Ward Earns Golden Ticket to Face White at the Crucible
Daniel Ward defeated Andrew Norman 4-0 to win the Golden Ticket qualifier and earn a Crucible Theatre debut against Jimmy White in the World Seniors Snooker Championship next month.
Ward won through four matches at The Crucible Club in Reading to earn the last spot in the 24-player line-up at snooker’s most iconic venue.
Sixteen hopefuls, who qualified via the two-year official and one-year ‘Race to the Crucible’ ranking lists, competed across two days for the opportunity to take on four-time World Seniors Snooker champion White.
The 44-year-old made a strong start to the weekend by whitewashing Matthew Day in the opening round before downing former English Amateur champion Jamie Curtis-Barrett 4-1 to reach the final day.
The weekend’s highest break of 106 helped Ward to a further 4-0 success in the semi-finals as he set up a final round meeting with Andrew Norman.
Former professional Norman was aiming to reach the final stages of the World Seniors Snooker Championship for a third successive year and had beaten Billy Ginn (4-2), Stephen Groves (4-0) and Mark Love (4-1) en route to the final.
Ward, who previously lifted the title in event five of the World Seniors Tour, took a tight opening frame on the black and never looked back – wrapping up the victory with a break of 59 in the fourth.
He will face White during the 12:00 session of Thursday 7 May with the winner set to take on Robert Milkins in the second round.
Tickets for the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship are available from just £17.50 plus booking fee. Click here to secure your visit to the home of snooker.
