Davis Makes First 147 To Win CLS Group Three

Mark Davis won Group Three of 2017 Championship League Snooker in sensational style by making a 147 in the deciding frame of the final.

The world number 31 from Hastings scored the first maximum break of his career to edge out Neil Robertson 3-2. The 44-year-old, a pro since 1991, is now the oldest player to make an official 147.

It’s the 127th maximum in snooker history and ninth of the season after 147s from Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy, Alfie Burden, John Higgins, Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Ross Muir.

Davis goes through to the Championship League winners’ group in March where he will join David Gilbert, Anthony McGill and the winners of the next four groups.

Robertson made breaks of 103, 73 and 66 in taking a 2-1 lead in the Group three final, but Davis made a vital clearance from yellow to pink in frame four to set up his brilliant finish.

Championship League Snooker event is a venture between Matchroom Sport and Perform where 25 of the game’s elite players compete with all matches broadcast on a host of betting websites.

Each group features seven players with each man playing the other six once in a round-robin basis. Every match is the best of five and the winner gains one point with the loser getting zero.

At the end of the league phase the top four advances to that group’s semi-finals where the two winners meet in the final and the winner advances to the Winners’ Group in March.

The losing finalist, two losing semi-finalists and player finishing fifth move into the next group where they are joined by three new players and the process is repeated.

Group Four starts on Wednesday with Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen joining Group Three survivors Robertson, Mark Williams, Ryan Day and Barry Hawkins.