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Maximum Man Highfield Wins First English Amateur Tour Title
Liam Highfield defeated Ryan Davies 4-0 in the final of the first event of the new English Amateur Tour season at the Landywood Snooker Club.
In his opening game of the final day, Highfield compiled a stunning 147 to round off a whitewash win against Hayden Staniland – the first maximum break on the English Amateur Tour since Hamim Hussain’s at the same venue in January 2023.
The first event of the new season of England’s flagship amateur tour saw an impressive field of 96 cueists embark on the Staffordshire venue to compete for the title.
Among the line-up was two of last season’s event winners, Billy Castle and Craig Steadman, although both were eliminated on an opening day of the competition which narrowed the field down to the last 16.
Back-to-back whitewash victories over Adam Longley and Lewis Ullah, followed by a 4-2 win against Bradley Cowdroy, saw Highfield book his place in the final day.
The 33-year-old, whose 14-year spell on the professional tour came to an end earlier this year, made an outstanding start to the concluding day of action by firing in breaks of 100, 84, 74 and finally a magical maximum break to defeat Staniland in style.
A 4-2 defeat of Ant Parsons then set up a semi-final meeting with Harvey Chandler. Former European champion Chandler opened the best-of-seven frame contest with a break of 68 and moved one away from the final at 3-1 ahead.
However, Highfield’s unstoppable scoring returned when he needed it most as he hit breaks of 88, 67 and 69 to win three consecutive frames and secure a place in the title match with a 4-3 victory.
Ryan Davies, aged 22, stood between Highfield and the title after he overcame Sean McAllister, James Cahill and William Lemons to reach the third English Amateur Tour final of his career.
There was simply no stopping Highfield though as he began the final with a break of 116, his eighth century of the event, before compiling three further half-centuries to complete a 4-0 victory and win the first English Amateur Tour event of the new season.
