Martin Gould

Martin Gould

Martin Gould at the 2015 German Masters in Berlin
Born (1981-09-14) 14 September 1981
Pinner, London
Sport country  England
Nickname The Pinner Potter
Professional 2003/2004, 2007–
Highest ranking 11 (February–March 2012)[1]
Current ranking 24 (as of 1 December 2015)
Career winnings £689,742[2]
Highest break 139 (2011 PTC11, 2013 Championship League)
Century breaks 138[3]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1
Minor-ranking 1
Non-ranking 1

Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He practises at the Rileys Watford pool and snooker club. He has appeared in three ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters.

Career

Gould began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000, at the time the second-level professional tour.[4] In 2002, Gould won his first English Amateur Championship, beating Craig Taylor in the final. Gould reached the semi-finals of the 2002 European Championship.

Gould enjoyed a good run in the qualification for the 2003 World Championship, winning 8 matches, beating Alain Robidoux and Stephen Maguire. Gould's campaign ended when he lost to Patrick Wallace. However, he dropped off the Main Tour after this sole season, and barely played for the next four years, having to look after his terminally ill mother.

Gould returned to action in 2007 as he won his second English Amateur Championship, beating David Lilley 8–7 in a dramatic black-ball decider, as Lilley potted the black only for the white ball to go in-off. He then won the English Play-offs in Leeds to ensure his return to the Main Tour for 2007/08 season.

Gould reached the last 32 of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, beating Matthew Stevens 5–4 from 3–0 down in the last 48. He also won multiple qualifying matches at both the UK Championship and World Championship qualifying events, although he did not ultimately qualify for either event. He finished the season inside the top 64.

Gould came through qualifying for the 2008 UK Championship, beating Supoj Saenla 9–1, Tom Ford 9–6, and in the final qualifying round overturned a 5–2 deficit to overcome Dominic Dale 9–6. In the first round Gould faced eventual champion Shaun Murphy, Murphy did go 7–3 ahead before Gould rattled off four frames in a row to bring the score back to 7–7, but Murphy held on to seal a 9–7 victory. Gould then also reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the last 32. Solid qualifying results in the remainder of the season helped him into the top 48 in the world rankings for 2009/10 season meaning Gould had only to win two matches to qualify for events. In the World Championship qualifying, Gould defeated Rodney Goggins 10–7, David Gilbert 10–8 and former top 16 player Matthew Stevens 10–4 to qualify for the World Championship, where he lost in the first round. Despite dismal results during the first tournaments of 2009/10 season, he again returned to the Crucible the following year and defeated Marco Fu 10–9 in the first round. In the second round he spectacularly led Neil Robertson 6–0, 11–5 and 12–10, playing arguably his best snooker ever, before ultimately losing 13–12.[5] Robertson went on to win the championship that year.

Gould had a strong start to the 2010/11 season, reaching the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters after beating Stephen Hendry 5–3, and scored his major ranking quarter-final at the World Open, where he lost 1–3 to Peter Ebdon. He performed successfully during the minor-ranking PTC events, his best result being the final of the Event 6, where he lost 3–4 to Dominic Dale despite Dale needing snookers in the decider. Having qualified to the PTC Grand Finals, in March 2011 Gould reached his first career final, where he was beaten 4–0 by Shaun Murphy. Gould once again qualified for the World Championship, and defeated Marco Fu 10–8 in a repeat of the previous year's first round match. Gould was then defeated by reigning China Open champion and eventual World Championship runner-up, Judd Trump.

Top 16 breakthrough

Gould began the 2011/2012 season by qualifying for the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, being knocked out in the first round by Stephen Hendry in the former and in the second round to Matthew Stevens in the latter.[6] His consistent performances were enough to see him break into the elite top 16 for the first time in October, meaning he would no longer have to qualify for the ranking tournaments.[7]

In November, Gould won the Masters Trophy of the variant form of the game, Power Snooker, beating reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final.[8] Gould finished 2011 by reaching the final of PTC Event 11, where he lost to Tom Ford 3–4.[9] He also reached the semi-finals of Event 9 and Event 12 to finish 10th in the Order of Merit and seal his place in the Finals, where he lost 1–4 to eventual winner Stephen Lee in the last 24.[10][11] Gould's recent rise up the world rankings earned him a place in the prestigious Masters tournament for the first time in 2012. Only the top 16 are invited to the event with Gould drawing Shaun Murphy in the first round and being beaten 2–6.[12] After breaking into the top 16, Gould only won two matches in ranking events during the rest of the campaign. His season ended with three successive first round defeats, culminating in an 8–10 loss to David Gilbert in the World Championship.[6] He finished the season ranked world number 14, meaning he had climbed 7 places during the year.[13]

