Jason Prince

Jason Prince
birthday	17th June 1970
place of birth	Derry , Northern Ireland
nationality	Northern Ireland
professional	1990 - 2004
Prize money	£ 215,350
Highest break	147 ( British Open 1999 )
Century Breaks	16
World rankings
Highest WRL place	39 1998/99

Jason Prince (born June 17, 1970 in Derry , Northern Ireland ) is a Northern Irish snooker player . From 1990 he was a professional player for fourteen seasons, playing the 25th officially recognized maximum break at the 1999 British Open .

Life

After the Derry- born Prince moved to England in 1987, he tried in 1987 and 1988 to qualify for the professional tour through the WPBSA Pro Ticket Series , with a round of 16 in 1988 being his best result. This changed when he reached the final in 1989 with victories over the later professional players Karl Burrows , Peter Lines , Jason Ferguson and Jonathan Birch , where he met the Englishman Jeff Cundy , who defeated him 3: 5. Prince then took part in the Professional Play-off in 1989 , where he came to the decisive round through victories over David Rippon and Scott McFarlane , where he met the brother of the 15-time record world champion Joe Davis , Fred Davis , who himself became world champion eight times was. With a 10: 5 win, Prince bought the professional ticket for the 1990/91 season.

First professional years & establishment in the top 40

After he failed in the final of the English amateur championship for the north at Scottish Alan McManus in 1990, his first professional season began with an opening defeat at the International One Frame Shoot-Out . In the following tournament - the Grand Prix - he won his first professional game with a 5-4 over Nick Terry , but he then failed to Robert Marshall . At the Dubai Classic , he then moved into his first main round with wins over Barry Pinches and Brian Morgan , where he benefited from the non-fighting abandonment of two-time world champion Alex Higgins . With a 5-4 win over the Maltese Tony Drago he reached the round of 16, where he was defeated by the Englishman Dea Reynolds in the decider . After two initial defeats, he then moved into the round of 32 in both the Classic and the men's individual competition of the World Masters , before at least reaching the first main round at the British Open . At the European Open , he moved through victories over Dave Gilbert , John Campbell and Danny Fowler back in a round of 32, in which he was again defeated by Dean Reynolds. At the end of his first professional season he defeated in qualifying for the snooker world championship with Fred Davis an eight-time and with Ray Reardon a six-time world champion, before he failed after a 10: 9 victory over Colin Roscoe in the penultimate qualifying round at later main round participant Craig Edwards . In the world rankings, the tour newcomer placed 56th.

The 1991/92 season began for Prince with a main lap entry at the Dubai Classic and an entry into the round of 32 of the Grand Prix . After an opening defeat, he moved into the round of 16 of the UK Championship with victories over, among others, Mike Hallett and Nigel Bond , in which he was defeated by Dean Reynolds . Two early defeats followed before reaching the round of 32 at the Welsh Open and the round of 64 at the British Open . Again three opening defeats followed - including in the World Cup qualification until he reached the final of the Irish professional championship with victories over the Irish players Paul Watchorn , Paddy Browne and Fergal O'Brien , which he lost, however, with 1: 9 against Joe Swail . On the world rankings, he managed to improve by 15 places, so that he was listed on rank 41 in the next season.

Early next season , Prince reached the round of 64 of the Grand Prix and the round of 32 of the Benson & Hedges Championship . After he had reached the round of 32 at the UK Championship and the first event of the Strachan Challenge , he moved into the semi-finals of the Irish professional championship , where he defeated the Irish Ken Doherty after victories over Stephen O'Connor and Alex Higgins had to. After two restrained tournaments, he reached the round of 32 at the third event of the Strachan Challenge and the round of 64 at both the European Open and the British Open . But in the last three tournaments of the season he lost all of his opening games, so for example in the World Cup qualification in the Decider against Karl Payne . In the world rankings, however, he only lost one place and ended up in 42nd place.

Crash to world number 56

The 1993/94 season began for Prince with three entries into the round of 64 (including the UK Championship ) and one entry into the round of 32 of the Benson and Hedges Championship . After several more entries in the early rounds and an opening defeat, Prince moved into the second round of the Strachan Challenge in the round of 16, where he had to admit defeat Troy Shaw . At the end of the season, he moved into the round of the last 64 of the British Open with a win over Stefan Mazrocis , in which he had to admit defeat to Dennis Taylor before losing his opening game against Sean Lanigan in the World Cup qualifying . On the world rankings he lost five more places.

After advancing to the round of the last 63 after an opening defeat at the start of the next season at the Grand Prix , he lost four opening games in a row. He won his next win at the International Open against Barry West , before he was eliminated by Tony Drago . After another opening defeat, he defeated the Scottish David McLellan at the British Open before failing to Ken Doherty . At the end of the season he lost in the World Cup qualification in the Decider against Stefan Mazrocis. As a result, he lost eight more places on the world rankings.

