Cue Change Pays Off: Mark Williams Wins Champion of Champions After Criticism

Mark Williams believes he has proved the critics who questioned his decision to change cue wrong after winning the Champion of Champions.

The Welsh Potting Machine was lambasted by seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, as well as other pundits, for using his Zhang Yu cue after signing a sponsorship deal in China earlier this season.

Granted, the timing seemed strange as it came immediately after he was one ball away from beating Judd Trump to the £500,000 winner’s prize at the mega-money Saudi Arabia Masters.

He was hammered 4-1 by Rory Thor at the British Open and then suffered the same scoreline to Ben Woollaston at the English Open in his first two matches after the swap.

But the evergreen 49-year-old silenced the doubters as he beat Xiao Guodong 10-6 to land the prestigious Champion of Champions title for the first time in Bolton on Sunday night.

Williams told SportsBoom.com: “I swapped my cue after Saudi. I didn’t have to use it, I just picked it up and I liked it.”

“I thought I wasn’t really in the club much practicing but if I start using a new cue I’ll get in the club a little bit which I did.”

“I knew I’d lose a lot of games 4-0, 4-1 when I first started using it. I played Thor and lost 4-0 or 4-1. I played Ben Woollaston and lost 4-1, but I knew I would.”

“It didn’t make any difference to me because I’m in all the tournaments anyway after getting to the final in Saudi.”

“I wanted to try something different, and it takes a while to get used to a new cue, of course it does.”