Mark Bennett (snooker player)

Mark Bennett
birthday	23rd September 1963 (age 56)
nationality	Wales
professional	1986 - 2001
Prize money	£ 277,669
Highest break	141 ( German Open 1995, Q )
Century Breaks	18th
World rankings
Highest WRL place	24 ( 1993/94 )
Best results
Ranked tournaments	1 × semi-finals ( Grand Prix 1996 )
Other professional tournaments	1 × final ( Welsh Professional Championship 1991 )
Amateur tournaments	1 × Welsh Champion (1985)

Mark Bennett (born September 23, 1963 ) is a former Welsh snooker player who became a professional player a year later after winning the Welsh Snooker Championship in 1985 and consequently spent fifteen years as such by the end of the 2000/01 season .

Career

Beginnings as an amateur

Bennett from Newport first took part in an important amateur tournament at the Pontins Spring Open in 1980 and lost his opening game 4-0 to the former six-time world champion Ray Reardon . In the same year he lost both the Welsh U17 championship and the U21 counterpart in the final. Five years later Bennett managed to win the Welsh Snooker Championship with an 8-7 win over Dilwyn John . In the same year he survived the group stage at the amateur world championship with victories over, among others, Jon Wright , Geet Sethi and Alain Robidoux , before losing to Dilwyn John in the quarterfinals 2-5. In addition, despite participating in the semi-finals in the second event, he tried in vain to qualify for the Main Tour via the WPBSA Pro Ticket Series . A year later he reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh championship and lost in this 2-4 against John Terry. Shortly afterwards - for the 1986/87 season - Bennett became a professional player.

First professional years

At the beginning of his first professional season, the season 1986/87 , Bennett succeeded at the International Open with victories over Martin Smith and Paddy Browne the qualification for the main round, in which he was defeated 1: 5 to the Englishman John Virgo . While he subsequently also reached the main round at the Grand Prix , but only lost in the second main round or the round of 32, he also lost at the Classic after successfully qualifying in the first main round against John Virgo. In addition, Bennett lost his opening games at the UK Championship and the British Open as well as the non-ranking tournament Welsh Professional Championship . However, at the end of the season in qualifying for the snooker world championship, he defeated the Englishman John Hargreaves , his compatriot Wayne Jones , the Canadian Bernie Mikkelsen and in the final qualifying round his compatriot Bill Werbeniuk , so that the newcomer Bennett made it to the Crucible right at the first attempt Theater of Sheffield held main round to qualify the world Snooker Championship. In this he met former world champion Dennis Taylor , who defeated him 4:10. However, this resulted in Bennett being placed in 54th place in the world rankings .

At the start of the 1987/88 season Bennett reached the main round again at the International Open and the Grand Prix , but lost in both cases in this directly against Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry . He also lost his opening games at the UK Championship and the British Open and was eliminated from the Welsh Professional Championship in contrast to last year after winning an opening game in the quarter-finals against Doug Mountjoy . At the Classic , Bennett had previously achieved his best result of the season with a participation in the round of 32, before he lost 7:10 to their compatriot Kirk Stevens in qualifying for the World Snooker Championship after defeating Canadians Gino Rigitano and Jim Wych the final qualifying round ended his season. Nevertheless, he was only able to improve by two places on the world rankings.

Also at the beginning of the 1988/89 season Bennett reached the first main round at the International Open and was eliminated in this against his compatriot Steve Newbury by a white wash . However, an opening defeat followed at the Grand Prix , which also occurred for Bennett in the Classic and in qualifying for the World Snooker Championship during the season . In return, however, he reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Professional Championship and the round of the last 64 of the British Open at both the Canadian Masters and the European Open . Before that, however, he had participated in the UK Championship with a round of 16 after one Victory over Jimmy White got his best result of the season. As a result, Bennett was able to improve again on the world rankings, so that he was led to 47th in the following season.

