Snooker: Hill helps Lee climb to new heights

Stephen Lee thanked the man credited with helping Ronnie O’Sullivan to the world title after landing the LG Cup crown at Preston last night.

Lee, the world number eight, paid tribute to Derek Hill, O’Sullivan’s long-time coach and mentor after defeating Peter Ebdon 9-4 at the Guild Hall.

The victory was worth a career-best £82,500 and ended a two-year spell without Lee picking up a title.

And it came just weeks after he teamed up with Hill, a 6ft 10in gentle giant, who has been providing much-needed motivation.

‘‘Del his been helping me out mentally,’’ Lee said. ‘‘He helps me feel at home and after what he did with Ronnie, I knew he could do something for me.

‘‘This is the first tournament I’ve had him in my corner and the change has worked. I used to have Frank Adamson with me but he’s more a coach and although he’s been good for me, I needed to try something different.’’

Ironically, Adamson is now working with O’Sullivan, who parted company with Hill in the summer after winning six tournaments under his protective wing last season.

As well as some technical advice, Hill organises Lee’s practice time and helps to get his mind in gear for matches.

The Trowbridge professional won his first world ranking title, the Grand Prix, three years ago but, apart from winning a minor invitation event in Hong Kong a year later, has failed to live up to his early promise.

Last season, he slipped from fifth to eighth in the rankings and left Sheffield bitterly disappointed after losing 13-12 to Ebdon in the last 16 of the world championship.

The match ended with Ebdon’s controversial celebrations that involved fist-pumping, shouting and crying. Lee was so affronted that he threatened to pull out of the England World Cup team if Ebdon did not apologise, which so far he has not done.

But Lee admitted last month that the incident had fired him up for the new season and given him an added incentive to do well.

This new attitude, coupled with his involvement with Hill, appears to have done the trick.

He held off Graeme Dott, runner-up in the British Open earlier this month, 5-4 in the last 16 before defeating John Higgins, winner of the season’s first three titles, 5-2 in the quarter-finals.

That was followed by a 6-4 semi-final defeat of Stephen Hendry and his impressive victory against Ebdon, a renowned battler, in the final.

There were no signs of Lee crumbling from 8-4 up in the same way he did when leading Hendry by the same score in the 1999 Irish Masters.

On that occasion, Hendry stormed back to win five frames in succession and edge him 9-8.

But Lee avoided another embarrassing reverse by sticking to his new game plan of playing more percentage snooker.

‘‘My safety play was good all week,’’ he said. ‘‘I beat John and Stephen playing good match snooker and I tried the same against Peter.

‘‘He is a tough player and never beaten until the last frame is won but I fancied it at 8-4. I didn’t think I would lose from there again.’’

Lee now has a month to celebrate his victory until the next ranking event, the European Open, which gets underway in Malta at the end of November.