It’s official, Phil Harrison owns the final tour of the season, every season! The Cambridgeshire cueist has made the final of every tour 5 event since he joined the tour in 2014 and has now won the last 4 of the those after beating Adam Davis in a thrilling deciding frame match!
All the way back in 2014, Harrison met Tom Cousins in the final. After having already won two events that season Harrison was to be denied a third as Cousins took the match 8-5. Fast forward to 2015 and Harrison got his revenge as the pair met again in the final with Harrison this time taking it by the same score line. On to 2016 and Harrison this time met Craig Waddingham in the final and again won 8-5. In 2017, Harrison was faced with Rob Wharne, who was having a great season culminating in his first tour final, sadly for Wharne it seems like fate for Harrison to take this title and he did so with a convincing 8-2 win.
This time it was to be Adam Davis’ turn to try to prise the title from Harrison’s firm grip! Davis had overcome two tough deciding frame matches against former World Master’s Champion Jack Pople and England Captain and Tour 1 winner, Lee Kendall, before meeting Tom Cousins in the semi-final. After two close encounters, Davis made short work of one of the very best around, defeating Cousins 8-2, he was clearly on top form and a great final seemed a certainty.
Harrison made his route to the final seem relatively straightforward, even though it was far from it, defeating ex-England player Chris Day 8-5 in the semi-final, tours 3 and 4 champion Karl Sutton 7-1 in the quarter final and good friend and regular supporter, Rich Wharton, 7-4 in the last 16. All eyes were on Sutton at this tour as he had the opportunity to match Tom Cousins’ amazing feat of 3 back-to-back titles in 2017. After getting off to a great start with some convincing wins and looking like he could be unstoppable he had the misfortune of running into Harrison at ‘his’ tour and he showed his ruthless streak on the table with a resounding win.
The final was a tense affair. Harrison got off to a great start, taking a 4-1 lead, but at this level that can soon turn around and it did so here as Davis took 6 out of the next 8 frames to lead 7-6. Davis was presented with a chance to win the match off his final break but was unable to convert it and let Harrison back in. Harrison managed to pull out a nice snooker when he looked to be in trouble and this was enough to win him the frame to take it to a decider. You’d never back against Phil in a decider, especially when it’s his break, and that proved true here as he crunched the pack to leave a relatively straightforward finish for the match. His experience in these situations helped him to comfortably convert the opportunity and add a fourth tour 5 title in a row!