‘Granite’ Gray dominated snooker locally and 9-ball pool nationally

Gray, who is the resident professional at Bourne Snooker Centre, beat Steve Martin 3-0 in the final at the Court in Bretton.

Gray was in terrific scoring form in his group. He beat Kristian Willetts 4-0 with breaks of 75 and 50 and then saw off Richard Jones 3-1, aided by a best effort of 65.

That preceded the demolishing of Vaughan Lutkin 4-0, making a fabulous 121 break along the way – the highest of the tournament.

He then comfortably overcame the challenge of second seed Martin in the final, whitewashing his opponent with a top break of 60.

That meant he claimed the £325 first prize and defended the title he won last year. It was a lucrative day for Gray, who also took the high break prize of £20 for his century, and the £100 bonus for finishing the year as the number one ranked player.

The tournament featured the top eight players of the season on the Legends Tour, and produced 10 breaks of more than 50 in a high quality day of action.

But it was Gray who lifted the silverware again, as he extended his unbeaten run to 22 matches, and will remain the man to beat in 2022.

Gray also switched his attention to pool and played the third and Final GB9 Ball tour of the year.

The Bourne cueman managed to get to the final through a field of 112 entries, before losing to English legend Darren Appleton from Pontefract 11-5.

The tournament was played at Radisson Park Hotel in Telford.

There were only three GB events over 2021 in a shortened covid ridden season, but the ultra-consistent Gray managed to place third, second and second to to finish number one on the GB9 rankings.

Gray had wins by 9-7, 9-1 and 9-7 to qualify for final 16, and then wins of 9-6, 9-7 and 9-3 ahead of that defeat to Appleton.

In 2022, Gray intends to venture more into English 8 ball pool more and will be playing the Ultimate Pool Series.

That is a tournament that is putting English pool on the map and has just signed a contract to be shown on BT Sport.