Scottish Championship Makes Return
The Scottish Professional Championship was last won in 1989 when John Rea defeated Murdo McLeod to take the title.
The event, which was part of the annual calendar along with English, Welsh and Irish equivalents struggled as the professional tournament calendar grew.
Rea himself has re-introduced the tournament to be staged at the Lucky Break Snooker Club in Clydebank, ahead of next week’s World Championship.
In an attempt to give the tournament added appeal, the organisers have allowed any current or past professionals to compete, with the current stars of Scottish snooker seeded through to the final stages.
The tournament which gets underway on Monday will include current world number one, John Higgins, seven times world champion, Stephen Hendry as well as top-16ers Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott.
There were some blasts from the past in the qualifying stages last week as former Shanghai Masters finalist, Billy Snaddon wiped the cobwebs from his cue and returned to competitive action, but narrowly lost to Glasgow’ John Lardner.
Lardner eventually lost to Paul McPhillips, who as a junior was one of the most prmising talents around.
McPhillips’ run was ended by Jamie Burnett, but not before giving Ding Junhui’s Crucible opponent a scare at 5-3.
Burnett will now take on Higgins for a place in the last four.
Elsewhere, Alan McManus beat Mark Boyle (5-1) to set up a repeat of the 1995 Masters final against Hendry.
James McBain upset Marcus Campbell ahead of his Crucible tie with Shaun Murphy and will now play Dott.
And the talented Anthony McGill continued his impressive first season as a pro by beating Richy McDonald booking a place against Maguire.
Matches were all best of 9 frames up to and including the semi-finals, and the final best of 11 frames, and we will bring you all the latest results.
