Marcus Owen

Marcus Owen

Born	4 April 1935 Carmarthenshire, Wales
Died	December 1987 (aged 52) Hackney, London
Sport country	Wales
Professional	1973–1985
Highest ranking	17 (1976–1977)
Best ranking finish	Quarter-final (x1)

Marcus Willoughby Owen (4 April 1935 – December 1987) ^{[1] [2] [3]} was a Welsh professional snooker player.

Career

Before turning professional, Owen won the English Under-16 Championship in 1949, and reached the final in 1950. ^[4] Owen also won the English Amateur Championship on four occasions, in 1958, 1959, 1967 and 1973. ^[5]

His elder brother Gary was a professional snooker player, ^[6] and Marcus followed him into the professional game in 1973, entering the 1974 World Championship. There, he beat Dennis Taylor (8-1) and Maurice Parkin (8-5) to set up a last-16 meeting with Gary. Gary held Marcus to 5–5 at one point, but could not prevent him from pulling away to reach the quarter-final with a 15–8 victory. Facing defending champion Ray Reardon, Marcus recovered from 3–9 to 7–9 but was eventually defeated 11–15.

Owen next played a quarter-final at the 1982 Welsh Professional Championship, which was itself an eight-man event. He lost his first match 0–6 to Cliff Wilson.

Owen had no further success in professional snooker, his last match being a 0–6 loss to Tony Chappel in the first round of the 1985 edition of the Welsh Professional Championship; having held 17th place in the inaugural world rankings in 1976, he had not occupied a position on the list since 1980.

He resigned as a professional player in 1987. ^[6]

Personal life

Owen died in hospital in December 1987, ^[1] under 'tragic circumstances'. ^[7]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1973/ 74	1974/ 75	1975/ 76	1976/ 77	1977/ 78	1981/ 82	1982/ 83	1983/ 84	1984/ 85
Ranking [8]	No ranking system			17	23	UR	UR	UR	UR
Ranking tournaments
Professional Players Tournament	Tournament Not Held						LQ	A	A
International Open	Tournament Not Held					NR	LQ	A	A
World Championship	QF	A	LQ	A	A	A	LQ	A	A
Non-ranking tournaments
Welsh Professional Championship	Not Held			A	NH	QF	QF	QF	1R
Former non-ranking tournaments
Norwich Union Open	1R	1R	Not Held
Watney Open	NH	WD	Not Held
International Open	Tournament Not Held					LQ	Ranking
UK Championship	Tournament Not Held				A	A	LQ	A	R

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.

Career finals

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1958	English Amateur Championship	Jack Fitzmaurice	11–8
Winner	2.	1959	English Amateur Championship (2)	Allan Barnett	11–5
Runner-up	1.	1966	English Amateur Championship	John Spencer	5–11
Winner	3.	1967	English Amateur Championship (3)	Sid Hood	11–4
Winner	4.	1973	English Amateur Championship (4)	Ray Edmonds	11–6

References

1. "Marcus Owen". The Times. 22 December 1987. p. 30.
2. "FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch . Archived from the original on 30 January 2016.
3. "FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch . Archived from the original on 30 January 2016.
4. "Juniors - EABA". Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
5. "English Amateur Championship" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
6. "Resigned". Cue World. Birmingham: Snooker Publications. April 1987. p. 31.
7. Wildman, Mark. "Reminiscences of a Billiards Man" . Retrieved 11 August 2015.
8. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.