Doug Mountjoy

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Doug Mountjoy
birthday June 8, 1942
place of birth Tir-Y-Berth , Glamorgan
date of death February 14, 2021 (age 78)
nationality WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Wales
professional 1976 - 1997
Prize money £ 759,656
Highest break 145 ( WM 1981 )
Century Breaks 49
Main tour successes
Ranking tournament victories 2
World rankings
Highest WRL place 5 ( 1990/91 )
Best results
Amateur tournaments Amateur world champion 1976

Doug Mountjoy (born June 8, 1942 in Tir-Y-Berth , Glamorgan ; † February 14, 2021 ) was a Welsh snooker player who played a total of 21 seasons as a professional between 1976 and 1997.

Before starting his professional career, Mountjoy won the Welsh Snooker Championship and the Amateur World Championship in 1976 and became a professional player thereafter. Especially in the first years of his professional career, Mountjoy made the leap into the expanded world elite and won the Masters in 1977 and the UK Championship in 1978 , but then fell ill with facial paralysis , which made it difficult for him to play. But at the beginning of the new decade, Mountjoy was able to place himself briefly in the top ten ranks of the world rankings, as he had won the vice-world title in the context of the snooker world championship in 1981 .

In the following years, Mountjoy's form and his world rankings deteriorated noticeably, as his style of play was mainly based on his instinct and he was gradually less successful. In February 1988 he was trained by Frank Callan and improved his technique significantly. Thus, in December 1988 at the UK Championship, he won a ranking tournament for the first time, which was repeated only a few weeks later at the Classic 1989 . Even if Mountjoy returned to the top of the world during this time, he gradually said goodbye to this over the next decade and ended his professional career in the 1996/97 season. Following this and after surviving lung cancer, Mountjoy appeared primarily as a trainer, but continued to play snooker at various tournaments and other billiards at the local level.

Career

Beginnings as an amateur

Mountjoy was born in 1942 in the mining town of Tir-Y-Berth in Glamorgan . The place is now part of the Gelligaer community in Caerphilly . At the age of 15 he already won a local junior title as a snooker player ; a year later he was already one of the best amateur players in South Wales . But since professional snooker was not profitable at the time, a career as a professional for Mountjoy was out of the question at that time. Thus, at the age of 16, he began a professional career in mining. Later he was buried briefly while practicing the profession. He attracted attention in 1966 when he lost in the final of the Welsh Snooker Championship . Two years later he won the tournament. That made Mountjoy one of four players from the Abertysswyg snooker club who had won the Welsh championship alongside Alwyn Lloyd , Des May and Wayne Jones . After he had lost in the same tournament in 1971 in the quarterfinals against Des Meredith , he reached the semifinals in the southern qualifying competition of the English Amateur Championship in 1972 and was defeated in this by Marcus Owen . In 1974 he reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh Championship again and lost to Alwyn Lloyd before taking part in the Pro-Am event Pontins Spring Open , where he defeated several later professional players and, surprisingly, the reigning professional world champion Ray Reardon . In the final he won with John Spencer against another top player of the time and won the tournament.

A year later he took part again as defending champion at the Pontins Spring Open , but lost in the round of 32 against Mike Darrington . The next year he won his second Welsh championship against Alwyn Lloyd before winning the Pontins Spring Open for the second time. Finally, Mountjoy took part in the amateur world championship of the same year, survived the group stage without a single defeat and defeated Ron Atkins and Silvino Francisco on his way to the final . In the final he succeeded in winning the tournament with the help of a clear 11: 1 victory over Paul Mifsud . Shortly thereafter, Mountjoy became a professional player at the age of 34.

First professional years

Mountjoy started his professional career in the 1976/77 season . This season he had several average results, but he reached the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Championship and two finals: after losing at Pot Black , he won his first professional title at the Masters against Ray Reardon. By participating in the quarter-finals at the World Snooker Championship, at that time the only tournament that had an impact on the world rankings, Mountjoy was placed directly on the world rankings and was ranked 14th in the following season. During the next season , Mountjoy lost two opening games and was partially eliminated from other tournaments shortly before the final. In five tournaments he also made it to the finals and in an insignificant invitation tournament, but also in Pot Black , he was able to win. In contrast, he lost, among other things, the final of the UK Championship . In the world rankings, he was only able to hold his 14th place despite losing the last 16 at the World Snooker Championship .

During the 1978/79 season he retired early several times. In addition, he only reached the round of 16 at the World Snooker Championship and at least the semi-finals at the Masters , before he was eliminated from these tournaments. Nevertheless, he reached several finals again. Although he lost to Black Ray Reardon in the pot , he won his second Triple Crown title with a 15: 9 win over David Taylor in the UK Championship . Mountjoy's other tournament victories occurred at the Irish Masters and the Pontins Professional . On the world rankings he was able to improve by one rank as a result of the World Snooker Championship.

