Ian McCulloch (snooker player)

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.

Ian McCulloch
Paul Hunter Classic 2011
Born (1971-07-28) 28 July 1971
Walton-le-Dale, Preston, England
Sport country England
NicknameThe Preston Potter[1]
Professional1992–2012
Highest ranking16 (2005/06)
Century breaks105
Best ranking finishRunner-up (x2)

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 unluckily 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.

His 2005–06 season proved disappointing, with a quarter-final appearance in the Welsh Open 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 Heldevent was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventevent is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventevent is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventevent 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 England Paul Hunter 4–9
Runner-up 2. 2004 Grand Prix England Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–9

References
  1. "Player List – Ian McCulloch". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 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?
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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