WilliamsM

Player Profile

Mark J. Williams MBE

Born:	21 March 1975. Cwm, Gwent, Wales
Turned Professional:	1992
Highest Break:	147 (2005 World Championship)
Highest Ranking	1st (2000/1. 2001/2, 2003/4)

Mark Williams has led the Welsh revival at the top of world snooker and is regarded by many as the best single ball potter in the game today.

Originally a promising amateur boxer, Mark got fed up with being hit and took up snooker. He first came to the attention of the snooker world at large during the 1990/91 season when he beat Dave Harold to win a £500 event. In the World Masters in 1991 he was runner-up in the junior event to John Higgins but he beat John to win the British Under-16 title. He also won the UK Under-19 but a certain Matthew Stevens pipped him for the Welsh Under-19. He joined the professional ranks for the 1992/3 season just one year after it had become open to all comers.

He did not make such a spectacular start to his professional career as fellow rookies, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan, but he did reach the last 16 of the European Open and a few other last 64 places ranked him at 119. It was a similar story in 1993/4 with a couple of last 32 places but his overall performance in those first two seasons took him up to 58^th. 1994/95 was better still with two last sixteen places and several more where he reached at least the last 64. In non ranking events he won the Benson & Hedges Championship to give him his first title as a professional but also a wild card into the Masters at Wembley where he beat Willie Thorne 5-0 to get to the second round and his biggest pay cheque to date of £11,000. He rounded off the season by taking the Open championship title at the Pontins festival and his ranking climbed to 39.

1995/95 proved to be the big breakthrough season. He reached his first ranking quarter-final in the UK championship and then, at the Regal Welsh, he beat Doherty and Ebdon, among others, to reach the final where he beat John Parrott 9-3 for his first ranking title and £36,000. He went on to the British Open quarter-finals as well and even though he still had not made it to the Crucible, he jumped into the elite top 16 at number sixteen. That victory seemed to give him supreme confidence and in only the second event of the next season, the Grand Prix, he was a winner again. He followed that with successive quarter finals in the UK and German Open and a semi-final in the Welsh before taking his third ranking title in the British Open. He was now up to fourth in the rankings and one of the favourites for every event.

Although he did not add to his ranking titles in 1997/98 he held his nerve to beat Stephen Hendry on a re-spotted black in a final frame decider to win the Benson & Hedges Masters and a cheque for £145,000. He also had his best world championship so far, reaching the semi-finals but his ranking slipped back one place. He rounded off the season by taking the Pontins professional title. In 1998/99 he certainly made up for his lack of titles in the previous season. Along with Hendry, Higgins and O’Sullivan, he was part of what was becoming known as ‘The Big Four’ and after a modest start in the first two events he won three of the next four, the Irish Open, Regal Welsh and Thailand Masters and went all the way to the world final in Sheffield but Hendry was not to be denied his seventh title. Mark was now up to third but more importantly he was starting the next season provisionally heading the list. He also helped Wales to lift the first Nations Cup trophy.

Could he match that terrific season? Not only did he match it he went even better in 1999/2000 with no less than six ranking finals. He lost the first of those in the season’s opener, the Grand Prix having also been beaten in the final of the new Champions Cup, a non-ranking event to start the season for winners from the previous season. He won the UK title and the Thailand Masters and was runner-up in the Malta Grand Prix and Scottish Open. And so it was on to the Embassy at the Crucible where he was one of the favourites and already assured of the number one position in the rankings. He did not disappoint his fans although he had to come from behind to beat his friend Matthew Stevens in an all-Welsh final to become world champion and, incidentally, the first ever left-hander to win that crown.

As so often happens after winning the world title, he found it difficult to maintain his form in 2000/01. Although he did win the Grand Prix and reached the final of the China International and the

where John Higgins heavily beat him. He again lost in the final of the Champions Cup and the Malta Grand Prix, both non-ranking events and, in the Embassy, he surprisingly lost in the second round. He did however hang on to the number one ranking position mainly due to his dominance the year before. His form began to pick up in 2001/02 and he won back-to-back ranking titles in China and Thailand to put him back in the running to claim the number one position again. However defeats in the last 16 in both the Scottish Open and world championship ensured that he would drop to number two.

Mark turned to Terry Griffiths for advice and it really paid dividends. Although he did not begin the 2002/03 campaign particularly well, losing his opener in the Regal Masters and only reaching the last 16 of the LG Cup. But he then followed a British Open semi final with his second UK title. He was runner-up in the Welsh open and then won the Masters for a second time. As the world championship began there were three players in with a chance of the number one slot; Mark, Hendry and O’Sullivan. With Ronnie going out in the first round, Mark’s entered his quarter final clash with Hendry knowing that a win would ensure that he became only the second player ever to regain the number one position after Ray Reardon. Not only did he win that match but he won the championship as well. He had now picked up the ‘big three’, UK, Masters and Embassy, in the same season, a feat which had only previously been achieved by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

Although he won the opening ranking event of 2003/04, the LG Cup, and reached the quarter finals of the British Open, The UK Championship saw him lose his opening match for the first time, in a ranking event, since the 1998 Regal Scottish. It happened again in the European Open and his world championship defence ended in the second round. He lost his number one position to Ronnie O’Sullivan but he became a father for the first time and, in June, was awarded the MBE for services to snooker.

He got off to a bad start in 2004/5 only winning one match in the first five ranking events. Although he then got to the Irish Master semi final and the quarter final of the China Open he still fell to ninth, his lowest ranking for nine years. The next season was much better. He won the China Open and got to the quarter finals of three other ranking events including the world championship and he had halted the slide!

In 2006/7 he failed to get past the last 16 in major event although he did win Pot Black and he fell to 12^th, his lowest position for eleven seasons. Quarter finals in the UK Championship and China Open in 2007/8 were not enough to keep him in the top 16 but he was reasonably happy with 20^th place having looked like finishing out of the top 32 at one stage. Two ranking quarter finals in the following campaign ensured a swift return to the top 16

Mark’s secret seems to be that he is able to stay so relaxed, even during major finals and nothing seems to unnerve him. He is one of the jokers around the players lounge. As already mentioned he is noted for his tremendous potting skills but you do not win 16 ranking titles and a total of £3.7 million in prize money with over 200 century breaks without having a great all round game.

The use of his middle initial was originally to distinguish him from an English player called Mark Williams who was also on the circuit in the mid 1990s. On one occasion this other Mark received a winner’s cheque from the WPBSA intended for his more successful namesake from Wales!

Career Highlights

World Professional Snooker Champion	2001, 2003
World Professional Snooker Championship Runner up	1999
UK Championship winner	1999, 2002
Grand Prix champion	1996, 2000, 2003
Welsh Open champion	1996, 1999
British Open champion	1997
Irish Open champion	1995, 1997
Thailand Masters champion	1999, 200, 2002
China Open champion	2002, 2006
Masters champion	1997, 2003
Pot Black champion	2006
Pontins Professional champion	1998
Benson & Hedges Championship winner	1994
Pontins (Spring) Open champion	1995
Nations Cup winner	1999 (Welsh Team)