Billy Castle plays Fergal O’Brien in PTC2

The 19-year-old (pictured) won through two qualifying rounds at the South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester, to earn a date with world number 36 Fergal O’Brien.

Dublin professional O’Brien won 4-0 but Castle insisted the match was a lot closer than the scoreline suggested. One frame went to the final black and another to the pink.

Castle, based at Cue T’s in Marchwood, said: “The experience was amazing, the arena was amazing and I had John Higgins on the table next to me.”

Earlier, he had recorded 4-1 victories over Kishan Hirani (Wales) and Sam Harvey (Bedford).

A finalist in the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Championship in May, Castle lost in the first qualifying round of PTC1 in June.

The PTC is a series of professional tournaments that are open to amateurs.

Elsewhere, Billy’s cousin Shane Castle (Marchwood) defeated Lewis Mayes (Basildon) 4-1 but the 13-year-old went out 4-0 to ex-pro Patrick Wallace (Northern Ireland), who was relegated from the Main Tour in May.

Andy Rogers, Cuestars South of England Champion 2011, chalked up an 81 break in a 4-1 victory over China’s Ricky Hong Chin but lost in the second qualifying round by the same score to the six-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans.

Writing on his Facebook page, Rogers said: “Fair play, Reanne made a lovely 95 break in the fourth (frame).”

Westbury’s Ben Harrison constructed breaks of 65 and 52 in a 4-0 whitewash of James Cahill (Blackpool). The 20-year-old added a 52 in seeing off Scotland’s Marc Davies 4-0 but found world number 50 Dave Harold too hot to handle, losing 4-0 to the seasoned pro.

Picture by Monique Limbos: Billy Castle in action in Gloucester.