Lee Walker

Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is an official WPBSA coach.[1]

Lee Walker

Paul Hunter Classic 2018
Born	(1976-02-11) 11 February 1976
Sport country	Wales
Professional	1994–2006, 2007/2008, 2014–
Highest ranking	42 (2000/2001)
Current ranking	85 (as of 17 August 2020)
Career winnings	£352,168
Highest break	140: 2004 European Open 2011 Q School Event 3
Century breaks	54
Best ranking finish	Semi-final (2018 Gibraltar Open)

Career

After turning professional in 1994 at the age of 18, Walker reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1997, with victories over Dave Harold 10–7 and Alan McManus 13–10, before he lost 13–8 to Alain Robidoux. This was the first time he had reached the latter stages of a ranking tournament, and he also reached the last 16 of the same tournament in 2004 with a 10–7 win over Stephen Lee before losing 13–5 to David Gray. He dropped off the Main Tour after the 2005–2006 season, but returned a year later after a strong campaign on the Pontin's International Open Series, from which the top 8 finishers gain Main Tour places. However he dropped off again at the end of the season.

Walker did however return to the tour in 2014 as he won a 2-year tour card by reaching the semi final stage of the second event of the 2014 Q School.

2016/2017 season

In 2016–17, he had one of his most impressive seasons to date, the highlight being his run in his home tournament, the Welsh Open. He defeated Rhys Clark, and former world champions Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott before losing in the fourth round to Zhou Yuelong.[2]

2017/2018 season

In the 2017–18 season, Walker had his best run in a ranking event to date, reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 Gibraltar Open where he was defeated 4–2 by eventual runner-up Cao Yupeng.[3]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1994/ 95	1995/ 96	1996/ 97	1997/ 98	1998/ 99	1999/ 00	2000/ 01	2001/ 02	2002/ 03	2003/ 04	2004/ 05	2005/ 06	2007/ 08	2012/ 13	2014/ 15	2015/ 16	2016/ 17	2017/ 18	2018/ 19	2019/ 20
Ranking[4][nb 1]	[nb 2]	280	189	79	50	46	42	58	76	81	59	58	[nb 2]	[nb 3]	[nb 2]	83	[nb 4]	69	[nb 5]	80
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 6]	Tournament Not Held														MR		1R	1R	1R	1R
International Championship	Tournament Not Held													A	LQ	2R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ
China Championship	Tournament Not Held																NR	LQ	LQ	LQ
English Open	Tournament Not Held																2R	1R	2R	QF
World Open[nb 7]	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	3R	1R	2R	LQ	A	Not Held		1R	3R	1R	LQ
Northern Ireland Open	Tournament Not Held																2R	1R	2R	1R
UK Championship	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	3R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R
Scottish Open[nb 8]	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Not Held			MR	Not Held		1R	1R	2R	1R
European Masters[nb 9]	LQ	LQ	LQ	NH	1R	Not Held		LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	NR	Not Held			LQ	LQ	1R	LQ
German Masters[nb 10]	NH	LQ	LQ	1R	NR	Tournament Not Held								A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held														NR	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Welsh Open	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	3R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	2R	1R	4R	1R	1R	1R
Shoot-Out	Tournament Not Held													Non-Ranking Event			1R	1R	1R	1R
Players Championship[nb 11]	Tournament Not Held													DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Gibraltar Open	Tournament Not Held															MR	3R	SF	1R	2R
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held																		DNQ	DNQ
World Championship	LQ	LQ	QF	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	2R	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A	LQ	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
World Seniors Championship	Tournament Not Held													A	LQ	A	A	A	A	A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship	Tournament Not Held													2R	A	A	A	A	A	A
Former ranking tournaments
Dubai Classic[nb 12]	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix	Non-Ranking Event					LQ	NR	Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 13]	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	NR	Not Held			NR	Tournament Not Held
British Open	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters	Non-Ranking Event								LQ	1R	LQ	NH	Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy	Tournament Not Held											NR	1R	Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 14]	Tournament Not Held													A	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 15]	NR		Tournament Not Held											A	LQ	LQ	Not Held
Shanghai Masters	Tournament Not Held												LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	Non-Rank.
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 16]	Tournament Not Held										Pro-am Event			Minor-Ranking			3R	1R	QF	NR
Indian Open	Tournament Not Held														LQ	NH	LQ	LQ	1R	NH
China Open[nb 17]	Not Held			NR	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Not Held		LQ	LQ	WD	A	LQ	2R	LQ	1R	LQ	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Charity Challenge	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	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.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Event				means an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Event				means an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Event				means an event is/was a variant format 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. Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
5. Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points.
6. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
7. The event was called the Grand Prix (1994/1995–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
8. The event was called the International Open (1994/1995–1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
9. The event was called the Irish Open (1998/1999) and Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
10. The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
11. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
12. The event was called the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and the Asian Classic (1996/1997)
13. The event was called the Thailand Open (1995/1996–1996/1997)
14. The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
15. The event was called the Australian Masters (1994/1995-1995/1996)
16. The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
17. The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1998	Merseyside Professional Championship	Peter Lines	4–5

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2008	TCC Open Snooker Championship	Mark Williams	7–5
Runner-up	1.	2014	Pink Ribbon	Peter Lines	1–4

Amateur finals: 4 (4 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2006	PIOS – Event 3	Leo Fernandez	5–6
Runner-up	2.	2007	PIOS – Event 4	Kuldesh Johal	4–6
Runner-up	3.	2011	IBSF World Snooker Championship	Hossein Vafaei	9–10
Runner-up	4.	2014	Welsh Amateur Championship	Jamie Clarke	6–8

References

1. "Walker Coaches Hong Kong Talent". World Snooker. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
2. "Lee Walker targeting Crucible after Coral Welsh Open exploits". World Snooker. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
3. "Lee Walker". Snooker Database. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
4. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links

• Lee Walker at worldsnooker.com
• Profile at globalsnooker.co.uk