KEN DOHERTY said he won three snooker World Championships with a cue he bought from a pool club for just £2.
The Dublin-born billiardist has come a long way since his humble beginnings, becoming a World Champion in 1997 and winning six ranking titles.
Ken Doherty won his first championships armed with a cue bought for just £2Rex Features
Doherty’s £2 cue was visibly warpedPA
A fresh-faced Doherty lifts the 1997 World ChampionshipPA
Doherty has now revealed that the cue he began his career was offered to him for just £5 before he cleverly haggled the price down to £2, more than a 50% discount.
But it was worth the effort, as he ended up winning several titles with the cue, which he has now owned for close to 50 years.
Speaking to ITV Snooker, he said he still has the cue and only recently switched to a newer model.
He said: “I won the World Junior Championship, I won the World Amateur Championship, and I won the World Professional Championship with a £2 cue! I think that’s good value.
“I still have the cue. I changed cue just recently, just to try it out, but I’ve had my £2 cue since 1981. I’ve had it since I was about 10 years of age.”
Doherty went on to explain how he came to own the pool after it was left behind in a Dublin pool club known as Jason’s.
He continued: “I picked it up off the pool rack, I played with it, somebody had left it behind and I said to the manager ‘look, if nobody comes back, can I keep this cue?’
“And in his broad Dublin accent, he says ‘well, give us a fiver for it.’
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“I got a fiver off my mother, put two pound in this pocket, three pound in [the other], and went back for the cue.
“I said my mother couldn’t afford the £5, she only had £2, took out the two pound. He looked at the cue, looked at the £2, and says ‘give me the £2’.
“Thankfully nobody came back to collect the cue.”
Doherty has since revealed in an interview with the Irish Times that the cue is warped.
He said: “It’s warped. I must be one of the few professionals playing with a warped cue, but I wouldn’t dream of changing it.
“I have got used to holding it in a certain way, with my eye trained on a piece of grain.”
It clearly did not hinder him too much, though, as he shot up the world rankings in the early years of his career, reaching 11th spot by his third professional season.
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