Ian McCulloch (snooker player)

Ian McCulloch

Paul Hunter Classic 2011
Born	(1971-07-28) 28 July 1971 (age 53) Walton-le-Dale, Preston, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Preston Potter [1]
Professional	1992–2012
Highest ranking	16 (2005/06)
Century breaks	105
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (x2)

Ian McCulloch (born 28 July 1971) is an English former 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). ^[2]

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 pushed out by Shaun Murphy, who as the reigning world champion was not in the top 16 of the rankings, and was seeded ahead of him in tournaments.

In his 2005–06 season a quarter-final appearance in the Welsh Open was 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. ^[3]

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. ^[4] 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. ^{[5] [6]}

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 [7] [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.

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 was also called the Australian Open (1994/1995)
4. The event ran under a different name as the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
5. 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)
6. The event ran under a different name as the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
7. The event ran under a different name as the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
8. The event ran under different names such as the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
9. The event ran under different names such as the Asian Open (1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
10. The event ran under different names such as the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004)
11. 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

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	2002	British Open	Paul Hunter	4–9
Runner-up	2.	2004	Grand Prix	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5–9

References

1. "Ian McCulloch". WPBSA . 2009. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
2. "Profile on BBC Lancashire". BBC. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
3. World Snooker News: ? Archived 10 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Preston potter's got no regrets - Lancashire Evening Post". Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
5. Bodensee Open: Who plays? ^{[ dead link ‍]}
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
7. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links

• "Official player profile of Ian McCulloch". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. "Players Alphabetical" section. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
• Profile on Global Snooker ^[usurped]
• Profile on Yahoo! Sport