EditorLLANELLI: ‘He changed my career unbelievably’ — Hawkins pays tribute to Welsh Open inspiration Terry Griffiths
Barry Hawkins has paid a heartfelt tribute to his late coach Terry Griffiths, saying the Llanelli snooker legend transformed him from a journeyman into a champion — and that winning the 2026 Welsh Open felt like a fitting tribute to the man who made it possible.
Hawkins, ranked number 11 in the world, won the Welsh Open in February and has since spoken movingly about a message he received from Griffiths’ son Wayne in the wake of the victory — a moment he described as “really nice.”
“I got a lovely message from Wayne Griffiths, his son, saying how his dad would have been so proud, and obviously, being from Wales, it would have meant so much to him,” Hawkins said.
Terry Griffiths, who died last year, was one of the most beloved figures in Welsh sport. Born and raised in Llanelli, he won the World Snooker Championship at his first attempt in 1979 and went on to become one of the game’s great ambassadors — and, in later life, one of its most respected coaches.
Hawkins worked with Griffiths for six or seven years, and credits that partnership with turning his career around. Before they began working together, he said, he was drifting.
“Up until I started working with him, I was a bit of a journeyman, I suppose,” he said. “He changed my career around unbelievably. We worked on so much stuff together over the six or seven years that I worked with him.”
The influence, Hawkins says, has never left him. Even now, when his game goes astray, it is Griffiths’ voice he returns to.
“When I’m struggling, I always try to go back to the basics that we used to work on together, and it seems to get me back on the straight and narrow,” he said. “I always use things in my game that we worked on together.”
One of Griffiths’ most enduring lessons, Hawkins recalls, was to trust the mental side of the game over the technical.
“He always used to tell me not to get too involved in the technical side. There was one point where he used to be all technical, but then he realised it was more mental than anything,” Hawkins said. “I’ll always remember those sorts of chats we used to have, and that’s what keeps me on the right path, really.”
Hawkins reached the World Championship final at the Crucible in 2013 and made the semi-finals on four further occasions — a consistency he attributes in no small part to the foundations laid during those years working with the Llanelli man.
The Welsh Open win, he said, was dedicated to Griffiths’ memory.
“It was lovely to win that Welsh Open with Terry in mind,” he said. “I think it probably was a fitting tribute to Terry.”
The tribute comes as Welsh snooker continues to produce talent from across the region. The World Snooker Championship gets under way at the Crucible later this month, with Neath’s Michael White among the Welsh players with eyes on Sheffield.
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