CLAREMONT'S Les Higgins has taken over the mantle as the master of Tasmanian snooker.
He won a record 17th Tasmanian championship, surpassing Launceston's Ron Atkins as the most prolific winner.

Higgins beat Northern champion Graeme Pickett 7-3 in the final at the Burnie Club over the weekend to take his tally of state championships to 36, including 19 billiard titles, at the age of 47.
The last of Atkins's 16 Tasmanian snooker championships was in 1999. He also won three Australian championships and was runner-up in the IBSF world championship in Launceston in 1980.
Other players to win multiple Tasmanian titles include Harold Roberts-Thompson (eight billiards), John Reece (six billiards), Kevin Burles (four snooker, two billiards), Pickett (two snooker, four billiards), Jamie Giannaros (two snooker, two billiards) and Gregg Watt (four snooker).

Pickett, who had two very close matches to get through to the final, won the first two frames of the decider only to see Higgins hit form and take seven of the next eight, sealing the title with a 60-break.
In the quarter-finals, Higgins beat Brian Cole (North-West) 4-0, Peter Donati (North) beat Anthony Adams (South) 4-2, Watt (South) beat Callam Bissett (North-West) 4-3, Pickett (North) beat Steve Carroll (South) 4-3.
In the semis, Higgins beat Donati 5-1, and Pickett won another cliffhanger against Watt, who led 3-1 but lost 5-4.
The best break was a 95 clearance by Higgins.

Luke Webb, of Hobart, beat Cale Barrett, of Penguin, 4-0 to win the Tasmanian under-21 Snooker Championship, also played at the Burnie Club over the weekend.

Higgins and Webb will compete in the Australian Championship in Sydney in October.