With the following season , Mountjoy's form was again a little worse when he again lost several opening games, he suffered early defeat in other tournaments and he narrowly missed the final several times. Only three times during the season he achieved one, which he lost at the Irish Masters with 9:10 against Terry Griffiths and at the Welsh Professional Championship with 9: 6 against Ray Reardon. In addition, he and the Welsh team around Ray Reardon and Terry Griffiths won the World Challenge Cup 14: 3 against the English team . In the world rankings, he lost the place he had won in the previous season due to his knockout round at the World Snooker Championship and was once again 14th.

Advancement and establishment in the world elite

Also in the 1980/81 season , Mountjoy was eliminated early in several tournaments and lost in two more shortly before the final. However, he also won the Champion of Champions and the World Challenge Cup with the Welsh team . He also ended the season with a place in the final of the Snooker World Championship , in which he was defeated by the young Englishman Steve Davis at 12:18 , who won his first world title. On his way to the final, Mountjoy had played the highest break of his career with a 145 break and at the same time the highest break in a world championship. This success was also noticeable on the world rankings when Mountjoy was ranked sixth in the next season. During this season, however, Mountjoy developed a facial paralysis , which paralyzed one side of his face and made it difficult for him to blink and thus also to play.

During the next season , Mountjoy was often eliminated a few rounds before the final. At the Welsh Professional Championship and - together with his Welsh teammates - at the World Team Classic , however, he reached the final and lost it in the latter tournament 3: 4 against England and won the first tournament 9: 8 against Terry Griffiths . His mediocre results made him lose a place in the world rankings.

During the 1982/83 season , Mountjoy was often eliminated early or in the rounds before the final, including losing his opening game in the two tournaments with world ranking influence. In the Welsh Professional Championship , the Pontins Professional and the World Doubles Championship , however, he moved into the finals, where he was only victorious in the Pontins Professional. But since he could not show very good results in the other tournaments, Mountjoy slipped out of the top 10 on the world rankings and was now listed on rank 12.

Up and down the world rankings

Doug Mountjoy's ranking history

Between 1983 and 1987, Mountjoy's results remained relatively constant; he was mostly eliminated early or in the middle of a tournament. Especially in ranked tournaments, he rarely reached the quarter-finals; his best result in this type of tournament was the semi-finals at the Classic 1986 . At the beginning of this period in particular, however, he often made it into the finals of invitation tournaments or similar types of tournaments, but this number gradually fell from four to one over the four seasons. However, he won only a few finals with four tournaments, this was the case at the Hong Kong Masters 1983 , the Pot Black 1985 and two editions of the Welsh Professional Championship . His top-class final occurred at the 1985 Masters , where he had to admit defeat to the Canadian Cliff Thorburn in the final . During these years, his ranking position also remained relatively constant; from rank 12 it deteriorated only marginally at times to rank 15 and later to rank 14.

With the 1987/88 season , however, Mountjoy's performance deteriorated rapidly when he lost his opening game in five of eight tournaments of the season and was eliminated from the remaining three tournaments in the following round. In the world rankings, this was noticeable with a significant deterioration from ten places to 24th. At that point, even the end of Mountjoy's career was within the realm of possibility. From February 1988, however, he worked on the advice of Terry Griffiths with Frank Callan , one of the leading snooker trainers of his time. As a result, Mountjoy's form improved significantly during the 1988/89 season and he reached the final rounds of ranked tournaments several times. At the UK Championship he even made it to the finals; against the rising Stephen Hendry he won his first ranking tournament there. He repeated this success a few weeks later at the Classic ; later he won the Welsh Professional Championship . Even if the latter tournament had no impact on the world rankings, Mountjoy jumped to tenth place on the world rankings.

The high form continued with the 1989/90 season, when Mountjoy reached at least the quarter-finals in five tournaments alone. These included the Masters , where he was eliminated in this round, also the Dubai Classic and the Welsh Professional Championship , where he reached the final. However, he lost both finals; in the first tournament against Stephen Hendry, in the second tournament against Darren Morgan . On the world rankings he was able to improve to fifth place as a result of the season, which was the best position of his career and surpassed his nine-year-old record.

Last professional years

But as early as the 1990/91 season , Mountjoy's form deteriorated again when he was eliminated early in many ranked tournaments as well as in most of the other tournaments. Nevertheless, he reached the last sixteen at the Asian Open, as well as the quarter-finals at the Dubai Classic and the European Open , but was still well behind the form of the past two seasons. As a result, he fell back to tenth place in the world rankings.

This downward trend continued over the next few seasons, when Mountjoy was often unable to even win his opening game and rarely made it through the round of 16 of a tournament. In addition to two semi-finals at invitation tournaments, his best ranking tournament results between the 1991/92 and 1994/95 seasons were two quarter-finals at two editions of the British Open . These failures also made themselves felt on the world rankings when it gradually slipped and in 1995 was only ranked 34th.

In contrast to the previous seasons, he was able to win a little more opening games in the 1995/96 season , but his best result was only a participation in the round of 48 at the Thailand Classic . On the world rankings, he slipped 23 more places to 59th. In the next season , Mountjoy could only win a single game when he defeated Andy Neck 5: 4 at the Welsh Open , but was then eliminated. He ended the season with a 1:10 loss to Alan Burnett in qualifying for the World Snooker Championship . As a result, he would have been 98th in the world rankings in the following season. But the loss to Burnett was Mountjoy's last professional game, as he ended his professional career at the end of the season after 21 years.

