Northern Ireland Open
World No 65 and fighting for his tour future, Jordan Brown returns to the Waterfront Hall where last season's revival began - with a new cue, a rebuilt appetite and possibly Mark Allen waiting
When the Northern Ireland Open begins at the Waterfront Hall on Sunday 18 October, no homecoming will carry more weight than Jordan Brown's. The 38-year-old from Antrim arrives ranked 65th in the world, one place below the line that keeps a professional's card, and at the end of the hardest year of his life after losing his mother in August. Yet Belfast is where his last revival started: last season he beat Zhao Xintong and Shaun Murphy to reach the quarter-finals of his home event. And if the draw has its way, an Antrim derby with Mark Allen could be waiting in his opening match on Tuesday 20 October.
The Northern Ireland Open returns to the Waterfront Hall on Sunday 18 October, and for Jordan Brown it is the one week of the season when the tour comes to him. The Antrim man lives barely half an hour from the venue, and last season the crowd carried him through the best stretch of his recent career: wins over Zhao Xintong and Shaun Murphy carried him to the quarter-finals of his home event, where Mark Allen ended the run in a Belfast derby that delighted the locals.
'It's always a very exciting time of the year, it's a special place to play and I have great memories from last year,' Brown told Metro's Phil Haigh. 'We always get fantastic support so I can't wait to play there again. The match against Shaun, in particular, the atmosphere was electric.'
That quarter-final remains his last appearance in the last eight of a ranking event, which is exactly why Belfast means so much to him now. His form trail in MyiCue's live data tells the story of a season split in two - and a player who believes another run is in him somewhere.
Brown's season carries a weight that no ranking list can show. His mother passed away at the start of August, aged 82, after three years in a care home with dementia.
'I lost my mother at the start of August. She was 82 and suffered with dementia. It got really bad and she's been in a care home for the last three years,' Brown said. 'She's at peace now.'
The grief showed on the table. Brown went three matches in August without winning a frame and lost his appetite for practice altogether. 'In August I didn't win a frame for three matches and I lost motivation to practice at that stage. But you've got to get back on the horse and get practising,' he said. 'That was a setback, but I've regained love for the game, I'm practising hard and I'm determined for the rest of the season.'
Helping the revival is a fresh piece of equipment: after 14 years with the same cue, worn thin and losing its power, he took delivery of a new build from former professional turned master cue-maker Sunny Akani. 'It's so hard to find the right one but he's hit the jackpot this time and it's given me a bit of a lift,' Brown said. 'I'm quietly confident already. The only way is up from here.'
The Antrim Ferrari's battle for his tour card, in six numbers.
Jordan Brown's current two-year list position, sitting below the automatic tour-card line.
Only the top 64 at the end of the season keep an automatic place on the tour. Brown's provisional end-of-season mark is 69.
The Antrim Ferrari beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 in the Cardiff final as a 750-1 outsider, then ranked 81st in the world.
Beat Zhao Xintong and Shaun Murphy to reach last season's Northern Ireland Open quarter-finals before losing to Mark Allen.
Swept Julien Leclercq aside in qualifying to book his main-draw place at the Waterfront Hall.
How long he played his old cue before Sunny Akani's new build arrived in the days before Belfast.
Jordan Brown's verified results trail from MyiCue's live form data: a Belfast qualifying win, heavy losses either side, and a season-defining week ahead on home soil.
Form from MyiCue live data, cross-referenced against the World Snooker Tour calendar.
The subplot everyone in Antrim is quietly discussing: if the draw holds, Brown could meet his close friend and practice partner Mark Allen as early as Tuesday 20 October. It would be Allen's first competitive match of the season - he has not played since his World Championship semi-final defeat to Wu Yize in May, and Brown, who has been checking in on him, does not know if he will show up at the Waterfront.
'I honestly don't know if he's going to play or not. If he does play it will be great for the local crowd,' Brown said. 'It's a win-win for me, if I play him then great and if he doesn't play I get a bye. I could do with as many points as I can get!'
Allen's own form trail makes the reunion no gimme for either man. MyiCue's live data shows five straight defeats for the former UK and Masters champion this season, including qualifying-round losses to Ben Mertens and Sam Craigie - the backdrop we examined in yesterday's Mark Allen puzzle. For Brown, though, the maths are brutally simple: every round won in Belfast is a step back toward the top 64, and every step counts.
MyiCue
Previous meetings from snooker.org
Source: snooker.org | Completed matches only
Last season the Waterfront Hall crowd willed Brown past two world-class opponents and into the last eight. Can the same building lift a grieving, retooled, newly-cued Antrim Ferrari toward another quarter-final - the result that would transform his tour-survival maths in a single week?
Vote in the poll above and have your say. And if you fancy yourself as a judge of form, runs and rankings, make your own calls on every tournament at MyiCue - free to join, and the Belfast action starts Sunday.