Ronnie O'Sullivan put a huge stamp on the new snooker season by claiming the first title at a canter.
It was a case of Rocket by name, rocket by nature as he made eight centuries across his seven PTC1 matches including two in his storming 52-minute win against Joe Perry in the final.
He also beat Joe Jogia, Stuart Bingham, Martin Gould, Bjorn Haneveer, Andy Hicks and Mike Hallett en route to victory, leaving the rest of the field in his wake.
After an indifferent last campaign which saw him drop down to as low as 11th in the world rankings, there were huge question marks hanging over what the new season would bring.
But his legion of fans can go away from this first event in Sheffield knowing he's very much in the groove.
Ronnie took a huge step towards rejuvenating his passion for the sport just ahead of the World Championship, in my opinion, when he recruited the help Dr. Steve Peters. This had an almost instant impact as he showed a much better level of application for the Crucible, where he made the quarter-finals.
He's carried on that progress to lift the first piece of silverware of the season, as well as bag £10,000 prize money and vital ranking points in his bid to retain top 16 status.
This win just shows that when Ronnie is left to his devices to play snooker, he has still got the game. But the test will now come to see whether he can maintain this level of focus and play.
O'Sullivan starts new season with a bang
posted on 26/6/11
You can only beat who's in front of you. You still need great consistency to win 7 matches in a row & win a PTC event. The fact that Ronnie beat Murphy in the World Champ'shp & pushed Higgins all the way shows he can still compete with the best. It's a great start to the season for him. Hope it continues.
posted on 6/7/11
Ronnie could of easily won the match with Higgins in the world he had enough chances had higgins on the ropes but Ronnie doe's struggle getting over the line sometimes.
posted on 8/7/11
Ronnie is not useless but lets not get carried away with this result.
posted on 16/7/11
He's useless at getting to Australia
posted on 16/7/11
It's all part of the "demise" thing Ailments, sickness, excuses. The man isn't willing to do the work, and his natural talent that his lovers talk about has gone, and snooker moves on without him, like he has done for many many decades Good riddance to the horrible thing that is Ronnie Osullivan
posted on 17/7/11
A personallity within the game, something the game has lost of late so snooker will be the loser if he hangs up his cue cuz he cant be bothered.
Snooker is the sport demising
posted on 17/7/11
So you think that losing a player who has done nothing for one and a half years, and will continue to do nothing is bad for the game of snooker? I have played and watched snooker for over 40 years, and guys like Trump and several others will take the game on. Osullivan was a good player, in the top 10 thats ever played but he is finished, and it happens to everybody in the end.
Do you really only like him, and not one other player in the game?
posted on 18/7/11
Australian Open latest: And just watching Mark Davis knocking out Judd Trump which goes down as a bit of a shock these days. Hendry is tied at 2:2 with that wonderful little fella Gould, and it's safe to say one thing. Snooker is far bigger than any individual, and is as good as it ever as been. If you can't see that then maybe you should go and watch a circus: You get plenty of Ronnie Osullivans in those places lol
posted on 9/9/11
Now he is being taken to the cleaners by Anthony Hamilton. Find a new hero, this one is finished.
posted on 4/5/12
What do I know about this?