Snooker Shoot Out 2024: Tom Ford beats Liam Graham to win maiden title in Leicester - 'I’ve won two games all season'

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Tom Ford became the 2024 Shoot Out champion as he beat Liam Graham 31-28 in the final at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. Ford, himself born in Leicester, was the vocal crowd's second home favourite, after Mark Selby was dumped out by the beaten finalist Graham, who stunned 'The Jester from Leicester' in the semi-finals. Ford himself had scraped through the tricky Wu Yize in the last four.

Ford makes winning break in final minute to beat Graham for Snooker Shoot Out glory

Video credit: TNT Sports

Tom Ford was crowned the champion of the 2024 Shoot Out after he beat Liam Graham in the final at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

Ford came through 31-28 in the decider on Saturday evening, having beaten the tricky Wu Yize in the last four and Huang Jiahao, Kreishh Gurbaxani and Duane Jones earlier in the day.

Graham, meanwhile, had stunned the partisan Leicester crowd by beating their home favourite Mark Selby in the semi-finals, with a spectacular recovery in the second half of the frame, having found himself 20-0 down inside the opening four minutes, as well as the fact that Selby had tallied a whitewash victory over Liam Pullen, and made 90 in the quarter-finals against Florian Nuessle earlier in the day.

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However, it was Ford who seized the crown in dramatic fashion to win his first ranking title, and he needed a superb comeback in order to do it.

After an extremely nervy start to the final from both players, it was the Scot Graham who snared first blood with the first red potted after three minutes, and the nerves continued to jangle with the players tied at 8-8 with four minutes to play.

Graham raced into what looked like a near-unassailable lead with two minutes remaining, leading by 20 points, but a couple of errors cost him dear, with Ford stepping up and using all his experience to pot the balls he needed as the clock ticked down ominously.

Speaking post-match, a tearful Ford dedicated his title to the late Brian Todd, his sponsor, who recently passed away.

'That's tough' - Emotional Ford pays tribute to late Brian Todd following Shoot Out win

Video credit: TNT Sports

"That’s tough, that is," Ford said on Eurosport. "I lost my sponsor and really good friend a few weeks ago. I went to his funeral on Wednesday, and that was really difficult. That’s for you, Brian Todd.

"To win on my home turf with a home crowd. You’ve got to feel for Liam. The tournament that he’s had, and he’s got the crowd going. To be part of the final like that, obviously I’m the home favourite, but to be fair, when Liam walked out, I actually thought he was the favourite. Unlucky for him at the end of the day.

"The money’s going to be absolutely fantastic. I’ve won two games all season. To be honest, standing here and not having Brian come up here is hard, it really is."

Graham, just 20 years of age, looked heartbroken as he offered his hand to Ford.

'Goodness me' - Nuessle flukes red in final minute to secure win over Kowalski

Video credit: TNT Sports

"I just bottled it at the end," the youngster said.

"It’s a great week. The fans got behind me in the end. Well done to Tom, it’s been a long career, a great player and to never win anything.

"He’s got his title now. I’m a bit gutted. Hopefully good things to come."

Ford had survived a late surge from Wu Yize to reach Saturday evening's final, scraping past the Chinese 37-32 in the last four, while Graham had impressively beaten Selby 38-20 beforehand.

'Huge moment' - Graham holds nerve to beat Selby to reach Snooker Shoot Out final

Video credit: TNT Sports

It was not the only upset that Graham had caused, after he had knocked out Ali Carter in the afternoon session, while Ford had built some strong momentum with solid wins over Huang , Gurbaxani, and Jones throughout the day.

At the fourth time of asking, Ford is now a ranking-level champion, with his previous attempt ending in defeat at the hands of Zhang Anda, who beat him in last year's International Championship final.