Further life

Shortly after the end of his career, Mountjoy moved from his home near Ebbw Vale and for some time ran the Temple Bar Inn in Ewyas Harold in Herefordshire . Presumably due to his tobacco consumption, Mountjoy developed lung cancer , but survived it thanks to an operation in 1993 in which one of his lungs was removed. Two years later he went bankrupt and lost his house as a result. That being said, parts of Mountjoy's family - consisting of his wife, son and daughter, whose husband was his manager at times - fell out when £ 80,000 disappeared without a trace. At the end of the 1990s, Mountjoy finally became a trainer in the United Arab Emirates for a few years as part of a WPBSA concept that envisaged sending top-class coaches to various countries and thereby making snooker better known in these countries , where he was coached by Mohammed Shehab and Mohammed al-Joker trained. He later held the same position in his Welsh homeland.

Apart from that, Mountjoy played various billiards even after the end of his professional career . Shortly after the end of his career, he got two opportunities to qualify as an amateur for the snooker world championship, but was eliminated in each qualification. In the 2010s, however, he took part in the World Seniors Championship in 2011 and 2013 , but lost every game.

Mountjoy died on February 14, 2021 at the age of 78.

Style of play

Even in his days as a Welsh amateur, Mountjoy was known as a player with good skills in all fields. Before hiring Frank Callan as a coach in 1988, Mountjoy relied on instincts to always try to make the game fun. He also did this when his playing style suffered. Mountjoy had never read a book on snooker or had a trainer. According to Callan, some technical errors had crept in, so that, for example, he did not hit the ball in the middle when he wanted to. Because Mountjoy - in ignorance of which his guide eye is - always wrongly held the left instead of his right eye, his actual guide eye, over the cue. After all, he could no longer keep up with the world's elite with his playing style at the end of the 1980s, which is why Mountjoy doubted himself and eventually developed mental problems. Callan worked with him in particular in the summer of 1988 and changed his playing technique, especially in match play, but also in terms of the defensive part of the game. This improved Mountjoy's playing style and he started his short comeback. Contrary to the expectations of Callan and Mountjoy, this came within a few months; both parties had expected it after a year at the earliest.

successes

During his career, Mountjoy reached the final of a tournament 42 times, of which he won 24 games. While a list of all finals is on this page , the following table shows his finals in tournaments of the Triple Crown .

output year competition finalist Frames
winner 1977 Masters WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Ray Reardon 7: 6
finalist 1977 UK Championship IrelandIreland Patsy Fagan 9:12
winner 1978 UK Championship EnglandEngland David Taylor 15: 9
finalist 1981 World Snooker Championship EnglandEngland Steve Davis 12:18
finalist 1985 Masters CanadaCanada Cliff Thorburn 6: 9
winner 1988 UK Championship ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 16:12

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Doug Mountjoy - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Chris Turner: Player Profile: Doug Mountjoy. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2009, archived from the original on April 18, 2016 ; accessed on December 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Dean P. Hayes: Snooker Legends - And Where Are They Now? 3rd Edition. Sutton Publishing, Chalford 2004, ISBN 978-0-7509-3233-2 , pp. 52-55 .
  4. ^ A b Brian Radford: Brave Doug is snooker's desert king. In: The People . January 26, 1997 ( thefreelibrary.com ).
  5. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1967–1968 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1970–1971 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1971-1972 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1973-1974 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1974-1975 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1975-1976 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  11. ↑ a b Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1976-1977 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Doug Mountjoy. World Snooker , accessed December 1, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1976-1977 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ron Florax: Ranking History For Doug Mountjoy. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1977–1978 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1977–1978 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1978–1979 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1978–1979 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1979–1980 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1979–1980 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  21. ↑ a b c d Chris Turner: World Cup / World Team Classic / Nations Cup - Team Events. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on April 18, 2016 ; accessed on December 1, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1980–1981 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  23. ↑ a b c d Carsten Scheele: 111 reasons to love snooker . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86265-607-3 , pp. 83 f .
  24. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1981–1982 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1982–1983 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Chris Turner: World Doubles Championship - Non Ranking Event. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on April 18, 2016 ; accessed on December 1, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1983–1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1983–1984 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1984–1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1985–1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1986–1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1987–1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  33. ^ A b Frank Callan : The Doug Mountjoy Story. fcsnooker, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1988–1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1989–-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1990–1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1991–1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  38. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1992–1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1994–1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1995–1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1996–1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  43. ↑ a b Profile: Doug Mountjoy. Eurosport , December 3, 2009, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  46. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 2011–2012 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  47. ↑ Ron Florax: Doug Mountjoy - Season 2013-2014 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  48. ↑ Ivan Hirschowitz: Doug Mountjoy Passes Away. World Snooker Tour , February 14, 2021, accessed February 14, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Mountjoy, Doug
SHORT DESCRIPTION welsh snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Tir-Y-Berth , Glamorgan
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 2021
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 11, 2020 in this version .