After an opening defeat at the beginning of the 1995/96 season , Prince only reached the round of 32 at the Benson & Hedges Championship and then the second round at the Grand Prix , where he failed 5-0 to Jimmy White . He then lost twice in a round of the last 64 and once his opening game before he reached the round of 32 at the International Open (including a win over Steve Davis ) and the round of 48 at the European Open . After two defeats in the beginning, Prince lost to Paul Davies in the penultimate World Cup qualifying round at the end of the season - again in the Decider . On the world rankings, however, he slipped one place due to the results of the previous season.

Rise to rank 39 and subsequent crash

Right at the start of the 1996/97 season , Prince reached the round of 48 at the Asian Open , where he lost to Martin Clark . After a round of 16 at the Benson & Hedges Championship , however, he lost in three consecutive tournaments in the round of 64. This series he ended at the Welsh Open when he moved into the round of 16 with wins over Jamie Woodman , Gary Wilkinson and Dean Reynolds and there Fergal O'Brien lost. This was followed by another opening defeat by the end of the season, four more defeats in the round of 64, including in the World Cup qualification against Matthew Stevens . On the world rankings he managed to improve by 14 places, so that he finished 42nd in the world rankings in the next season.

After two defeats at the start of the 1997/98 season , Prince reached the round of 16 at the UK Championship , where he was eliminated by Alan McManus . After several defeats at the beginning he moved into the round of 48 at the Thailand Masters before he lost the round of 64 at the British Open and failed 5-0 to John Higgins . At the end of the season, Prince succeeded with a 10: 8 win over Martin Clark for the first time to move into the main round of the Snooker World Championship , where he lost 8:10 in a televised match against Darren Morgan . With the start of the next season, Prince reached the highest ranking position of his career; he improved three places to 39th in the world rankings.

But with the beginning of the 1998/99 season everything went wrong. It was not until the third event of the UK Tour in February 1999 that Prince won his first game. The second and last game that Prince won was at the Thailand Masters . Another bright spot was the British Open , where Prince played the 25th officially recognized maximum break in the sixth frame of his qualifying game against Ian Brumby . Prince still lost 4-5. On the world rankings, he lost 25 places and ended up in 64th place.

In the following season , Prince won a game only in the new year. He moved into the round of the last 48 after six opening defeats at both the Malta Grand Prix and the Thailand Masters , but he lost immediately and then the remaining games of the season. As a result, he lost 25 places on the world rankings and slipped to 89th place.

Establishment in the top 80 and the associated final professional years

The 2000/01 season began for Prince with entries into the round of 64 of the British Open as well as the Benson & Hedges Championship and UK Championship and an entry into the round of 48 of the Grand Prix . But after having suffered an opening defeat at the China Open , he only won his opening game at the Welsh Open in four tournaments in the new year . Nevertheless, he improved to 84th place in the world rankings.

Right at the start of the next season , Prince moved into the round of 64 at the British Open before reaching the round of 80 after two second-round defeats at the 2001 European Open . He reached that very round after two early defeats at the China Open and the Thailand Masters before losing his opening match at the Scottish Open . At the end of the season he defeated the Englishmen Chris Melling and Wayne Brown in qualifying for the World Cup , before failing to David Roe . On the world rankings he climbed three more places.

After a subdued start to the 2002/03 season , Prince reached the round of 96 three times in a row from the UK Championship. At the Irish Masters , he made it into the final qualifying round with victories over Jimmy Robertson , Jimmy Michie and Jonathan Birch however, he lost to Anthony Hamilton . At the end of the season he reached the round of 96 at both the Scottish Open and the World Cup qualification. In the world rankings, he improved to 80th place.

Prince started the next season cautiously, only in the Masters qualifying event he defeated Steve Mifsud and Robin Hull without a fight and made it to the round of 32, where he had to admit defeat to Stuart Bingham . Near two more subdued results, he moved into the round of 80 at the Irish Masters before losing in the second round of the Players Championship . At the end of the season he defeated the Englishman Darryn Walker in the World Cup qualification , before he failed 3:10 to Rory McLeod . This 3:10 defeat should be the last professional game. After he slipped to world number 98 at the end of the season, he lost his professional status after fourteen seasons on the Main Tour.

Further careers and miscellaneous

Prince took part in the Challenge Tour the next season , but lost all of his games. In addition, he gave up a game in World Cup qualification without a fight.

Shortly after starting his professional career, he moved to Birstall , England . After finishing his professional career, he played in the local Birstall Irish Democratic League club . In November 2017, Prince played another maximum break in a game against his son Ryan .

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
Second	1990	Northern English Snooker Championship	Alan McManus	5: 8
Qualifying tournaments
Second	1989/1	WPBSA Pro Ticket Series	Jeff Cundy	3: 5
Non-ranking tournaments
Second	1992	Irish Professional Championship	Joe Swail	1: 9

Web links

• Jason Prince in the Snooker Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Former snooker pro hits record-breaking frame. The Press , November 10, 2017, accessed March 28, 2019 .  
2. ↑ Snooker: Prince's 147 break wasted. The Independent , January 14, 1999, accessed March 28, 2019 .  
3. ^ Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Jason Prince - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed on March 28, 2019 .