Jack Lisowski's epic Northern Ireland Open win defined by one stat in unpredictable snooker era even Ronnie O'Sullivan or Judd Trump can't dominate
Updated 29/10/2025 at 17:32 GMT
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Jack Lisowski's first major glory - the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast, via an epic 9-8 victory over Judd Trump on Sunday - was a triumph for potting perseverance, after suffering six defeats in ranking finals between 2018 and 2021. It also extends a theme in the professional game in producing an assortment of different winners from an era that is nothing if not unpredictable.
'Let the celebrations begin' - Lisowski seals victory for first career title
Video credit: TNT Sports
Amid the outpouring of public adulation that has rightly greeted Jack Lisowski's maiden victory as a major ranking event winner in Belfast, it is easy to be hijacked by hyperbole when predicting future riches for the smooth-potting Cheltenham performer.
A 9-8 win over world No. 1 and close friend Judd Trump at the Northern Ireland Open provided terrifically frantic and frazzled old-school Sunday evening entertainment on the old green baize.
Not least because of a twitchy error-strewn finale to the contest in a riotous decider that had to be seen to be believed - or "Shredsville" as Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White likes to call it - and finally won on misses by Lisowski after both men appeared to take leave of their senses at the city's Waterfront Hall.
How White must have wished Stephen Hendry was as generous as Trump after he blew that title-wrecking black in the final frame of the World Championship in 1994.
Yet the exacting still-ball nature of striking a white ball properly has a habit of applying serious heat to temperament and technique in a sporting torture chamber.
When a match comes to the boil, there is nowhere to run or hide in snooker, with Lisowski finally finding the mental winning formula to go with his majestic potting game.
It was also fitting that this likeable, modern man of the people lifted the Alex Higgins Trophy in the home of Higgins, the 'People's Champion' from the sport's halcyon days.
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'Let's hope it is the start of something' - Lisowski lifts Alex Higgins Trophy
Video credit: TNT Sports
After six previous defeats in ranking finals between 2018 and 2021, three of them to Trump, it was perhaps the helping hand of destiny, or at least the faltering cue arm of his opponent, that enabled Lisowski to make good on his childhood dreams.
In coping with personal grief, having tragically lost his father before he was due to face Trump at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in March, one immediately thought of the American world middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano's autobiography, Somebody Up There Likes Me.
In the final scene of his award-winning turn as Graziano, Paul Newman looks to the skies in New York and says: "You know I've been lucky, somebody up there likes me."
"I've got my dad's socks on today," said Lisowski on TNT Sports.
"He didn't live to see me win a ranking title, but this is for him if he's watching down and it's also for my mum for everything she has done for me."
Perhaps somebody up there likes Jack too.
With such a popular victory, one that has been 15 years in the making since he turned professional in 2010, Lisowski is no longer the sport's greatest nearly man.
His immediate assignment will be quickly replicating the winning formula when he travels to Nanjing for the International Championship, and a second-round match with Louis Heathcote next Monday live on TNT Sports and discovery+, but it would be wrong to suddenly expect a landslide of Lisowski trophy lifts.
That is not how the modern era of professional snooker works.
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'It is so surreal' - Lisowski reacts to title win
Video credit: TNT Sports
One stat that stands out from this glorious, progressive victory for attacking natural talent and self-belief, is the unpredictable array of champions adorning the sport.
Since John Higgins lifted the Tour Championship in March, there has not been a repeat winner in the following nine events.
Indeed, Trump, the most consistent champion of the modern era with 30 carried off between 2011 and 2024, last won a title at the UK Championship in December.
To put this into perspective, world champion Zhao Xintong has not gone beyond the last 16 of a ranking event since conquering the Crucible with an 18-12 win over Mark Williams in May.
Mark Selby remains the ninth and latest multiple world champion when he defeated Ding Junhui 18-14 in the 2016 final in Sheffield, but that will be a decade ago next year.
Williams went on record to suggest it would be a huge achievement for Zhao to become the 10th member of that exclusive club rather than aiming for seven-time winners Ronnie O'Sullivan and Hendry.
"No. I don’t think anyone will ever challenge them records because the standard is too good. To get that many Worlds and Masters and UKs, it’s too tough," Williams told reporters.
"Who knows? But it will be highly unlikely."
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Trump and Lisowski feature in Northern Ireland Open Shots of the Tournament
Video credit: TNT Sports
The days when Steve Davis and Hendry seemed to hoover up every trinket in the game feel like a bygone era that would be impossible to replicate today.
There are too many tournaments, too much talent circling the summit.
At the age of 34, will this be the only time Lisowski hits the Jackpot in his career? Unlikely, but such a belief also comes with a caveat when you study the sample size of the competition and regularity of competitive play.
As if to illustrate the point, before his trip to Belfast, 'Jackpot' had not gone beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament since since being filleted 6-1 by Chris Wakelin in the last four at the same Waterfront venue two years ago.
Nothing suggested he would suddenly be left as the last man standing before a raucous 1,500 crowd.
"I'm so pleased for Jack," said Trump. "I'm a lot happier than I would had I won, but I gave it my all and Jack fully deserved the win.
"The first title is so special, what he's been through, his whole life really. I'm glad to be a friend. And hopefully, we see him in many more finals."
Lisowski's natural ability was compared to Zhao and O'Sullivan by White after his win in Belfast, but as the Tooting man knows, with six defeats in world finals between 1984 and 1994, all the praise and platitudes in the world mean little in the bigger picture.
On time and testament alone, Lisowski will probably have to get back in line with the depth of quality in the sport enabling a case to be made for any of the world's top 64, and perhaps delving even further into the undergrowth, to challenge on any given Sunday.
At least the burden of expectation has been lanced by Lisowski, but patience is a virtue, and in snooker, it is not only confined to shot selection these days.
- How Lisowski has emulated O'Sullivan's golden touch in hunt for first major title
- O'Sullivan handed brutal draw in quest to hit golden ÂŁ1m jackpot in Riyadh
- Northern Ireland Open: Latest scores, results, order of play, prize money as Lisowski wins title
Snooker's last 10 major tournament winners
- Tour Championship: John Higgins (Sco) 10‍–‍8 Mark Selby (Eng) - April 2025
- World Championship: Zhao Xintong (Chn) 18‍–‍12 Mark Williams (Wal) - May 2025
- Championship League: Stephen Maguire (Sco) 3–1 Joe O'Connor (Eng) - July 2025
- Shanghai Masters: Kyren Wilson (Eng) 11–9 Ali Carter (Eng) - August 2025
- Saudi Arabia Masters: Neil Robertson (Aus) 10–9 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) - August 2025
- Wuhan Open: Xiao Guodong (Chn) 10–9 Gary Wilson (Eng) - August 2025
- English Open: Mark Allen (NI) 9–8 Zhou Yuelong (Chn) - September 2025
- British Open: Shaun Murphy (Eng) 10–7 Anthony McGill (Sco) - September 2025
- Xi'an Grand Prix: Mark Williams (Wal) 10–3 Shaun Murphy (Eng) - October 2025
- Northern Ireland Open: Jack Lisowski (Eng) 9–8 Judd Trump (Eng) - October 2025
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