Murphy savours his long road to glory (original) (raw)

SHAUN MURPHY, groomed to triumph at the Embassy World Championship since he exhibited an eerily natural aptitude for the sport at the age of 8, fulfilled his destiny in extraordinarily mature fashion last night. He beat Matthew Stevens 18-16 to capture a title every player dreams of.

Murphy, 22, the first qualifier to prevail at the Crucible since Terry Griffiths in 1979, joined Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon men’s singles champion, Ben Curtis, the 2003 Open golf champion at Royal St George’s and Greece, winners of Euro 2004, in creating one of the most unlikely sporting upsets of recent years.

This, though, was no fluke. He crossed the winning line in consummate style with an 83 break and, should he maintain a similarly exalted level of form, more success in Sheffield is guaranteed. Impervious to tension, he is a relative newcomer to the big league, yet possesses the poise of a veteran.

“I’ve got no idea how I kept so calm,” Murphy said. “All the balls I potted at the end I’ve been knocking in, in my mind at least, since I was 12. I must admit, I’ve always thought I’d do this one day. From the moment I walked into the Crucible for the first time, I knew I’d eventually be in this position.”

No player has negotiated more matches en route to the championship than Murphy. His route to glory began at a Pontin’s holiday camp in Prestatyn, North Wales, in March. He survived two qualifying rounds there and five more in Sheffield. “When we were driving down to Pontin’s, we passed the Crucible and for some reason I had a positive feeling,” Murphy added.

He has won a professional tournament before, the 2000 Benson and Hedges Championship, at a snooker club in Malvern. For that he received £5,000 and an invitation to the Masters at Wembley four months later. His latest reward is £250,000 — more than 16 times his previous largest payday — and instant fame.

No outsider offered at odds of 150-1 has lasted the course since Joe Johnson in 1986 but Murphy’s self-assurance is such that history’s lessons are not a handicap. He is entirely convinced of his ability; Stevens, in relinquishing control, gave the opposite impression.

In ten years, only one player has led after the first day of the final and lost — Stevens, beaten 18-16 by Mark Williams in the denouement of the 2000 championship after leading 10-6 and 13-7. It is inconceivable that thoughts of that collapse did not bedevil him.

Those demons surely returned to haunt Stevens when he lost three of the day’s first four frames to lead only 11-9. As though weighed down by his past, the player who has replaced Jimmy White as the Crucible’s most obvious nearly man laboured as the most testing, perhaps defining, day of his career, began.

Murphy, with no such emotional baggage, made 51 to trail only 10-7 and the comeback was under way. Murphy potted seven reds with blacks to open the eighteenth but, in pursuit of the first 147 break in a world final, over-cut a risky red to a middle pocket. Stevens had a golden opportunity to strike a psychological blow but ran out of position almost immediately.

Maybe in desperation, he took on an ill-advised plant, grossly misjudged it and from a drilled long red Murphy, who eliminated three former champions, John Higgins, Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon in the previous rounds, reduced his arrears to 10-8. By the end of the afternoon he trailed only 12-11.

The pattern was maintained at night as Murphy, aided by breaks of 107 — his eleventh century of the event — 55, 64 twice and 68, took more impressive strides to becoming the 20th player with his name engraved on a trophy first presented to Joe Davis in 1927.

Having fallen 16-14 adrift, Stevens found a second wind. Contributions of 124 and 52 tied the scores yet again, at 16-16, but Murphy, unperturbed, was not to be denied and sailed through the closing two frames exuding the highest quality with runs of 97 and 83.

FINAL DETAILS

Best-of-35 frames

S Murphy (Eng) bt M Stevens (Wales) 18-16

Frame scores; Murphy first: 67-30, 0-98, 20-103, 68-55, 29-65, 22-65, 76-34, 46-56, 53-58, 38-70, 125-0 (125 break), 79-6, 24-105, 5-86, 103-9, 56-68, 78-22, 84-11, 5-64, 80-60, 137-0 (137), 64-57, 20-88, 131-0, (107) 72-35, 0-95, 81-4, 68-37, 1-83, 85-35, 0-124 (124), 1-71, 97-0, 83-28.