Dominic Dale

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Dominic Dale

Born	December 29, 1971 (1971-12-29) (age 36)
Nationality	Welsh
Nickname(s)	Spaceman
Professional	1992–
Highest ranking	#19 (1999/00)
2008/09 ranking	32
Tournament wins
Ranking	2

Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale, on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and occasional snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC.

1 Career
2 External links
3 References
4 Tournament Wins
- 4.1 Ranking

[edit] Career

He has won two ranking tournaments in his career, the first of which - the Grand Prix in 1997 - he won while ranked at #54 in the World, beating then World #2 John Higgins 9–6 in the final. It took him a decade to repeat the achievement, but in the 2007 Shanghai Masters he defeated compatriot Ryan Day 10–6 in the final, from 2–6 behind. [1]. On his way to his Shanghai Masters victory he beat Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby before his win over Ryan Day. Both of his ranking victories were in the season-opening tournaments - he also reached the semi-finals of the season-opening events in 2002 (LG Cup) and 2006 (Northern Ireland Trophy). He also hit form in the invitational 2008 Malta Cup, beating Peter Ebdon despite a bout of stomach cramps unrelated to a drinking session the previous night. [2]

Dale has never reached the top 16 of the rankings, but was 14th on the one-year list for both 1997/1998 and 1999/2000 (missing out due to an unsuccessful 1998/1999 season). [3]

His best World Championship performance was in 2000, when he reached the quarter-finals with a 10–6 victory over Peter Ebdon and an emphatic 13–1 defeat of David Gray. Dominic has compiled 81 competitive centuries during his career.

Dale's dress sense and hair styles make him one of the more eccentric players on the circuit. His interests include snooker memorabilia and Art Deco. He is a fan of Friends, Mario Lanza films, and the TV show Bargain Hunt. After his Shanghai Masters win, he performed My Way for the audience. He then sang "Happy Birthday" live on the BBC's 2007 Grand Prix coverage, to commemorate the 60th birthday of former world champion Terry Griffiths. In December 2007 Dale moved to Vienna, with his girlfriend Katharina. ^[1]