 He had made his World Championship debut in 1997 but managed to win only one match (a 3-0 win over Les Wallace in 2000) in his first six visits to the Lakeside.He then produced his run to the final in 2003.In doing so, he beat Albertino Essers, former champion John 'Boy' Walton, and defending champion Tony David for the loss of just one set, before defeating Gary Anderson 5-2 in the semi-finals.