In contrast to previous seasons, Bennett started the next season with an opening defeat at the Hong Kong Open , which was only repeated at the Welsh Professional Championship later in the season . Apart from that, he reached the round of 64 in four ranking tournaments and the round of 32 at the International Open and the British Open and, after successful qualification, the first main round of the snooker world championship, which can be equated with that round . Shortly after the start of the season, he had also reached the semi-finals at the first event of the WPBSA non-ranking tour , before reaching the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament at the UK Championship for the first time in his career. He was also able to defeat Terry Griffiths and Silvino Francisco at the European Open, among others , before losing to Neal Foulds in the round of 16 . This resulted in a jump to 33rd place in the world rankings, which meant that he only narrowly missed the direct qualification for the main rounds of most ranked tournaments, which was connected to 32nd place at the time.

Years in the top 32

Due to a 40-72 defeat on points in the first round of the International One Frame Shoot-Out , the 1990/91 season began for Bennett with an opening defeat, which was only repeated in the course of the season at the UK Championship . In addition, he was eliminated in four tournaments after winning the opening game in the round of 64 and also in four tournaments including the World Snooker Championship in the round of 32. So he came out of this round in only two tournaments: First he won the Asian Open over Barry Pinches , Tony Meo , Bob Chaperon and John Campbell , before he was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual tournament winner Stephen Hendry . In the new year, however, he reached the final of a professional tournament for the only time in his career by winning over Steve Newbury and Tony Chappel at the Welsh Professional Championship , which he lost, however, 3: 9 to Darren Morgan . In the world rankings, this meant a four-place gain, putting Bennett in the top 32 for the first time with rank 29.

As in the Dubai Classic at the start of the season, Bennett was eliminated in five tournaments in the round of 32 the following season . He also lost his opening game in four other tournaments, including in the final qualifying round for the World Snooker Championship with 9:10 against Alan McManus . Apart from these mediocre results, Bennett was able to reach the round of 16 at the Grand Prix with wins over Jonathan Birch and Gary Wilkinson and at the Asian Open with wins over Mark Johnston-Allen and Neal Foulds , in which he had to admit defeat to Dave Finbow and Alan McManus. This led to an improvement of two places in terms of the world rankings.

Right at the beginning of the 1992/93 season Bennett was able to reach the quarter-finals at the Dubai Classic with wins over Barry West , Wayne Jones and Rod Lawler and was eliminated there against Alan McManus. In the further course of the season he also achieved at the Grand Prix with wins over Jason Prince , Martin Clark and Tony Chappel , at the first event of the minor ranking series Strachan Challenge with wins over Jamie Burnett , Robby Foldvari , Willie Thorne and Joe Johnson as well as at the British Open , where he had previously defeated Nigel Bond and Peter Ebdon , among others . Apart from that, he reached the round of 16 at the European Open, the round of 32 at the Benson & Hedges Championship, which was held as a minor ranking tournament this season, and the round of 64 at the second Strachan Challenge event . He also took part several other tournaments as in the qualification for the snooker world championship, but without winning his respective opening game. On the world rankings, he was ranked 24th as a result of the season, which was his best world rankings ever.

In the next season Bennett could not build on the successes of the previous seasons and lost in six tournaments including the World Cup qualification his opening game and was eliminated in another in the round of 128. He was also eliminated early in the three ranking tournaments with winning opening games, with a defeat in the round of 32. His best result of the season, however, was a semifinal participation in the second Strachan Challenge event , which is now only considered a non-ranking tournament , where he lost to the Englishman Anthony Hamilton after defeating Dominic Dale, among other things . Despite the worsened results, he only lost seven places in the world rankings, which means he was just able to stay in the top 32 with rank 31.

Down to rank 50

Bennett's results also deteriorated noticeably in the 1994/95 season , when he played his opening game in the round of 64 such as the Grand Prix with 0: 5 against Joe Johnson or in the round of 48 in six cases his 6-10 defeat by Stefan Mazrocis in the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship . Only at the UK Championship against Danny Fowler and at the European Open against Roger Garrett was he able to win his respective opening game before he had to admit defeat to Ken Doherty and Darren Morgan in the subsequent round of 32 . On the world rankings this resulted in a deterioration from eleven places to 42nd place, which means that Bennett had to qualify again for all the main rounds of ranked tournaments.

