GROWN UP A LITTLE AFTER BAD TIPPLE
JAMES CAHILL has come a long way since a drinkdriving ban early in his fledgling career.
The 23-year-old from Blackpool, the first amateur to reach the Crucible, is the nephew by marriage of seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry.
And Cahill, who fell off the tour two years ago, landed the plum firstround draw of five-time champion and title favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Betfred World Championship.
Cahill, who has won back his pro status for next season, admits he lacked maturity both as a player and a person as a teenager during his first spell in the big time.
And the low point came after driving to a police station in Perth to do a favour for Hendry – and failing a drink-driving test.
That 2015 incident led to a year’s ban and Cahill said: “It clearly wasn’t the best thing in the world to happen to me – but like everything in life you have to learn from it.
“I didn’t know the law was different in Scotland, it is lower than England and the police told me my level would have passed at home.
“But ignorance is no defence and I should’ve known. It was at best naive, I know how important it is not to drink and drive. It affected things, I couldn’t drive for a year and that made it hard to practice.
“But my life feels better and more together now with a lot of good people around me.
“I first got on tour when I was 17 and I am sure I am more mature now both as a player and a person.”
Full 1st round draw: Mark Williams v Martin Gould, Luca Brecel v Gary Wilson, Neil Robertson v Michael Georgiou, Ding Junhui v Anthony McGill, Stephen Maguire v Tian Pengfei, John Higgins v Mark Davis, Shaun Murphy v Luo Honghao, Mark Selby v Zhao Xintong, Ronnie O’Sullivan v James Cahill, David Gilbert v Joe Perry, Stuart Bingham v Graeme Dott, Judd Trump v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Mark Allen v Zhou Yuelong, Barry Hawkins v Li Hang, Kyren Wilson v Scott Donaldson, Jack Lisowski v Ali Carter.