Ian McCulloch

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Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch
McCulloch at the Paul Hunter Classic 2011
birthday July 28, 1971
place of birth Preston
nationality EnglandEngland England
Nickname (s) Big Mac
professional 1992 - 2012
Prize money £ 612,020
Highest break 145 ( British Open 2003 , Q)
Century Breaks 105
World rankings
Highest WRL place 16 ( 2005/06 )
Best results
Ranked tournaments 2 × finals
Other professional tournaments 1 × semi-finals
Amateur tournaments 1 × winner ( Swiss Open 2004 )

Ian McCulloch (born July 28, 1971 in Preston ) is a retired English snooker player who spent twenty years as a professional player between 1992 and 2012. During this time he reached the finals of a world ranking tournament twice and reached rank 16 in the world ranking list . After a difficult start to his professional career, McCulloch was one of the top 64 players in the world from 1998 and one of the top 32 players from 2002. In the same year he reached his first rankings final at the British Open and two years later at the Grand Prix his second ranking tournament final ; In contrast to the final of the Swiss Open amateur tournament, however, he lost both players . In 2009 McCulloch said goodbye to the top 32; three years later he ended his professional career after health problems when he no longer managed to qualify via the world rankings for the following season. He is now active as a trainer and organizer of exhibitions.

Career

First professional years

McCulloch became a professional player with the 1992/93 season, one year after the professional tour was opened to all players. For this reason, McCulloch had to play through numerous qualifying rounds, which he did not manage in a single tournament. His best result was taking part in the fifth of nine qualifying rounds at the Grand Prix . At the end of the season, he was only ranked 404 in the world rankings. The next season went a little better when he reached the last qualifying rounds several times, but again missed participation in a main round. Only in the first event of the Strachan Challenge , a tournament without world ranking influence, did he make significant progress when he reached the quarter-finals and lost to Anthony Hamilton there . On the world rankings he jumped to 257th place.

In the 1994/95 season , however, McCulloch retired again increasingly; his best results in terms of ranked tournaments were two participations in a round of the last 128. Far from the ranked tournaments, he reached a round of 16 and the semi-finals of the Merseyside Professionals , but these tournaments had no impact on the world rankings. On this he improved to rank 193 at the end of the season. But in the following season he reached one of the last qualifying rounds in almost every ranking tournament, even if he never made the main round again. His best results were participating in the penultimate qualifying round of the German Open and reaching the last qualifying round at the World Snooker Championship , where he lost to Mick Price . As a result, he improved by almost 90 places to 105th in the world rankings.

This trend continued in the 1996/97 season; this time he even reached the main round twice with his participation in the round of the last 64 of the Welsh Open and in the round of the last 32 of the British Open . In addition, he made it to the semi-finals at Merseyside Professional, just like two years earlier. In the world rankings he improved by a further 29 places to 76th place. Despite his increased world ranking position, McCulloch had to qualify for the next season via the WPBSA Qualifying School , which he succeeded. Due to his now high world ranking position, he was also able to save himself most of the qualifying rounds, so that he reached the main round several times and was otherwise eliminated in the last qualifying rounds. His best result was completing a lap of 32 twice; on the one hand at the German Open , on the other hand at the Welsh Open . He also reached that same round at the Merseyside Professional . On the world rankings, he improved by 16 places as a result of the season, which means he was now ranked 60th.

Years around 40th place

The 1998/99 season was very similar to the previous season; again McCulloch's best results were two appearances in a round of 32, this time at the Thailand Masters and also at the World Snooker Championship . Through this success and since his other results were also not significantly worse, McCulloch improved on the world rankings to 39th place. In the following season , however, he was eliminated from almost all tournaments at the latest in the round of 64. Only at the Welsh Open did he survive this round and move into the quarterfinals with victories over Alan McManus and Marco Fu , where he lost to Jimmy White . This quarterfinal participation helped him improve from one place on the world rankings.

In the 2000/01 season , however, were two appearances in a round of 32, in addition to the Merseyside Professional at the China Open , McCulloch's best results. In addition, although he also reached a round of the last 48 twice and one more time of the last 64, he was often eliminated in the round of the last 96. Therefore he deteriorated in the world rankings to 48th place. In the next season , however, he always reached at least the round of the last 64; his best result was a round of 16 participation in the non-ranking tournament Benson & Hedges Championship , at ranking tournament level several participations in a round of the last 32. In the world rankings he improved to 43rd place and thus compensated for the losses of the previous season.

Years in the top 32

During the 2005-06 season, McCulloch was in the top 16

The 2002/03 season went much better , in which McCulloch was eliminated only two times in the round of the last 64 and three more times only had to admit defeat in the round of the last 48 and in the round of the last 32. At the British Open , however, he defeated numerous leading professional players, including John Higgins and Mark Williams , making him stand in a final for the first time almost exactly a decade after starting his professional career. He lost this relatively clearly with 4: 9 against Paul Hunter , but on the world rankings he jumped to 26th place. After he was eliminated in the following season at the earliest in the round of the last 48 and three times the quarter-finals - including the World Snooker Championship - reached, he improved to 17th place and narrowly missed the jump into the top 16. In 2003 he had also lost the Swiss Open in the final against Björn Haneveer , but this tournament was an amateur tournament with professional participation.