The next season began for Bennett with a 5-2 win over Euan Henderson in the round of the last 64 of the Thailand Classics , before he was eliminated in the round of 64 as in the later course of the season at the International Open . In addition, Bennett lost his opening game in three tournaments including the World Cup qualification and was also able to reach the round of 32 three times - at the Grand Prix , the UK Championship and the British Open - after scoring it with a 0 at the European Open : Had just missed 5 loss to Joe Swail in the round of 48. Bennett had already achieved his best result of the season at the German Open , when he reached the quarter-finals with victories over Marcus Campbell , Jason Prince , Dene O'Kane , Dave Harold and Steve James and lost 5-2 to Ken Doherty. Nevertheless, he could not hold his place on the world rankings and slipped to 43rd place as a result.

With the 1996/97 season , the number of Bennett's opening defeats rose to seven games, whereby he only won three opening games. He was eliminated from the Welsh Open after a white wash over Alfie Burden in the round of 64 against Dennis Taylor , although he had previously lost to Martin Clark in the German Open in the round of 48 in the decider . Shortly after the start of the season, however, Bennett had reached the semi-finals of a ranking tournament at the Grand Prix for the only time in his career, when he defeated Darryn Walker , Peter Ebdon , Chris Small , ex-world champions Steve Davis and Tony Drago to win 3: 6 in the semi-finals losing to Euan Henderson. Despite this participation in the semi-finals, Bennett lost seven more places in the world rankings and thus finished 50th in the following.

Last professional years

In the 1997/98 season , both the number of all tournament participations Bennett and the number of his opening defeats fell by two, which he could win again in only three tournaments his opening game. In two cases, more precisely at the UK Championship and the British Open , Bennett was eliminated in the round of the last 64 following the opening game. Only at the Scottish Open did he advance to the round of 16 with wins over Ian Brumby , Tony Drago and Dominic Dale , where he lost to the Englishman Chris Scanlon . Nevertheless, with a loss of 16 places, he slipped out of the top 64 of the world rankings and was 66th in the next season.

Also in the very following season Bennett lost a large part of his opening games with seven games, which reduced the number of games won to two. He was able to win his opening game against Tony Knowles right at the start of the season at the Grand Prix , only to be defeated by New Zealander Dene O'Kane in the round of 96 . He was also able to defeat the Cypriot Mehmet Husnu and then the Pakistani Shokat Ali at the Welsh Open before losing in the first main round to the Scotsman and then reigning world champion John Higgins . On the world rankings, however, Bennett's poor results showed a deterioration to 97th place.

With the 1999/2000 season , the number of Bennett's opening defeats fell back to six, but it was not until the second half of the season that he could win his first opening game at the Malta Grand Prix and then lose to Marco Fu . In the further course of the season, Bennett succeeded in both the Thailand Masters and the Snooker World Championship with two wins each to make it into the round of 64, in which he lost to David Roe and Anthony Davies , respectively . On the world rankings, he slipped another twenty places to 117th place as a result of the season.

In the following season Bennett could not win a single game and was defeated in the first four tournaments of the season Barry Hawkins , Stephen Maguire , Anthony Bolsover and Robin Hull . In the new year he was finally defeated in the qualification for the Welsh Open to the Englishman Craig Butler with 2: 5, this defeat due to the fact that he did not play the three following games, his last professional game. At the end of the season, Bennett ended his professional career after 15 seasons.

successes

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
Second	1980	Welsh U17 Championship	Chris Price	1: 3
Second	1980	Welsh U21 Championship	Wayne Jones	1: 3
winner	1985	Welsh Snooker Championship	Dilwyn John	8: 7
Non-ranking tournaments
Second	1991	Welsh Professional Championship	Darren Morgan	3: 9

Web links

• Profile of Mark Bennett on CueTracker
• Mark Bennett (snooker player) in the Snooker Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Mark Bennett - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 25, 2019 .  
2. ^ Snooker: Bennett to face world champion. The Independent , March 3, 1993, accessed October 29, 2019 .  
3. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1979-1980 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 29, 2019 .  
4. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1984-1985 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 29, 2019 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 29, 2019 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1985-1986 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 29, 2019 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 31, 2019 .  
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Mark Bennett. CueTracker.net, accessed October 31, 2019 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed October 31, 2019 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1988-1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1989-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1990-1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
15. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 1, 2019 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Mark Bennett - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed November 2, 2019 .