Fergal O'Brien

Fergal O'Brien

Fergal O'Brien at 2015 German Masters
Born (1972-03-08) 8 March 1972
Dublin, Ireland
Sport country  Ireland
Nickname The Baby-Faced Assassin, Fearless Fergal
Professional 1991–
Highest ranking 9 (2000/01)
Current ranking 40 (as of 2 May 2016)
Career winnings £1,199,264[1]
Highest break 147 (2016 Championship League)
Century breaks 181[2]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1
Non-ranking 2
fergalobrien.ie

Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player.

A member of snooker's main tour since turning professional in 1991, O'Brien has been ranked within the world's top 64 players since 1994, reaching his highest position, 9th, for the 2000/2001 season. He has won one ranking title - the 1999 British Open, where he defeated Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final - and reached two other major finals, notably in the 2001 Masters.

Career

His greatest achievement was winning the British Open in 1999, beating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final. Hamilton opened with two centuries, but O'Brien won five frames on the final black to defeat the Nottingham man.

O'Brien also came close to winning the Masters title in 2001. After beating Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Dave Harold, he lost in the final to Paul Hunter after leading 7–3. He has reached one further ranking final, and three semi-finals

O'Brien peaked at No. 9 in the rankings following his sole title, but nosedived after this. He narrowly retained his top 16 place for the 2001/2002 season, but dropped out a year later – and then out of the top 32 a year later. Three further falls down the rankings left him at No. 45, before beginning to recover.

O'Brien also holds the honour of being the only player in history to hit a century break in his very first frame played at the Crucible. Despite this, his best run at the World Championship was only reaching the quarter-final.

O'Brien started the 2007/2008 campaign in Shanghai where he had beaten Paul Davies and Barry Hawkins in qualifying rounds, however, he lost to Steve Davis in the first round. O'Brien also qualified for the Grand Prix but lost four of his group matches to finish 5th in his group ahead of only Graeme Dott.

After qualifying for the main draw of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy by beating Barry Pinches in a deciding frame, O'Brien went on to beat Dave Harold in the first round of the main draw. Victories over John Higgins (in a decider), Barry Hawkins and Ronnie O'Sullivan, before he reached the second ranking-event final of his career by beating Mark Allen by 6 frames to 3. He lost the final to Stephen Maguire, 5–9.

This run helped him return to the top 32 of the Snooker world rankings 2007/2008, but the early part of the 2008/2009 season proved disappointing, O'Brien not reaching the last sixteen of any of the first four tournaments.

He is also the only player to score a century in his first frame at the World Championships in the Crucible, which he achieved against Alan McManus in 1994 (though he lost the match 10–7 and did not qualify again until 1998), and the first player ever to beat John Parrott in a World Championship qualifier, in 2005. As of the end of 2009 O'Brien has compiled 101 competitive century breaks in his career.

Fergal O'Brien at 2015 German Masters

He qualified for the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Finals held in Galway but lost his Last 24 match 0–4 to Joe Perry.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1991/
92		 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		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
Ranking[3][nb 1] UR[nb 2] 192 100 42 38 36 23 20 11 9 16 23 33 41 44 46 37 24 31 47 37 34 36 31 27 40
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 3] Not held NR Not held LQ LQ 2R 2R 2R
Shanghai Masters Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ 2R WR LQ QF LQ
International Championship Not Held 1R 3R 2R 2R
UK Championship LQ 1R 1R 3R LQ LQ 2R QF 3R QF 2R 1R 3R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 3R 1R 2R
German Masters[nb 4] Not Held LQ LQ LQ NR Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R
Welsh Open LQ LQ 3R 3R 2R QF 4R 3R QF 2R QF LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ 1R 1R LQ 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R
World Grand Prix[nb 5] LQ LQ LQ LQ QF 2R 2R 2R 4R 3R 2R 3R LQ 1R 2R RR RR LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ NR DNQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] Not Held DNQ 1R DNQ 2R DNQ DNQ
China Open[nb 7] Not Held NR LQ LQ 1R 1R Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ WR LQ 2R 1R LQ
World Championship LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 2R 1R QF 1R 1R LQ LQ 1R LQ 2R LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R F QF LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A A
Championship League Not Held RR A A A A A A RR RR
World Seniors Championship A Not Held A A A A F 1R
Variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Not Held 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R A
Former ranking tournaments
Classic LQ Not Held
Strachan Open[nb 8] LQ MR NR Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 9] LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Not Held Non-ranking 2R NR Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 10] LQ 3R LQ LQ LQ QF 2R LQ LQ 2R QF NR Not Held NR Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 11] NH 2R LQ LQ 2R LQ SF 3R 5R 2R 2R 1R LQ Not Held MR Not Held
British Open LQ LQ LQ LQ 3R 1R 2R W 5R 2R 3R 3R 3R LQ Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ LQ LQ NH NR Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 12] LQ LQ 2R LQ LQ LQ NH LQ Not Held 2R LQ 1R LQ LQ 2R NR Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held NR LQ F 1R Not Held
Bahrain Championship Not Held LQ Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 13] Not held Non-ranking 2R 1R 1R NH
Indian Open Not Held 2R 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Malta Grand Prix Not Held A A A A A R SF Not Held
Champions Cup[nb 14] Not Held A A A A A RR A A Not Held
Scottish Masters A A A A A A A A 1R 1R LQ LQ Not Held
Irish Masters A A SF A A A QF A 1R 1R 1R Ranking Event NH SF 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
DQ disqualified from the tournament
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.
  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. ↑ The event run under different names as Australian Open (1994/1995) and Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  4. ↑ The event run under different name as German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  5. ↑ The event run under different names as Grand Prix (1991/1992–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  6. ↑ The event run under different name as Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  7. ↑ The event run under different name as China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  8. ↑ The event run under different name as Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)
  9. ↑ The event run under different names as Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  10. ↑ The event run under different names as Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
  11. ↑ The event run under different names as International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004)
  12. ↑ The event run under different names as European Open (1991/1992–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999)
  13. ↑ The event run under different name as Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  14. ↑ The event run under different name as Charity Challenge (1994/1995–1998/1999)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (1–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1999 British Open England Hamilton, AnthonyAnthony Hamilton 9–7
Runner-up 1. 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy Scotland Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire 5–9

Non-ranking event finals: 7 (2 titles, 5 runners-up)

Legend
Masters (0–1)
Premier League (0–0)
Other (2–4)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2001 Masters England Hunter, PaulPaul Hunter 9–10
Runner-up 2. 2007 Irish Professional Championship Republic of Ireland Doherty, KenKen Doherty 2–9
Runner-up 3. 2007 Irish Classic Republic of Ireland Morris, DavidDavid Morris 3–5
Runner-up 4. 2008 Irish Classic (2) Republic of Ireland Doherty, KenKen Doherty 2–5
Runner-up 5. 2009 Irish Classic (3) Northern Ireland Swail, JoeJoe Swail 0–5
Winner 1. 2010 Irish Classic Republic of Ireland Judge, MichaelMichael Judge 5–1
Winner 1. 2011 Lucan Racing Classic (2) Republic of Ireland Doherty, KenKen Doherty 5–2

References

  1. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Fergal O'Brien – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links


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