High Five for Liam
Liam Highfield won the Businessland Under 21 Series Event Five with a final black victory over Sam Baird at the World Snooker Centre in Pontin's.
With Baird and Highfield placed one and two on the Businessland ranking list, it was no surprise that they came through to the final, having both previously won an event this season.
The final couldn't have been closer. Every frame came down to the last few colours. Eighteen year old Highfield clinched the first two, only for Baird to respond in kind.
Trailing by 26 in the fourth, Baird produced some brilliant shots to take yellow to pink, and eventually sank a long range black.
The deciding frame followed a similar vein, but it was Highfield who nipped in with the colours clearance to secure victory.
The rankings remain unchanged, with Baird number one and Highfield second, ahead of Kyren Wilson, who lost to Stoke's Highfield in the semi finals.
Many of the juniors now turn their attention to the 2009-10 PIOS series which gets underway at 9.30am on Monday morning.
Highfield finished 33rd on last season's PIOS and will be looking for the sort of form that took him to a PIOS final in 2007-8.
Another up and coming junior player, Mitchell Mann, from Birmingham cast his eye over the 142 strong entry list and declared "That's a hard field, I think it's even harder than last season."
So the juniors are under no delusion that the PIOS is an easy ride towards professional status.
The International field has assembled in Pontin's and a variety of languages are floating across the players lounge, as Polish, German, Portuguese and Flemish compete with the English voices!
Businessland Event Five Final Frame Scores: Highfield 3-2 Baird 78-57, 68-49, 47-61, 47-54, 63-49
