Murphy sees off Selby in Group Two final - 12/01/2012

Shaun Murphy won the second group of 2012 Championship League Snooker to edge closer to a return to Premier League Snooker.

Murphy made breaks of 120 and 82 as he defeated Mark Selby 3-0 in the final of Group Two at the Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, Essex.

This victory means Murphy joins Judd Trump in the Winners' Group at the end of March where the overall champion will claim their place in Matchroom Sport’s prestigious Premier League event in the autumn.

Shaun Murphy

“I’m chuffed, really pleased and this tournament is a great event in its own right,” said Murphy, who won the Premier League title in 2009.

“I’ve had four days of very competitive match practice and really feel sharp for the Masters next week. It’s also nice to take the pressure off and know I’ve given myself a good chance of getting into the Premier League.

“It’s not right that people just think of this as a warm-up to the Masters as it’s a great event and all the players have been here have had a great opportunity to sharpen up.

“It’s very tough playing four long days in a row but it’s a side of snooker you see more of with the PTC events and people are now playing multiple matches on one day.

“When this tournament started (in 2008) to play three or four times in one day was unheard of but all the players enjoy it now.”

Selby had earlier finished top after the round-robin league phase with six wins in six matches, while Murphy froze out Mark Davis in the semi-finals as breaks of 95, 136 and 57 gave Murphy a victory in a match where Davis failed to score a point.

There is a £500 prize for the highest break in each group and Australian Neil Robertson claimed that with an effort of 143.

Matthew Stevens made his second great escape this week as, just like in Group One, he lost his opening four matches but won his last two to scrape into the next group.

Stevens’ countryman Mark Williams finished in the bottom two as did Stuart Bingham and the pair are eliminated from the event.

Selby, Robertson, Davis and Stevens now move into Group Three with Jamie Cope , Martin Gould and Stephen Hendry joining the action when the competition returns on Monday, January 23.

The Championship League Snooker event is a venture between Matchroom Sport and Perform where 25 of the game's finest players compete with all matches broadcast on a host of betting websites.

Each group features seven players with each man playing the other six once in a round-robin basis. Every match is the best of five and the winner gaining a point. At the end of the league phase the top four advances to that group's semi-finals where the two winners meet in the final.

Players are awarded £100 per frame in the round robin stages, and this increases to £300 per frame for the play-offs. In addition, £3,000 goes to the play-off winner, £2,000 to the runner up and £1,000 each to the two semi-finalists.