Skillett wins the Masters

John Skillett added a new trophy to his list of titles by winning the GRG Masters for the first time. An ever present in all six Masters tournaments and having been runner up once, Skillet dedicated his success to his father, who passed away last September, by beating Seb Priaulx 5-1 in the final.

The tournament features most of last season’s top eight aggregate players from the Premier Division and was held over one day at the Ex-Service Club. A morning start saw Skillett take to the table straight away, with a black ball finish against Roscoe Cloarec cementing his path to the semi-final.

And what a semi it was too, as he faced Adam Shorto, who had come through a black ball respot to beat Adrian Holley. In one of the best matches seen in the Masters, Skillett led three times in the first to four frames, and looked nailed on to win 4-2 following a break of 56. It proved to be not enough though, with Shorto producing a memorable clearance of 44 to take it to a decider, only for Skillett to finally wrap matters up with a mid-30’s break.

In the other half of the draw, Priaulx’s path to the final started with a narrow 3-2 win against in-form Miles Plumley, before easing to a repeat final appearance having not dropped a frame to Darren Hughes.

Both finalists took a while to settle and, after a number of missed pots on each side, Priaulx then made a decisive break of 28 that would hand him the opening frame. Skillett managed to find some energy after his punishing match against Shorto, and he hit back with two close, albeit scrappy, frames before a run of 47 made it 3-1.

Whilst Priaulx had his chances after that, Skillett had enough in the tank to get the better of the player that he tops this season’s aggregates with. The Sledgehammers’ captain rounded off the final with two frames won on the pink to get his hands on the Peter Colley Shield for the first time.