Ian McCulloch (snooker player)
![]() Paul Hunter Classic 2011 | |
Born | Walton-le-Dale, Preston, England | 28 July 1971
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Sport country | ![]() |
Nickname | Preston Potter |
Professional | 1992–2012 |
Highest ranking | 16 (2005/06) |
Career winnings | £608,110 |
Highest break | 145: 2003 British Open |
Century breaks | 105 |
Best ranking finish | Runner-up (2002 British Open, 2004 Grand Prix) |
Ian McCulloch (born 28 July 1971) is a former English professional snooker player from Walton-Le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire. He is known for his ability to grind opponents down through protracted safety exchanges and disjointed breakbuilding. He compiled 105 century breaks in his career.[citation needed]
Career[]
McCulloch turned professional in 1992, and after steadily climbing up the rankings for many years, he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in the 1999 Welsh Open. He also made his debut in the Crucible stages of the 1999 World Championship.
Like Barry Pinches he entered his best form in his early 30s. He reached two ranking event finals – the 2002 British Open (losing to Paul Hunter) and the 2004 Grand Prix in his home town (losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan).[1]
He beat David Gray to qualify for the 2003 World Championship in a clash between players who share their names with musicians, and went on to reach the quarter finals in 2004. He went one stage further in 2005, losing 14–17 to Matthew Stevens in the semi-final, beating Graeme Dott, Mark Williams and Alan McManus en route. He was ranked number 16 in the rankings in 2005/2006 season, which would normally guarantee a seeding in the ranking tournaments, but was unluckily pushed out by Shaun Murphy, who as the current world champion was not in top 16 of the rankings, and was seeded before him in tournaments.
His 2005–06 season proved disappointing, with a quarter-final appearance in the Welsh Open the highlight. He failed to qualify for the World Championship, losing to Dave Harold, causing him to drop down the rankings. He made his first appearance as a BBC pundit during the tournament.
An improved 2006–07 campaign included a quarter-final run in the Grand Prix. He qualified for the World Championship, and in the first round he eliminated defending champion Graeme Dott 10–7, but he lost in the second round 8–13 to Anthony Hamilton.
In the 2007 UK Championship he also knocked out the defending champion, by coming from 0–5 down against Peter Ebdon to beat him 9–8 in a remarkable comeback. He lost to Stephen Maguire 5–9 in the last 16. He missed out on the 2008 World Championship after losing 5–10 to eventual quarter-finalist, Liang Wenbo.[2]
The 2008–09 season was a struggle, with only two wins in the first five tournaments. He failed to qualify for the World Championship again, losing to Rory McLeod despite scoring three centuries. After the 2011/12 season, he decided to quit the game for good after finishing number 68 in the world. This was in part motivated by an occupational shoulder injury.[3] His best run was at the Welsh Open where he reached the final qualifying round before losing to Tom Ford 3–4.
On 11 October 2009, he won the Bodensee Open, although he was the only professional player taking part.[4][5]
Broadcasting[]
McCulloch is a regular pundit for William Hill and can be heard in their shops previewing Snooker tournaments and as a regular in-studio guest on their In-Play Radio service.
Performance and rankings timeline[]
Tournament | 1992/ 93 |
1993/ 94 |
1994/ 95 |
1995/ 96 |
1996/ 97 |
1997/ 98 |
1998/ 99 |
1999/ 00 |
2000/ 01 |
2001/ 02 |
2002/ 03 |
2003/ 04 |
2004/ 05 |
2005/ 06 |
2006/ 07 |
2007/ 08 |
2008/ 09 |
2009/ 10 |
2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ranking[6][nb 1] | [nb 2] | 404 | 257 | 193 | 105 | 76 | 60 | 39 | 38 | 48 | 43 | 26 | 17 | 16 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 35 | 48 | 63 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 3] | Not Held | NR | Tournament Not Held | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shanghai Masters | Tournament Not Held | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UK Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German Masters[nb 4] | Not Held | LQ | LQ | 1R | NR | Tournament Not Held | WD | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welsh Open | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | QF | LQ | 1R | LQ | 1R | 2R | QF | 2R | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Open[nb 5] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | F | 2R | QF | RR | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] | Tournament Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
China Open[nb 7] | Tournament Not Held | NR | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | Not Held | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | QF | SF | LQ | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Masters | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Championship League | Tournament Not Held | RR | A | A | A | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dubai Classic[nb 8] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Malta Grand Prix | Not Held | Non-Ranking Event | LQ | NR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thailand Masters[nb 9] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | NR | Not Held | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scottish Open[nb 10] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | LQ | 2R | QF | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
British Open | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | 2R | F | 1R | 1R | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish Masters | Non-Ranking Event | LQ | 1R | 2R | NH | NR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Malta Cup[nb 11] | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | NH | LQ | Not Held | 1R | 1R | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Ireland Trophy | Tournament Not Held | NR | 2R | 3R | QF | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bahrain Championship | Tournament Not Held | LQ | Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Ireland Trophy | Tournament Not Held | WR | Ranking Event | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shoot-Out | Tournament Not Held | 1R | 2R |
NH / Not Held | event was not held. | |||
NR / Non-Ranking Event | event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
R / Ranking Event | event is/was a ranking event. | |||
MR / Minor-Ranking Event | event is/was a minor-ranking event. |
- ^ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
- ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
- ^ The event was also called the Australian Open (1994/1995)
- ^ The event ran under a different name as the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
- ^ The event ran under different names such as the Grand Prix (1992/1993–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004), World Open (2010/2011) and Haikou World Open (2011/2012)
- ^ The event ran under a different name as the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
- ^ The event ran under a different name as the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
- ^ The event ran under different names such as the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
- ^ The event ran under different names such as the Asian Open (1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
- ^ The event ran under different names such as the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004)
- ^ The event ran under different names such as the European Open (1992/1993–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999)
Career finals[]
Ranking tournaments: 2 (2 runners-up)[]
Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Runner-up | 1. | 2002 | British Open | ![]() |
4–9 |
Runner-up | 2. | 2004 | Grand Prix | ![]() |
5–9 |
References[]
- ^ "Profile on BBC Lancashire". BBC. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- ^ World Snooker News: ? Archived 10 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Bodensee Open: Who plays?[dead link]
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2020.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
External links[]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ian McCulloch. |
- "Official player profile of Ian McCulloch". wst.tv. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. "Tour Players" section.
- Profile on Global Snooker
- Profile on Yahoo! Sport
- 1971 births
- Living people
- English snooker players
- People from Walton-le-Dale