UKPTC3

The Players Tour Championship threw up another fairy tale story as veteran Rod Lawler stormed to victory in the third UK event. Lawler had dropped off the main tour at the end of last season but managed to qualify for this season via Q-School held in June. And after a great start to the season, he secured his first professional ranking tournament win in over 20 years as a professional with a 4-2 victory over Marco Fu. The Liverpudlian got off to a great start by knocking in a century in the first frame but the scores were all square after four frames. However the 4-1 year old saw out a scrappy fifth and secured the sixth frame to claim victory.

Welshman Dominic Dale would have been pleased to reach the semi-finals of the competition but his tournament was brought to an end by the rampant Lawler who won 4-0. The other semi was also a whitewash with Fu defeating Shaun Murphy.

Fu had beaten the likes of Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams and Ricky Walden on his route to the Quarters where he recorded a 4-2 victory over Ali Carter. Rod Lawler’s Quarter went right down to the wire as he scraped past Stephen Lee after a deciding frame. The other Quarter-Finals saw Murphy defeat Robert Milkins whilst Dale whitewashed Irishman Fergal O’Brien.