| Born | 26 March 1971 Wellingborough, Northamptonshire England |
|---|---|
| Sport country | England |
| Professional | 1991– |
| Highest ranking | 32 (1 month) |
| Current ranking | 32 |
| Career winnings | UK£157,800[1] |
| Highest <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> | 147 (2010 Prague Classic) |
| Best ranking finish | Last 16 : 2011 World Snooker Championship, 2011 Australian Goldfields Open |
| Tournament wins | |
| Non-ranking | 1 |
Rory McLeod is an English professional snooker player. After ten years on the Challenge Tour he reached the Main Tour professional ranks for the 2001/2002 season, paving the way for a solid journeyman career.[2]
Contents |
McLeod has reached the last 16 of five ranking tournaments. The first of these was the 2005 Grand Prix although this victory against a noticeably ill Paul Hunter was bittersweet. His best results of 2004/2005 were 2 last-48 runs, the Welsh Open run including a victory over Shaun Murphy. He narrowly missed out on a place in the last 16 of the 2007 Grand Prix, losing on frame difference in his group to Barry Hawkins.
He qualified for the 2008 UK Championship by beating Jimmy White and Dave Harold where he played Ronnie O'Sullivan. He slipped 6–0 down before launching an impressive comeback by winning five consecutive frames (including three successive centuries), but ultimately lost 9–6. Later in the season he defeated Ian McCulloch to qualify for the World Championship for the first time in 2009, becoming the first black player to have done so. He faced Mark King in the first round but despite putting in a resilient performance lost 10–6. However, his performances throughout the season saw him rise to his highest ranking yet of #39.
In 2009 he won the Masters Qualifying Event, beating Andrew Higginson 6–1 in the final, to earn a place at the final stages of the 2010 Masters where he lost 6–2 to Mark Williams. He followed this up by qualifying for the UK Championship,[3] being knocked out in the first round by Neil Robertson.[4]
McLeod qualified for the World Snooker Championship for the second time in 2011, and was drawn against seeded player Ricky Walden in the first round. In a minor upset, McLeod won the match 10–6 to set up a second-round match with world #1 John Higgins. After the match, Walden criticised McLeod's slow style of play, though McLeod was playing only marginally slower than Walden. McLeod responded to the criticism by arguing that Walden was more responsible for the pace of the match.[5][6] McLeod was ultimately defeated by the eventual champion John Higgins 13–7 in the second round.[7]
On 1 July 2011, respected Dutch referee Jan Verhaas stated on his Twitter page that McLeod refused to shake the hand of female snooker referee Ivy Zhu after his victory over Robert Milkins in a qualifier for the Australian Goldfields Open. Verhaas' comment read: "Rory McLeod refused to shake female ref Ivy Zhu's hand this morning because of his muslim beliefs. You may think what you like about it...".[8]
McLeod qualified for the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open, and beat Peter Ebdon in the first round 5 frames to 3,[9] before going out to Shaun Murphy in the second round.[10]
McLeod qualified for the 2011 UK Championship by beating Barry Hawkins 6-2.[11] He was drawn against three-time UK winner John Higgins and led 4-2 before the scoreline became 5-5. In the deciding frame Higgins "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">fluked</dfn>" two balls, one when escaping "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">a snooker</dfn>" and McLeod would ultimately lose the match 6-5.[12]
McLeod is of Jamaican parentage, and is the only black professional snooker player. He was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, where he attended Victoria Junior School, Westfield Boys School and Sir Christopher Hatton School. He first played snooker seriously at the Embassy Club, Wellingborough, in his early teens, but was also a talented schoolboy footballer. A former pub landlord, he became a Muslim around 2000. He now spends much of his time in Qatar, where he coaches their national snooker team.[13]