MARTIN GOULD, winner of the 2013 Championship League, won group 6 of this season’s event with a 3-1 defeat of John Higgins at Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex on Thursday night.
Gould lost his first round robin match on Wednesday but won his remaining five to top the seven man group. A 3-1 semi-final defeat of Ryan Day sent him through to the final.
Higgins won the first frame with a run of 86 but Gould bounced back with breaks of 56, 110 and 66 to join Ricky Walden, Joe Perry, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy in the winners’ group. There will be one more place available from group 7 on March 3-4.
“I definitely enjoy playing here,” Gould said. “I haven’t been having the best of seasons. It has been a mixed bag, but I felt something in Poland [at the Gdynia Open].
“I had been working on things with my coach and thought something was about to click and I felt that over the weekend. I felt really good and I was just targeting a frame at a time this week, and then see what happens, so I am really pleased to win the first group I entered.”
Higgins, Day, Mark Williams and fifth-placed Michael Holt are eligible to play in group 7 where they are due to be joined by Peter Ebdon, Mark King and Andrew Higginson.
Photographs by Monique Limbos.