Rory McLeod

38-year-old Rory McLeod has won a coveted Wildcard place at the 2010 Masters Snooker tournament. The world no. 39 will be the first black player to play in the prestigious invitational event in January at Wembley Arena.

McLeod, in winning the qualifier at Pontin’s Prestatyn not only lifted his first professional title in 18 years as a professional but also had to battle through five matches to win the event.

His opponent Andrew Higginson looked out of sorts in the final and only managed a high break of 29, McLeod confidently won the match 6-1 to set up a match at Wembley against either Mark King or Mark Williams.

According to World Snooker McLeod said, “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve won loads of pro-am events but this one is more prestigious and it’s great to be able to take home a trophy.”

Rory also played in the 2009 World Championships but failed to get beyond the first round at the Crucible, he will be hoping that this time he can put on more of a show for the BBC TV audience and the crowd at Wembley.

McLeod will join the top 16 players in the world plus another Wildcard yet to be announced by World Snooker.

Snooker action continues this week with the Premier League on Thusrday night.

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