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Britain's Hottest Junior 9-Ball Pool Player     

Phil "The Locomotive" Burford, the former Under 18 Junior UK Champion, has won The Barnsley Nine Ball Open with a stunning 10-9 victory over the two-time English 8-Ball World Champion Chris Melling.

The youngster from Darlington appeared to tear through the single elimination stages of the event with a very strong performance producing some very one-sided results in his favour, but without doubt the toughest match was the final, going to a tense hill-hill deciding rack.

Report by  Pro9.co.uk

Photos : Damian Overton

Phil Burford and Chris Melling shake hands before the final

Results Table

Sunday 22nd June

Phil started well in the GB9 Pro Cup event this weekend with a 9-4 win over Andy Worthington, followed by a close 9-8 victory against Lee Rigby. He found James Kay in good form however, in the quarter-final, eventually losing 9-7 after a tight match. This time the Pro Cup Trophy went to Yorkshireman Darren Appleton who beat fellow former English Pool player Karl Boyes 11-7 in the final. The challenge Cup final was a battle between Londoners David Walsh and Andy Nicholson. It was Walsh who finally triumphed with a competent 11-5 victory to take the trophy and the title. Imran Majid has done the unthinkable and won the main event for the third time in a row.

Tuesday 3rd June

128 of the UKs finest 9-ball players descended on Croydon this weekend as Britains biggest and best 9-ball pool tour hit London for the second tour event of the season.

Looking like a European list of 9-ball superstars, the Pro Division entries included the reigning World 9-Ball Champion, Daryl Peach; European No.1, Mark Gray; UK No.1, Imran Majid; Scottish No.1, Pat Holtz; Irish No.1, Paddy McGloughlin, snooker hotshot and current French Open champion, Tony Drago, previous World Pool Masters Champion, Raj Hundal, and English pool legends Darren Appleton and Chris Melling. Phil had another impressive run reaching the semi final after a nail-biting 9-8 win over Darren Appleton, a victory that has earned him the number one position in the UK Professional Rankings.

Tuesday 1st April

Phil rises to Scottish Challenge, making the FINAL along with Jayson Shaw.
It was a busy weekend at Styx, Kirkcaldy when the SAPPA Tour held the finals of the 2008 Scottish American 8-Ball Masters and the sixth Tour Event of the 2007/08 season. Sunday saw 62 players turning up to play in SAPPA Tour Event 6. In the end, Jayson Shaw made it two Tour Event wins in a row by beating Darlington's Phil Burford by 10 racks to 5 after an exciting day's 9 Ball. Burford, the best Junior player in the UK at the moment, beat Andy Morris 8-2 in the last 16, Paul McGowan 8-3 in the Quarter Finals and Michael Valentine 9 racks to 7 in the Semis.
Shaw, in the meantime, had just as tough a route to the final beating Stevie Capaldi 8-5, Ian Mackintosh 8-4 and Chris Cowie 9 racks to 1. In the end, Shaw was too strong for Burford, taking the final and the £400 first prize.

S.A.P.P.A  Scottish American pool players Association - Friday 29th February

This weekend saw the first tournament of Britain's new official professional 9-ball pool tour, the Midlands Classic. The Pro Cup, comprising the elite top 32 UK professionals, was held in the stylish Rileys Pool & Snooker Club at Solihull, Birmingham. Amongst the players was reigning World Champion Daryl Peach, along with Euro Tour champions, and several Mosconi Cup players.

Phil played superbly throughout the tournament, overcoming World Semi-Finalist Karl Boyes and reigning World Champion Daryl Peach, eventually losing to Imran Majid in the final. After making it through to the quarter-finals Phil found himself up against world champion, Daryl Peach. Initially Phil racked up an impressive 6-1 lead, but a couple of dry breaks mid-match helped Peach edge back, taking the score to 6-5. Handling the pressure well, Phil calmly ran out the next rack as did Peach, the score now 7-6. Still totally focused, Phil held on to take the last two racks and win decisively, 9 racks to 6.

Phil met world number 3, Karl Boyes, in the semi-finals, who had previously come through the quarters with a 9-6 victory over number 1 Euro Tour player, Mark Gray. It was a close game, both players showing excellent positional play and potting expertise, ending with Phil running out his last rack to win 9-7.   Watch this match on CueSport tv

With putting every effort into reaching the final Phil was ultimately feeling the pressure. Starting strongly by taking a 1-0 lead Phil was happy enough, but given the late hour his tiredness was beginning to show and Phil eventually suffered an 11-4 deficit at the hands of Imran Majid.  Watch this match on CueSport tv  "Imran is a great player" said Phil "he just didn't miss! But for me, beating Daryl was special, he's the player I admire most. Now I feel I don't need to fear anyone!"

Tuesday 5th February

GB9 provides a professionally run American pool tour throughout Great Britain specialising in the 9 ball discipline. On launching the tour in November 2008 a staggering level of interest was received with applications to join the 96 player tour reaching over 140 within a few days of the initial announcement. The tour was therefore extended to 128 players, 32 Pro and 96 Challenge Division, to accommodate the maximum number possible given the format, strict time schedule and size of venues available.

48 players applied to join the Pro Division for which there were only 32 places available. Consequently the GB9 Tour Committee had the task of selecting the best 32 players with the remainder being offered a place on the Challenge Division. Phil is delighted to be one of the players selected for the much sought after 32 Pro Division places.

Tour players include some of the worlds very best, including the current World Champion Daryl Peach and the current European Number 1 Mark Gray amongst a host of other big names in the sport such as Mosconi Cup player Imran Majid, Raj Hundal, Darren Appleton and 2007 World Championship semi-finalist Karl Boyes.

www.gb9balltour.com

- Wednesday 2nd January

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