His consistency was epitomised in 2006 as he lost his opening match in just one of the seven ranking events and had his best result in Aberdeen at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix when he reached the last 16 before losing to the eventual winner, Neil Robertson.

He came closest to doing so in the first two events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, where on both occasions he won two matches before losing in the third qualifying round.

He took part in 10 of them with his best finish coming in the European Tour Event 1 in Germany where he beat Ben Harrison, Nigel Bond, Phil Barnes and top 16 player Ricky Walden, before losing to Joe Swail 3–4 in the quarter-finals.

[5] It was this result which largely contributed to him finishing 57th on the Order of Merit to claim one of the eight spots on offer to players not on the main tour for the next season.

[7] He played in seven of the eight European Tour tournaments with his best results being three last 32 defeats to be placed 60th on the Order of Merit and 110th in the world rankings.