Pic: Tai Chengzhe, Top147.com
Local favourite McGill, from nearby Glasgow, enjoyed a miraculous run to the final of the Betfair European Tour event, but just came up short against the more experienced Ding, who lifted a trophy for the first time since last season's Welsh Open.
China's top player Ding, age 25, has struggled for form in recent months but now looks poised for a tilt at major titles in the New Year, starting with the Betfair Masters in January.
Breaks of 71 and 77 helped put former UK and Masters champion Ding 2-1 up in the final, then rising star McGill, a 21-year-old playing in his first professional final, made a 66 to level at 2-2.
The Scot made a 49 in the next but, crucially, Ding hit back to take it with a 40 clearance. And when McGill missed a tricky yellow in frame six, it proved his last shot as Ding compiled a run of 71 to seal victory.
Ding, who earned the 12,000 Euro top prize plus 2,000 ranking points, said: "I played well this week, I made a lot of big breaks and concentrated in every game. I was a bit lucky tonight, the fifth frame was a big one. I've built a lot of confidence here and if I can keep my form going I can win more titles this season."
Earlier today, McGill was 3-0 down in his quarter-final against Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and came back to win 4-3, then he was 3-1 down to Andrew Higginson in the semis and eventually won a respotted black in the deciding frame.
McGill said: "I could have been out earlier, to get to the final is a personal best. But I missed too many easy pots in the end. It was my first time in a big arena and I'll deal with it better next time."
The Betfair European Tour is part of the Players Tour Championship series. The next event is the Munich Open in Germany from January 4-6.
Results
Thursday December 13
9am
Round 1
1) Ross Higgins 0-4 Christopher Norbury
2) Mark Boyle 4-0 Andy Guest
3) Lance Little 2-4 Jak Jones
4) Jamie Gibson 4-1 Christopher Giffney
5) Scott Whiteley 3-4 Lloyd Condron
6) Michael Collumb 4-0 Stephen Baillie
7) Eden Sharav 4-3 Dylan Craig
8) Darrell Whitworth 4-0 William Thomson
9) Rhys Clark w/o Liam Monk
Not before 10.30am
Round 2
10) Hans Blanckaert v James Cahill w/o
11) George Cunningham 1-4 Lucky Vatnani
12) Joseph Mclaren 4-3 Barry Lee
13) Marc Davis 2-4 Ashley Carty
14) Ben Jones 4-0 George Scott
15) Ian Glover 4-3 Christopher Keogan
17) Andrew Milliard 4-1 Barry Campbell
18) Matthew Day 1-4 Adam Wicheard
19) Oliver Lines 4-1 Oliver Brown
Not before 12.30pm
16) Scott Gillespie 0-4 Chris Norbury
20) Bobby Cruickshanks 2-4 Mark Boyle
21) Darren Bond 4-3 Jak Jones
22) Terry Challenger v Kacper Filipiak w/o
23) Ryan Causton 1-4 Gareth Allen
24) Stuart Carrington 4-1 Jamie Gibson
25) Phil Barnes 4-0 Kishan Hirani
26) Robin Hull v Kyren Wilson w/o
27) Sam Harvey 4-2 James Silverwood
Not before 2pm
28) Jamie Barrett 3-4 Justin Astley
29) Dean Goddard v John Parkin w/o
30) Garry Steele 0-4 Fraser Patrick
31) Lee Page 4-0 Lloyd Condron
32) Thomas McSorley 3-4 Jake Nicholson
33) Hassan Miah 0-4 Sanderson Lam
34) Ross Muir 4-1 Michael Collumb
35) Chris Totten 0-4 Mitchell Mann
36) Aaron Busuttil v Jack Bradford w/o
Not before 3.30pm
37) James Gillespie 4-1 Pat McKinney
38) Sean James Riach 1-4 Eden Sharav
39) Michael Wild 4-2 Darrell Whitworth
40) Callum Lloyd 3-4 Rhys Clark
41) Ricky Norris 1-4 Ben Harrison
42) Mark Vincent 4-1 Joe Steele
43) Reanne Evans 3-4 Jordan Brown
Friday December 14
9.30am
Round 3
45) Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 3-4 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon
46) Paul Davison 2-4 James Cahill
47) Jimmy White 2-4 Liu Chuang
48) Alan McManus 4-1 Lucky Vatnani
49) Robbie Williams 4-1 Joseph McLaren
50) Barry Hawkins 4-1 Ashley Carty
51) Andrew Norman 4-3 Ben Jones
52) Jamie Cope 3-4 Scott Donaldson
53) Tony Drago 2-4 Nigel Bond
54) John J Astley 4-3 Ian Glover
Not before 11am
55) Jamie Burnett 4-3 Chris Norbury
56) Mark Davis 4-0 Andrew Milliard
57) Anthony McGill 4-0 Michael Wasley
58) Robert Milkins 4-2 Zhang Anda
59) Pankaj Advani 4-3 Gerard Greene
60) Mark King 2-4 Adam Wicheard
Not before 11.30am
61) Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Oliver Lines
62) Rory McLeod 4-0 Cao Yupeng
63) Ricky Walden 3-4 Xiao Guodong
64) Andrew Higginson 4-1 Mike Dunn
