O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan completed a full set of ranking titles in Preston on Sunday night by denying Ian McCulloch in the Grand Prix final at the Guild Hall, Preston. O'Sullivan registered a 9-5 victory in the opening ranking tournament final of the new campaign to earn a £60,000 first prize.

It was his 16th ranking title and he now moves into third place on the all-time list, one ahead of John Higgins and Mark Williams. The 28-year-old from Essex is behind Stephen Hendry (35) and Steve Davis (28).

O'Sullivan, who stretched his lead in the latest rankings list to a massive 9,000 points over second-placed Hendry, has been in the best form of his career over the past year. He won the Welsh Open in January and his second World Championship title in May.

He knocked in breaks of 104 and 72 to lead 4-1 and also added frame six on the black for good measure to put the contest virtually out of reach.

McCulloch, appearing in only his second major final, gave himself a glimmer of hope by taking the last frame of the first session with a break of 54. When the match resumed he badly needed to make inroads into O'Sullivan's lead and though he knocked in 66 to trail 5-3 it was as close as he got.

O'Sullivan now moves to Brighton next month for the British Open. He thanked mentor Ray Reardon for his help. Reardon came on board with Team O'Sullivan at last season's World Championship and he appears to have given his young charge a magic formula.

"Ray is probably the best person I have ever met in snooker," enthused O'Sullivan.

"He is unbelievable and I love him to bits."

He also spared a thought for beaten finalist McCulloch.

"The crowd were great," said O'Sullivan. "I felt sorry for Ian today. He wanted it. He was looking for shots that maybe were not on, but it's great for Preston that they have now got a potential top 16 player."

McCulloch at least went one better than his previous final appearance when losing 9-4 against Paul Hunter in the 2002 British Open. He earned a cheque for £30,000.