Scarborough hits the top

Hamilton’s Matthew Scarborough has become New Zealand’s topranked snooker player, after claiming the biggest title of his career last weekend.

The 40-year-old won the NZ Open - the country’s secondbiggest event behind the national champs - with a 4-2 (best of seven frames) victory over Auckland’s Deepak Bala in Sunday’s final at the Woolston Club in Christchurch.

Scarborough defeated Otago’s Jason Todd 4-2 in the last 16, Canterbury’s Mark Canovan - until this tournament the country’s No 1 - 4-2 in the quarterfinals, then crushed former national No 1 Neil Whalley, of Otago, 4-0 in the semifinals, before finishing off the job.

The title was far more than Scarborough expected, having decided he wanted to play in the Open - an event he had competed in just once before, in Hamilton in 2010, where he finished as runnerup - a while back but not having put much time into his game the last couple of months.

‘‘It was a bit of a surprise actually,’’ he said. ‘‘Normally it’s one of those games you’ve got to keep on top of if you want to play well.’’

Having gone into the tournament third in the national rankings, Scarborough’s efforts have now seen him shoot to the top for the first time, and with a sizeable advantage, in what has been a successful year for him, where he’s made the final in most of the events he has played.

‘‘To be perfectly honest, it’s somewhat academic, because there are a lot of good players low down that rankings list who just don’t play in that many tournaments, some of the guys are getting older,’’ Scarborough said of his new lofty perch.

Having started in snooker when growing up in England before moving to New Zealand at age 24 and playing in his first tournament in 2007, Scarborough put more emphasis back on his game last year after a small break, and a runner-up finish at the nationals saw him qualify for his first world champs, in Qatar, where he was eliminated after group play.

Another runner-up finish at the nationals this year meant he was eligible for the world champs again, but after Malta pulled out of hosting them due to a dispute with the world governing body - the International Billairds and Snooker Federation - and Qatar to again do so instead, Scarborough has opted out of playing in what he noted would likely be a ‘‘compromised’’ event with a reduced field, after the world professional body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association rescinded the tour card which was on offer for the winner of the amateur champs.

But since then, the WPBSA have launched a new amateur body - the World Snooker Federation - which will hold an inaugural world champs next year, that Scarborough hopes to play in.

In the meantime, he will look to round out 2017 with the Waikato Open, on the first weekend of December, which, in terms of field size, is often the biggest tournament on the Kiwi calendar.