On Monday 2nd May I was at the Crucible for the final day of the 17 day marathon to watch the third session of the final.

It was another beautful day and we arrived a couple of hours before the session began to see who was about and take in the atmosphere for the final time.

We went and had a look at a man who was drawing caricature’s of various snooker people. including Rob Walker, Judd Trump, Steve Davis and John Parrott. You can see some of them in the photos below.

As we walked down past the hotel my Dad spotted actor Tim Healy, who is most famous for role in the comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. I had a photo with him and he was friendly before we headed into the Crucible Theatre ready to take our seats inside the arena for the final time this year.

Judd Trump held a 10-7 lead overnight, and the players shared the four frames before the interval. Higgins made breaks of 59 and 97 and Trump made 104 and 99 in a brilliant mini-session leaving the score at 12-9. In the 22nd frame, Trump was left with a tricky do-or-die blue down the cushion which would make the score either 13-9 or 12-10. Trump decided to take on the difficult blue and it hit the jaw leaving Higgins to clear the three remaining colours and pull a frame back at 12-10. This was a clear turning point in the session and Higgins won all of the last 3 frames to lead 13-12 going into the final session, making breaks of 93,113 and 57 in the process.

After leaving the Crucible for the last time this year, we decided to stick around for a while to see which ‘celebrities’ had turned up to watch the final session of the final.There is always a sad atmosphere around the place before the final session as the tournament is almost over and even though the most anticipated match of the year is about to reach a conclusion, it is my least favourite time of the two weeks.

I met and got pictures with newsreader Huw Edwards, final referee Jan Verhaas and Barry Hearn – who just bumped into us and asked my Dad for directions to his hotel! Finally we saw Shane Filan from the band Westlife who was with his friend Ken Doherty and both were very friendly and more than happy to have a photograph with me.
 
We then headed home to watch the final reach a conclusion. John Higgins lifted his fourth World title in probably the best World final I have seen for a long time, beating Judd Trump 18-15.

I have really enjoyed this years tournament, starting with the qualifiers at the EIS back in March I have followed the tournament every step of the way and enjoyed every minute. It was great to meet everyone at the Crucible this year and watch some of the best snooker – my personal highlight being the final frame decider between Mark Allen and Matthew Stevens right back in the first round.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my diary as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and I am already looking forward to the 2012 Championships!