Twice coming through Q School by just 19 years old is some effort and Liam Pullen is rightfully proud of the achievement, although he hopes never to be back there again.
The teenager first won his place on the World Snooker Tour in 2023, but after a difficult second season in particular, he was back at Q School this month fighting for his professional future.
An impressive run of five wins meant he is straight back on tour, although it is never straightforward in the cauldron of Q School.
Pullen made 73 in the first frame of his final match with Umut Dikme, only to lose it despite the German requiring two snookers. Not the best start to the all-important contest.
‘I went to the toilet, gave myself a proper speaking to,’ Pullen told Metro. ‘I won’t say what I was saying to myself, but it was severe. I knew that this is do or die.’
The teenager would win the next three frames and get over the line with a 4-2 win.
‘I’m really proud of myself and happy with how I’ve come through,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot on the line, it feels like the be all or end all. Otherwise it’s one more year to try and get back on again.
‘I think Q School is a completely different thing to playing in the World Championship or anything.
‘In the semi-finals, I was 3-0 up against Alfie [Davies]. I thought, “Oh right, this is good, I’m confident.” Then I just hit a brick wall and it was awful. It was just so hard.
‘Hopefully, I don’t have to go back there for, well…forever. Now I’ve got to kick on and improve as a player and learn.’
After an encouraging first season on tour, the second was a bit of a disaster, winning just £7,500 in prize money and feeling confidence drain away.
‘It was much harder the second year,’ he said. ‘Just a lot of knocks and I sort of got into a rhythm of losing. It was horrible, to be honest.
‘Maybe I lost a tiny bit of enjoyment because of constant losing. It felt like…it was just really hard.
‘But you’ve got to come out of it the other side. There’s no point sulking, because that’s going to get you nowhere, sadly. I wish sulking did get you somewhere because snooker players, in that department we’re right up there. I think that’s just the nature of the game, how hard it is.’
Far from deterred by his tough couple of seasons on tour, Pullen has banked the experience and feels ready to go again as an improved player.
‘I think I’ve learned a lot from those two years,’ he said. ‘Now I know what to do, know what the craic when I’m turning up at all these different places. I look forward to the challenge ahead and I’ll try my best and I’ll be ready for it.’
The Yorkshireman has fixed the problem of losing a ‘tiny bit of enjoyment’ as his passion for the game is what drives his tireless practice at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds and ambition for decades more to come on tour.
‘I’ve really enjoyed just doing what I want to do for the rest of my life,’ he said. ‘That’s what I want to do, play snooker for the rest of my life.
‘I think those last two years are a stepping stone and I’ve really learned a lot. I’ve got to use it to my advantage and try and correct things I did wrong.
‘In snooker you have to sink or swim. Only the strongest survive, so you’ve got to become one of them.’