit of luck and experience, or perhaps killer-instinct. But he surely was one of the greatest positives of that great tournament.
If he can keep it long enough and not become another one-season wonder, Martin Gould certainly has the game that can carry him into Top 16, and hopefully he will be able to stay there for a couple of entertaining years.
Sadly but true, Jimmy White should be a mutiple world champion.
These ptc events are a breath of fresh air for
the players, out of the 16 finalists who have contested them 10 have been ranked outside of the top 16 .
IMHO this shows how competitive snooker is and it's
about time the bigger tournaments stopped protecting
the top 16 so much , giving everyone a fair crack of the
whip.
I'm not sure the PTC proves the myth of the top 16 being "protected" - five of the eight winners have come from the top 9 (top 8 really since one is banned), and those five players had to play just as many matches as the other pros. Pretty much the same story at the World Open too, the top 16 came in at the last 64 stage and who makes it to the final: the top two seeds in the tournament. These events are unseeded (at least in terms of rankings) so it seems to me the top 8 protect themselves by winning more.
Well done to Dominic. He was playing fantastically well in practice all week at the South West Snooker Academy, but players don't always take that form into tournaments.
Likewise Jimmy White carried his great form from last week forward to the PTC, scoring heavily in his matches.
Looking ahead to EPTC 4 at the SWSA next week, we're delighted to have the tickets on sale now at
http://www.southwestsnookeracademy.com/tickets.html
We will also be having Live Streaming, the first from any PTC or EPTC and we'll give details of this later in week. Just keep an eye on SWSA website.
Is Dale, the only player to have won two ranking events and not have resided in the top 16?
Last week he compered the Jimmy White v Tony Drago exhibition in Gloucester wearing a full length velvet suit replete with top hat that made him look like a cross between Willy Wonka and Larry Grayson.
LOL!!
LOL @ Janie Watkins!!! Blatant advertising on a thread which has nothing to do with EPTC4 and which was established to comment on DD winning PTC6.
If you are streaming the next event Janie can you use one of those 50p's for the meter ...
Post a Comment