The Premier League is the pinnacle event of the tour, where the 16 elite players from the previous season have the opportunity to battle it out for the title of Premier League Champion and the winner’s prize of £3000. This season saw some of the very best in the country such as Mick Hill, Phil Harrison, Craig Waddingham and Karl Sutton, to name but a few.
Winning this is never going to be an easy task but when you’re a two times World Champion and past tour winner then you can definitely claim to have the pedigree to take down such an event. Tom Cousins, World Champion in 2013 and 2014, had a relatively quiet time on the tour this year as he notched up a semi-final and quarter-final appearance but he was the man to watch in this year’s Premier League as he started his campaign with 3 straight wins at tour 1 against Ben Flack (8-6), Adam Davis (8-4) and Tom Church (8-3) before following up with two more wins at tour 2 against Steve Martin (8-6) and 2012 World Champion John Roe (8-5) before England Captain Lee Kendal finally halted his run with an 8-3 victory.
The 3rd tour of the season saw Cousins notch up two more wins against Shane Thompson (8-6) and Gavin Lomax (8-4) and a draw against former England player Neil Davey. This put him in good shape for the title and he secured his top spot at the 4th tour with 3 impressive victories over top opposition in the form of past tour winner Steve Petty (8-4), 2015 World Champion Mick Hill (8-5) and 2015 World Masters Champion Craig Waddingham (8-3).
An 8-5 win over Karl Sutton in the final tour of the season all but confirmed his top spot, especially with his closest rival Phil Harrison losing to Craig Waddingham at the same time. Two draws against Lewis Roberts and Phil Harrison sealed the deal and Cousins added another title to his already impressive collection.
The Premier League is set for an interesting change in format for the 2017 season, watch this space for more details...