The 2012/2013 season was a year of contrasts for Gould as he won three tournaments, but failed to perform in the ranking events. He began with a 3–5 defeat to Jamie Cope in the Wuxi Classic, but then beat Ken Doherty 5–3 and Cao Yupeng 5–4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Goldfields Open where he lost 2–5 to Mark Davis.[14] Gould then won his first professional title carrying ranking points at the minor-ranking Second PTC event of the season. He beat Stephen Maguire 4–3 in the final and credited his work with new coach Stephen Feeney as a major reason for his success.[15] He couldn't translate this form in to the main ranking tournaments though, as he lost in the first round of the next three events and lost his qualifying match in another three to drop out of the top 16.[14][16] At the Snooker Shoot-Out, the event where each match is played over one frame lasting 10-minute under shot clock rules, Gould won the title by beating Mark Allen in the final. The £32,000 cheque he received is the biggest of his career to date.[17] Despite following this up with first round defeats in the World Open and PTC Finals, Gould had won Group 5 of the Championship League to qualify for the Winners Group.[14] There he won three of his six matches to progress to the semi-finals where he beat Ding Junhui 3–0, before seeing off Ali Carter 3–2 to win the tournament with a century break in the deciding frame.[18] Gould's season ended when he lost 5–10 to Shaun Murphy in the first round of the World Championship to finish the year ranked world number 25, a drop of 11 places from the start season.[14][19]

2013/2014 season

In the ranking events of the 2013/2014 season, Gould reached the second round on four occasions but could never advance beyond this point. He also lost in the qualifying rounds for five other tournaments.[20] Gould's best result on the European Tour was at the Rotterdam Open where he lost in the quarter-finals 4–3 to Mark Selby.[21] For the second successive year he qualified for the Winners' group of the Championship League and won through to the semi-finals where he beat Stephen Maguire 3–0. Gould was unable to defend his title however, as he was defeated 3–1 in the final by Judd Trump.[22] As the tournament is non-ranking Gould was unable to halt his slide down the rankings which meant he needed to win three qualifying matches to reach the first round of the World Championship. He did so with comprehensive 10–1 victories over Mitchell Travis and Igor Figueiredo and then beat Liang Wenbo 10–7.[20] Gould played Marco Fu over whom he had already beaten twice in the event before, but he was unable to extend this into a hat-trick of triumphs as he lost 10–7.[23] He fell five more places this season to end it as the world number 30.[24]

2014/2015 season

Martin Gould at the 2015 German Masters

Gould won three matches to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and came from 57–0 down in the deciding frame against Stephen Maguire to beat him 5–4.[25] In Gould's first ranking event semi-final since 2011 he was defeated 6–4 by Joe Perry.[26] He was knocked out in the last 16 of both the Australian Goldfields Open and Shanghai Masters.[27] In October, he reached the final of the Bulgarian Open, but lost 4–2 to Shaun Murphy.[28] At the inaugural World Grand Prix, Gould knocked out Alan McManus 4–1, Mark Selby 4–2 and Peter Ebdon 4–2 to meet Judd Trump in the semi-finals. Gould made a 111 break to go 5–1 up, but incredibly lost five frames in a row during which Trump outscored him 395–37 to be defeated 6–5.[29] He had a chance to exact revenge in the very next event as he met Trump again in the quarter-finals of the PTC Grand Final after eliminating Michael White and turning the tables on Shaun Murphy, but was beaten 4–2.[30] However, Gould's good season ended with a surprise 10–6 loss to amateur Adam Duffy in the first round of World Championship qualifying.[31]

2015/2016 season

Gould's season began at the Australian Goldfields Open, where he beat Marco Fu 5–4, Michael Holt 5–3 and Matthew Selt 5–1.[32] He then eased past Stephen Maguire 6–1 in the semi-finals to play in the second ranking event final of his career, in which he made two centuries and came back from 7–5 down to level John Higgins at 8–8.[33] Gould had the first chance in the deciding frame, but could only score eight points as a 89 break from Higgins denied him the title.[34] Gould qualified for the Shanghai Masters by beating Liam Highfield 5–2 in the final round of qualifying, and beat Barry Hawkins 5–1 in the last 32, before getting revenge on John Higgins for the defeat in Australia by beating him 5–3. He crashed out to Stuart Bingham 5–4 in the quarter-finals despite leading 4–2. Gould would also suffer disappointment at the UK Championship that season as he let a 5-1 lead slip against underdog David Grace in the quarter-finals, losing 6-5 after having several chances to close out the victory.[35]

