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David Morris (snooker player)

David Morris
David Morris at the 2014 German Masters
Born (1988-11-27) 27 November 1988 (age 36)
Kilkenny, County Kilkenny
Sport country Ireland
NicknameThe Wolf of Walkin Street[1]
Professional2006–2012, 2013–2016
Highest ranking51 (March–May 2015)[2][3][4]
Best ranking finishQuarter-final (x1)

David Morris (born 27 November 1988 in Kilkenny) is an Irish former professional snooker player. In the 2015-2016 he was ranked as Ireland's number 3 player, after Fergal O'Brien and Ken Doherty.

Career

Early career

Aged 16, he reached the quarter finals of the U21 World Snooker Championships. He has been Irish champion at every level, winning the overall National championship every year from 2004 to 2006 (becoming the youngest ever winner in 2004). For 2006–07 he made his debut on the main tour, reaching the last 64 in two tournaments.

His best run in the 2007–2008 season was to the last 48 of the UK Championships, where he lost to Dave Harold (who also defeated him in qualifying for the previous year's Welsh Open). His only opening-round defeat that year was to Supoj Saenla in the World Championship, but despite this setback in the highest ranking-point event of the season he did enough to reach the top 64 of the rankings. He also won the Lucan Racing Irish Classic, an event staged by Fergal O'Brien featuring 8 (mostly Irish) professionals – Morris beat O'Brien 5–3 in the final.

In qualifying for the 2008/2009 Bahrain Championship Morris defeated countryman Rodney Goggins and Adrian Gunnell to reach the final qualifying round, where he lost 0–5 to Michael Holt, scoring just 10 points in the process (the lowest in a match of five or more frames since 1992)[1]

2010/2011

He made an important breakthrough at the World Open by beating Robert Milkins 3–1 and Ben Woollaston 3–0 to qualify for the televised stages of an event for the first time. However, he was drawn against the current world champion Neil Robertson losing 3–1.

2011/2012

Morris left his best run of results in the ranking events until the last tournament of the season, the World Championship. He beat Kacper Filipiak, Mark Joyce and Alan McManus before losing to Barry Hawkins 4–10 in the final qualifying round.[5] He played in 11 of the 12 PTC events throughout the season, with his best finish coming in Event 9 where he reached the last 16.[5] He was placed 66 on the PTC Order of Merit and finished the season ranked world number 71, outside of the top 64 who automatically retain their places on the tour for the 2012–13 season.[6][7]

2012/2013

Morris entered qualifying for the 2013 World Championship but lost 1–5 to Joe Swail in the second preliminary round.[8] He played in the 2013 Q School to try and win a place back on the snooker tour and missed the final black for a 147 in his first match of the second event. Morris won through to the final round of that event but lost 0–4 to Ross Muir.[8] He also reached the final round in the last event and this time succeeded by defeating Gareth Green 4–1 to earn a spot for the 2013–14 season.[9]

2013/2014

Morris began the 2013–14 season by qualifying for the 2013 Wuxi Classic, where he reached the quarter-finals in a ranking event for the first time in his career.[10] He beat Gary Wilson 5–4, Gerard Greene 5–2 and survived a tense 37-minute final frame decider to see off Ali Carter 5–4.[11] He faced Matthew Stevens in the quarters and led 2–1 early on, but then did not score a point in the next three frames and went on to lose 5–2.[12] Morris also had a very good run at the UK Championship with successes over Jamie Cope, 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon and Mitchell Travis, before losing 6–1 in the last 16 to Stuart Bingham.[13] Morris was beaten in the first round of four more ranking events before the end of the season.[11]

