Leon Heywood

Leon Heywood
birthday	May 26, 1952
date of death	2014 (61 years)
nationality	Australia
Nickname (s)	Cool hand Leon
professional	1983 - 1992
Prize money	£ 1,841
Highest break	75 ( WM 1984, Q )
World rankings
Highest WRL place	98 ( 1985/86 )
Best results
Ranked tournaments	2 × round of the last 96
Other professional tournaments	1 × quarter-finals
Amateur tournaments	1 × final ( Australian Championship 1976 )

Leon Heywood (born May 26, 1952 ; † 2014 ) was an Australian snooker player who, after finishing second at the Australian Snooker Championship in 1976, spent a total of nine years as a professional player between 1983 and 1992, including the quarter-finals of the Australian Professional Championship 1984 and reached 98th place in the world rankings .

Career

Beginnings as an amateur

Heywood, born in 1952, spent his youth in Adelaide and came to Sydney in 1977 at the latest , where he was a member and later life member of the City Tattersalls Club from the same year until the end of his life . As early as 1976 Heywood had finished second behind Ron Atkins at the Australian Snooker Championship , where he had participated in the Amateur World Championship in the same year and was eliminated in the group stage with just one win and one defeat against, among others, Terry Griffiths and Silvino Francisco . In 1979 he also took part in the Pontins Spring Open , but lost his opening game 1: 4 against Steve Davis . He was also the first Australian to play a (not officially recognized) maximum break . At least in the same year he also took part in the state championship of New South Wales . Several years later, depending on the information in 1983 or 1984, Heywood became a professional player.

Professional years

Heywood's first professional season was the 1983/84 season , in which he only took part in the World Snooker Championship and lost there with 7:10 against George Scott . In the next season he finally took for the first time at the Australian Professional Championship and lost his opening game in the quarterfinals with 2: 6 against John Campbell , while he lost again in the Snooker World Championship with 1:10 against Bob Chaperon his opening game. On the snooker world rankings he was led to 98th place, which is his best world ranking. But after he only participated in the Australian Professional Championship in the following two seasons 1985/86 and 1986/87 and lost his opening game 3: 7 against Glen Wilkinson and on the other hand signed up for several tournaments, with the exception of the Australian Professional Championship and the local 6-0 defeat against Glen Wilkinson but did not play a single game, he only slipped to 118th place and then lost his rankings again.

In the 1987/88 season he finally only took part in the Australian Professional Championship and lost 4: 6 against Ian Anderson again his opening game. Even though he didn't play a single professional game in the following, he returned to the world rankings in the 1991/92 season with 159th place. Nevertheless, he ended his professional career at the end of this season after nine professional years.

Further life

In addition to snooker, Heywood operated a wide variety of sports such as fitness training , running , swimming and, last but not least, racquetball . In the latter sport, he also won various tournaments and was also president of the local club. Heywood became seriously ill seven to eight years before his death until he moved from Sydney to his hometown Adelaide a few months before his death and finally died in early 2014 at the age of 61. In an obituary, the chairman of the City Tattersalls Club , to which he had been a member for 37 years, described him as a "long, lean and flexible player with a steady hand, a cool head and a strong will to win."

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Professional tournaments
Second	1976	Australian Snooker Championship	Ron Atkins	Group stage

Web links

• Profile of Leon Heywood on CueTracker
• Leon Heywood in the snooker Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Patrick Campion: Tribute to Leon Heywood. City Tattersalls Club , March 28, 2014, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Leon Heywood - Professional Results. CueTracker., Accessed January 10, 2020 .  
3. ^ ^{A b c d} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Leon Heywood. CueTracker., Accessed January 10, 2020 .  
4. ↑ Past Champions. Australian Billiards & Snooker Council , accessed January 10, 2020 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1976-1977 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1978-1979 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
7. ^ NSW Snooker Championship (Major). Billiards & Snooker Association of New South Wales, 2018, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
8. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1983-1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1984-1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Leon Heywood - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed January 10, 2020 .