At the German Masters, Gould defeated Mark Williams 5–4 in the last 32, Ben Woollaston 5–0 in the last 16, Judd Trump 5–4 in the quarter-finals (after having suffered three close losses to him the previous season), Graeme Dott 6–2 in the semi-finals and Belgian Luca Brecel 9–5 in the final to win the first ranking title of his professional career.[36][37]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16
Ranking[38][nb 1] UR UR[nb 2][nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR[nb 3] 210 105[nb 3] UR[nb 2] 63 46 43 21 14 25 30 26
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held 1R QF 1R 2R F
Shanghai Masters Not Held LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R 1R 2R 2R QF
International Championship Not Held 1R 2R 2R 1R
UK Championship A A A A LQ A LQ 1R LQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R QF
German Masters Not Held LQ 1R LQ LQ 2R W
Welsh Open A A A A LQ A LQ 2R LQ LQ 2R LQ 2R 3R
World Grand Prix[nb 4] A A A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ QF 1R 1R 1R NR
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 5] Not Held F 1R 1R DNQ QF
China Open A A A Not Held A LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R LQ LQ A
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Not Held 1R A A
The Masters A A LQ A LQ A LQ LQ LQ A 1R A A A A
Championship League Not Held A A A RR RR W F WD
General Cup [nb 6] Not Held A Not Held A NH A A A A RR
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 7] Not Held QF A A NH RR A A A
Shoot-Out Not Held 1R QF W 1R 3R 2R
Former ranking tournaments
Scottish Open[nb 8] A A A A LQ Not Held MR Not Held
British Open A A A A LQ A Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event A LQ A Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 9] Not Held A A LQ A NR Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held 2R LQ Not Held
Bahrain Championship Not Held LQ Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 10] Not Held Non-Ranking Event 1R 2R SF NH
Indian Open Not Held LQ A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Brazil Masters Not Held 1R Not Held
World Grand Prix Not Held SF R
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

Career Finals

Ranking event finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (1–2)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2011 Players Tour Championship Finals England Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 0–4
Runner-up 2. 2015 Australian Goldfields Open Scotland John Higgins 8–9
Winner 1. 2016 German Masters Belgium Luca Brecel 9–5

Minor-ranking event finals: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2010 Players Tour Championship – Event 6 Wales Dale, DominicDominic Dale 3–4
Runner-up 2. 2011 Players Tour Championship – Event 11 England Ford, TomTom Ford 3–4
Winner 1. 2012 Players Tour Championship – Event 2 Scotland Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire 4–3
Runner-up 3. 2014 Bulgarian Open England Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 2–4

Non-ranking event finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
Masters (0–0)
Premier League (0–0)
Other (1–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2013 Championship League England Carter, AliAli Carter 3–2
Runner-up 1. 2014 Championship League England Judd Trump 1–3

Variant event finals: 2 (2 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2011 Power Snooker England O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan [nb 11]
Winner 2. 2013 Snooker Shoot-Out Northern Ireland Allen, MarkMark Allen 1–0

Notes

  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 New players don't have a ranking.
  3. 1 2 3 4 He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1999/2000–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  6. ↑ The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  9. ↑ The event was called the European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  11. ↑ This format was based on points. Gould won 286–258.

References

  1. ↑ "Rankings after Welsh Open". World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 20 February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Martin Gould – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Martin Gould – Season 2000/2001". Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Neil Robertson comeback denies Martin Gould in thriller BBC Sport, 24 April 2010
  6. 1 2 "Martin Gould 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "Rankings after PTC6 (2011 Warsaw Classic)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "Glittering Gould's Got The Power". WPBSA. 20 November 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Ford beats Gould in PTC 11 final". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "Order of Merit". WWW Snooker. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Betfair Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012)". WWW Snooker. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "Masters Snooker: Shaun Murphy eases past Martin Gould". BBC Sport. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Martin Gould 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Gould Makes Breakthrough". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Official world rankings issued after the williamhill.com UK Championship 2012". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Snooker – Gould beats Allen in shoot-out final". Eurosport. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  18. ↑ "Snooker – Gould lifts Championship League Snooker title". Eurosport. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  19. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  20. 1 2 "Martin Gould 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Williams, Selby through to semi-final stage in Rotterdam". Eurosport. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Trump Triumphs at Championship League". World Snooker. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Fu ends Gould world championship jinx". Zee News. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  25. ↑ "Martin Gould 5–4 Stephen Maguire". Love Snooker. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Wuxi Classic: Neil Robertson and Joe Perry into final of season-opening ranking event". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Martin Gould 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "Murphy Storms To Bulgaria Title". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  29. ↑ "Judd Trump secures place in World Grand Prix final after remarkable comeback". North Wales Daily Post. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  30. ↑ "Gould beaten by Trump in Thailand". West London Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  31. ↑ "Eckington potter Duffy advances in quest for Crucible qualification". The Star. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  32. ↑ "Martin Gould 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  33. ↑ "Higgins To Face Gould in Bendigo Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  34. ↑ "Higgins On Top Down Under". World Snooker. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  35. ↑ Gould stunned by Grace comeback in epic quarter-final
  36. ↑ "German Masters 2016 schedule & results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  37. ↑ "German Masters: Martin Gould wins maiden ranking title". BBC Sport. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  38. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

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