Not before 12.30pm
65) Tom Ford 4-3 Mark Boyle
66) Graeme Dott 4-2 Daniel Wells
67) Ben Woollaston 4-1 Darren Bond
68) Martin Gould 4-0 Kacper Filipiak
Not before 1pm
69) Kurt Maflin 4-0 Gareth Allen
70) Dechawat Poomjaeng 4-3 Simon Bedford
71) Michael Holt 1-4 Stuart Carrington
72) Jack Lisowski 3-4 Sean O'Sullivan
Not before 2pm
73) Matthew Stevens v Martin O'Donnell w/o
74) Neil Robertson v Phil Barnes w/o
75) Craig Steadman 4-3 Kyren Wilson
Not before 3.30pm
Round 4
108) Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon w/o
109) James Cahill 2-4 Liu Chuang
110) Alan McManus 2-4 Robbie Williams
111) Barry Hawkins 4-1 Andrew Norman
112) Scott Donaldson 3-4 Nigel Bond
113) John Astley 4-1 Jamie Burnett
114) Mark Davis 3-4 Anthony McGill
115) Robert Milkins 4-1 Pankaj Advani
Not before 5pm
116) Adam Wicheard 2-4 Jimmy Robertson
117) Rory McLeod 2-4 Xiao Guodong
118) Andrew Higginson 4-0 Tom Ford
119) Graeme Dott 2-4 Ben Woollaston
120) Martin Gould 2-4 Kurt Maflin
121) Dechewat Poomjaeng 2-4 Stuart Carrington
122) Sean O'Sullivan 3-4 Martin O'Donnell
123) Phil Barnes 0-4 Craig Steadman
Not before 7.30pm
Round 5
140) Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 4-0 Liu Chuang
141) Robbie Williams 0-4 Barry Hawkins
142) Nigel Bond 4-0 John Astley
143) Anthony McGill 4-0 Robert Milkins
144) Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Xiao Guodong
145) Andrew Higginson 4-1 Ben Woollaston
146) Kurt Maflin 4-1 Stuart Carrington
147) Martin O'Donnell 4-3 Craig Steadman
Saturday December 15
9.30am
Round 3
77) David Grace 0-4 David Gilbert
78) Steve Davis 4-1 Sam Harvey
79) Yu DeLu 0-4 Liam Highfield
81) Mark Williams 4-2 Adam Duffy
82) Joe Perry 4-0 Chen Zhe
83) Dominic Dale 4-2 Passakorn Suwannawat
84) Ian Burns 4-0 Justin Astley
85) Alfie Burden 4-0 John Parkin
86) Marcus Campbell 4-3 Fraser Patrick
87) Shaun Murphy 4-1 Lee Page
88) Stuart Bingham 4-1 Jake Nicholson
Not before 11am
80) Ding Junhui 4-0 Michael Leslie
89) Andrew Pagett 1-4 Joel Walker
90) Rod Lawler 2-4 Barry Pinches
91) Liang Wenbo 4-2 Peter Ebdon
92) Mark Joyce 4-3 Aditya Mehta
93) Mark Allen 4-1 Sanderson Lam
Not before 11.30am
94) Allan Taylor 4-1 Ross Muir
95) Fergal O'Brien 4-3 Matthew Selt
96) Michael White 3-4 Mitchell Mann
97) Dave Harold 4-1 Sam Baird
Not before 12.30pm
76) Stephen Maguire 4-1 Peter Lines
98) Gary Wilson 4-1 Li Yan
99) Allister Carter v Jack Bradford w/o
100) Tian Pengfei 4-2 James Wattana
Not before 1pm
105) Ryan Day 4-1 Ben Harrison
102) Joe Swail 4-0 Eden Sharav
103) Ken Doherty 4-3 Michael Wild
104) Anthony Hamilton 4-0 Rhys Clark
Not before 2pm
101) Luca Brecel 4-0 James Gillespie
106) Jamie Jones v Mark Vincent w/o
107) John Higgins 3-4 Jordan Brown
Not before 3.30pm
Round 4
124) Stephen Maguire 4-2 David Gilbert
125) Steve Davis 4-2 Liam Highfield
126) Ding Junhui 4-3 Mark Williams
127) Joe Perry 1-4 Dominic Dale
128) Ian Burns 4-2 Alfie Burden
129) Marcus Campbell 4-3 Shaun Murphy
130) Stuart Bingham 3-4 Joel Walker
131) Barry Pinches 1-4 Liang Wenbo
Not before 5pm
132) Mark Joyce 4-3 Mark Allen
133) Allan Taylor 4-3 Fergal O'Brien
134) Mitchell Mann 3-4 Dave Harold
135) Gary Wilson 4-0 Jack Bradford
136) Tian Pengfei 2-4 Luca Brecel
137) Joe Swail 1-4 Ken Doherty
138) Anthony Hamilton 1-4 Ryan Day
139) Mark Vincent 0-4 Jordan Brown
Not before 7.30pm
Round 5
148) Stephen Maguire 2-4 Steve Davis
149) Ding Junhui 4-1 Dominic Dale
150) Ian Burns 4-2 Marcus Campbell
151) Joel Walker 2-4 Liang Wenbo
152) Mark Joyce 4-3 Allan Taylor
153) Dave Harold 0-4 Gary Wilson
154) Luca Brecel 1-4 Ken Doherty
155) Ryan Day 4-2 Jordan Brown
Sunday December 16
10am
Round 6
156) Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 4-3 Barry Hawkins
157) Nigel Bond 1-4 Anthony McGill
158) Jimmy Robertson 1-4 Andrew Higginson
159) Kurt Maflin 3-4 Martin O'Donnell
160) Steve Davis 1-4 Ding Junhui
161) Ian Burns 4-2 Liang Wenbo
162) Mark Joyce 4-3 Gary Wilson
163) Ken Doherty 4-2 Ryan Day
2.30pm
Quarter Finals
164) Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 3-4 Anthony McGill
165) Andrew Higginson 4-2 Martin O'Donnell
166) Ding Junhui 4-1 Ian Burns
167) Mark Joyce 2-4 Ken Doherty
5.30pm
Semi Finals
168) Anthony McGill 4-3 Andrew Higginson
169) Ding Junhui 4-2 Ken Doherty
8.45pm
Final
170) Anthony McGill 2-4 Ding Junhui
