Glee for Hawick snooker ace Lee McAllister as baize of glory secures eighth Borders championship crown

Champion Lee McAllister, left, with beaten finalist David Clark (Pic by Bill McBurnie)

“I’m obviously very proud to win it,” said McAllister, now dad to Jamie, Lee, Cian and Lana after moving east from Dumfries in 2008 with wife Net.

“There were a lot of good players in the event and you’ve got to play really well to win it so I was delighted.

“I was very wary of David Clark. He’s a very good player.

"I lost a close first frame and I just knew I had to be a little bit more clinical in the frames that followed and I just sort of knuckled do wn a bit and got it done in the end.”

McAllister, 44, a former Scotland over-40 national snooker championship winner, plays in six Scottish masters events a year and was ranked Scotland’s number one over-40 amateur player in 2017.

Back in 2015, McAllister achieved the holy grail of snooker when he made a maximum 147 break.

“It was at Hawick Burns Club and obviously it was a great buzz,” he said.

“The table was running really well that day.

“I split the pack and they opened really well. I don’t usually go for maximums generally because it becomes so nerve-racking, but the balls were split so well this day that I thought that I would give it a go.

“As soon as it came down to the colours, I was shaking like a leaf, and on that last black I hit it as quick as I could to get it in the pocket.

“It was pretty easy. It was a black off the spot, but you just feel that you can twitch it and miss anything at that stage.”

McAllister rates seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry as his hero.

"I’ve played him a couple of times,” he said.

“I have followed his career throughout the years.

“He is a Scottish player and I just loved the way he played.

“I think he developed the game, brought new shots into it and was really exciting.

"He was just an animal on the table, just a pure winner.”

Championship results:

Quarter-finals – Patrick Crolla 3-0 Steven Bell, David Clark 3-0 Fraser Kelly, Aaron Hogg 3-2 Rob Duff, Lee McAllister 3-0 Darren Williams.

Semi-finals – Clark 3-2 Crolla, McAllister 3-0 Hogg.

Final – McAllister 4-1 Clark.