Tour 5 Winner - Phil Harrison
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Phil Harrison made it 3 out of 5 tour wins in the 5th and final tour of the season at Telford. The Cambridgeshire cueist cemented his place at the top of the tour rankings with another fine performance showing just why he is considered to be amongst the very best in the game. His record for this season has been 3 wins (tours 2, 4 and 5) and a final at tour 1, an absolutely fantastic achievement that many players could only dream of emulating.
Harrison didn't have it all his own way as he saw an early lead slip away to find himself 6-5 down in the last 64 against Wigan's Glenn Cahir who put in a fantastic effort. Harrison then stepped it up a gear as he made short work of his way to the final. Here he ran into an in-form Craig Waddingham who is a match for anyone when he's on song. Waddingham had already played Harrison earlier in the day in the premier league, running out an 8-4 winner with a confident, attacking performance. He continued this form in his tour matches and, with an arguably tougher section of the draw, took out some top players such as Home Nations champion Joshua Kane and former World Champion Adam Davis, before running into a resplendent Jordan Church who treated the crowd to a fantastic display of top class pool. Waddingham managed to run out an 8-7 winner in a match that took less than an hour. He started the final in much the same way taking an early 3-1 lead before being pegged back to 3-3. They shared the next 4 frames to level at 5-5. Harrison had struggled with the break all match and this was not to change as Waddingham found himself first to the table in each of the next 3 frames but the long day appeared to be taking its toll as he played a few loose positional shots that halted his efforts at the finish and let Harrison back in who duly took control and finished in each, taking the match 8-5 and in turn picking up the £2400 winners cheque and the final title of the season.
It's been a fantastic season and the introduction of the streaming, provided by Beard Productions, has proved to be a great addition, enabling an audience across the world to view the action. With confirmation that the streaming will be present at all tours next year, an increase in prize money being paid out and some fantastic changes in the pipeline it's sure to be a great season in 2017 so don't delay, get your entries in today and give yourself the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the world on the UK Pool Tour!