The 2004/05 season began McCulloch with another success, specifically with his second pro-finals when he, among others, with a win over Stephen Hendry the final of the Grand Prix in his hometown of Preston reached, but there against Ronnie O'Sullivan lost . During much of the rest of the season McCulloch could only show mediocre results, in addition to a round of 16 at the Irish Masters , his best result was winning the Swiss Open against Jimmy White at amateur level. At the end of the professional season, however, he moved into the semifinals of the World Snooker Championship and narrowly missed his third professional final against Matthew Stevens . On the world rankings, he improved to 16th place for the following season, the best placement of his career. In the next season , however, the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open at professional level and the same round at the Fürth German Open (later the Paul Hunter Classic ) at amateur level were McCulloch's best results, which were otherwise again rather mediocre. As a result, he slipped ten places to 26th in the world rankings.

As in the previous season, the quarter-finals were McCulloch's best results in the 2006/07 season at professional and amateur level, along with otherwise average results; at the professional level at the Grand Prix , at the amateur level at the Dutch Open . Otherwise McCulloch was mostly eliminated in the round of 16 or in the round of 32. On the world rankings, this led to a marginal deterioration of two places. But in the season that followed , McCulloch did not reach a single quarter-finals at the professional level, despite several appearances in the round of 16. At amateur level he achieved this, his best result was the semi-finals at the Paul Hunter Classic , but these tournaments had no influence on the professional world rankings. Despite the mediocre results on the professional level, he managed to improve on this by three places to 25th. This was the last time he was in the top 32 of the world rankings.

Last professional years

McCulloch at the Paul Hunter Classic 2011

During the 2008/09 season , McCulloch was eliminated by the majority in the round of the last 48, only three times he survived this round. In addition to the Masters qualifying event , a non-ranking tournament, this was the one in the UK Championship , where he of 32 was beaten in the following round, and on the other the season early in his quarter-final appearance at the Northern Ireland Trophy of Case. In the world rankings he slipped to 35th place and thus out of the top 32. The next season was a little worse , when McCulloch was eliminated three times in the round of 64 and twice in the round of 48 and in the round of 32 and thus never reached a round of 16. This time he slipped to 48th place in the world rankings.

Despite the introduction of the Players Tour Championship in the 2010/11 season , McCulloch's results deteriorated again; Despite the significantly increased number of tournaments, he only reached four rounds of the last 32, where he was eliminated twice and he reached the quarter-finals at the third and sixth events of the Players Tour Championship. Since these two tournaments had only a marginal influence on the world rankings and thus outweighed his otherwise rather poor results, he deteriorated to 63rd place at the end of the season, which he only barely managed to qualify for the next season.

Also in the 2011/12 season McCulloch could not build on the previous year's results; this time he lost more than half of his games. In total, he reached the round of 32 only three times, but was eliminated twice in this, so that his participation in the round of 16 of the fifth event of the Players Tour Championship remained his best result of the season. At the end of the season, however, McCulloch had slipped to 74th place in the world rankings, which meant that he did not automatically qualify for the next season and lost his starting authorization after twenty years as a professional. McCulloch, who was nicknamed Big Mac during his career and who was coached by Stephen Rowlings among others, had previously announced that he would refrain from trying to qualify again in one of the qualifying tournaments. Thus the Englishman ended his professional career.

The reasons for the weakening of McCulloch's form were injuries to the neck and shoulders, the cause of which was the longstanding gambling. Because of this, McCulloch had already undergone several surgeries during his career. Had he continued his career, he would have risked an incurable injury to his shoulders. Following his career, the family man worked as a trainer, including for Martin O'Donnell , and as an exhibition organizer in both snooker and darts .

successes

output year competition Final opponent Result
Amateur tournaments
Second 2003 Swiss Open BelgiumBelgium Bjorn Haneveer 4: 5
winner 2004 Swiss Open EnglandEngland Jimmy White 5: 1
Professional tournaments
Second 2002 British Open EnglandEngland Paul Hunter 4: 9
Second 2004 Grand Prix EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan 5: 9

Web links

Commons : Ian McCulloch  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Profile: Ian McCulloch. BBC , June 12, 2007, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Ian McCulloch - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  3. ↑ 100+ Centuries. SnookerInfo, accessed on August 1, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Ron Florax: Ranking History For Ian McCulloch. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Chris Turner: Player's Mini-Profiles. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on January 12, 2012 ; accessed on May 30, 2020 (English).
  6. ↑ a b c McCulloch Refletcs On 'Great Memories'. In: wst.tv. WPBSA , March 29, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  7. ↑ James Beal: Snooker star Pots the Lot. Bridgwater Mercury, November 28, 2007, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 27, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2002-2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2003-2004 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2003-2004 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2004-2005 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2004-2005 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2005-2006 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2005-2006 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2006-2007 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2006-2007 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2007-2008 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2007-2008 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2008-2009 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2009-2010 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2010-2011 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Ron Florax: Ian McCulloch - Season 2011-2012 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  33. ↑ a b matt2745: PSB Interview: A Chat With Ian McCulloch. Pro Snooker Blog, November 19, 2011, accessed May 30, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME McCulloch, Ian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Preston , England