Double delight for Budd-ing star

OBLITERATING your highest break and then going on to win the tournament… Sometimes it just all comes together.

And for Fareham teenager James Budd (pictured) it all came together in the Secretary’s Shield, the under-30 event run by the Gosport & Fareham Snooker League at Stoke Snooker Club.

Budd, currently fourth on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour, made certain of promotion to Gold next season by smacking in a personal best 85 break in the deciding frame of his 2-1 victory over Sam Aitken.

The 17-year-old, whose previous best was 59, added a 27 clearance in beating Karl Eggar 2-0 and a run of 32 in a 2-1 win over defending champion Steve Bennett.

Mark Lloyd and Budd had already finished first and second in the five-man round robin group and so went straight into the final.

Budd, receiving a seven-point handicap start, drew on his inner strength to see off his Stoke SC clubmate 3-1.

At 1-1 and trailing in the third frame, Budd impressed spectators by clawing back the deficit and securing the fourth.

“I had to stay calm. I had to think positive,” Budd told cuestars.co.uk. “I thought I deserved to win.”