2014/2015

In the 2014–15 season, Morris qualified for the Wuxi Classic and the International Championship but lost in the first round of both tournaments.[14][15] For the second successive year he reached the fourth round of the UK Championship, defeating Li Hang 6–4 in the first round before beating reigning world champion and world number one Mark Selby 6–4 in the second round, a victory that was described as the most significant win of his career to date.[16] He went on to defeat David Gilbert 6–2 in the last 32,[17] but lost 3–6 to Stephen Maguire in the last 16.[18] Morris beat Joe O'Connor 4–0 at the Welsh Open, but lost by a reversal of this scoreline in the second round against Neil Robertson.[19] He qualified for the Indian Open and the China Open, losing 4–0 to Graeme Dott in the second round of the former and 5–1 to Stephen Maguire in the first round of the latter.[19] Morris ended the season at a career-high 51st in the world rankings.[20]

2015/2016

After being knocked out in the third qualifying round of both the Australian Goldfields Open and Shanghai Masters, Morris could only win three more matches during the rest of the season. This meant he dropped off the tour as he finished the year 69th, outside the top 64 in the world rankings. Morris did not enter Q School.[21][22]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2006/
07
2007/
08
2008/
09
2009/
10
2010/
11
2011/
12
2012/
13
2013/
14
2014/
15
2015/
16
Ranking[23][nb 1] [nb 2] 71 64 58 59 80 [nb 3] [nb 4] 71 51
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held LQ A LQ WD LQ
Shanghai Masters NH LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ
International Championship Not Held A LQ 1R LQ
UK Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A 4R 4R 1R
German Masters Not Held LQ LQ A 1R LQ LQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A 1R 2R 1R
World Grand Prix[nb 5] LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ A 1R NR LQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] Not Held DNQ DNQ A DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A 1R 1R LQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ A A A A A A A A A
Shoot-Out Not Held 1R A A A 3R 3R
Former ranking tournaments
Malta Cup LQ NR Not held
Northern Ireland Trophy LQ LQ LQ Not held
Bahrain Championship Not held LQ Not held
Wuxi Classic[nb 7] Not Held Non-Ranking A QF 1R NH
Indian Open Not Held 1R 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Irish Masters RR Not held
Irish Classic NH W QF RR QF SF Tournament Not Held
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ^ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. ^ He was an amateur.
  4. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  5. ^ The event was called the Grand Prix (2006/2007–2009/2010)
  6. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  7. ^ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2007 Irish Classic Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien 5–3

Amateur finals: 5 (4 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2004 Irish Amateur Championship Republic of Ireland Rodney Goggins 8–4
Winner 2. 2005 Irish Amateur Championship (2) Republic of Ireland Brendan O'Donoghue 8–2
Winner 3. 2006 Irish Amateur Championship (3) Republic of Ireland Brendan O'Donoghue 8–2
Winner 4. 2019 Irish Amateur Championship (4) Republic of Ireland Josh Boileau 7–3
Runner-up 1. 2021 Irish Amateur Championship Republic of Ireland Brendan O'Donoghue 5–6

References

  1. ^ "'Wolf of Walkin Street' awaits his opponent in last 16 of UK Snooker Championships". KCLR 96FM. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  2. ^ "World Rankings after the Indian Open 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 16 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. ^ "World Rankings after the Players Championship 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  4. ^ "World Rankings after the China Open 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  5. ^ a b "David Morris 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Order of Merit". Snooker.org. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  8. ^ a b "David Morris 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Wonderful Wakelin Earns Tour Place". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  10. ^ "Magic Morris into Quarters". World Snooker. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  11. ^ a b "David Morris 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  12. ^ "Higgins And Stevens into Last Four". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  13. ^ "UK Snooker Championship: No worries as Stuart Bingham sails through with ease". The Press. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  14. ^ "Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  15. ^ "International Championship (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  16. ^ "UK Championship 2014: David Morris beats Mark Selby". BBC Sport. 29 November 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  17. ^ "David Morris makes last 16 at UK Championships". The Irish Times. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  18. ^ "Coral UK Championship (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  19. ^ a b "David Morris 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  20. ^ "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  21. ^ "David Morris 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  22. ^ "Historic Seedings After 2016 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  23. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.