Anthony McGill (snooker player)

Anthony McGill

Anthony McGill at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1991-02-05) 5 February 1991
Glasgow, Scotland
Sport country  Scotland
Nickname Licensed To Thrill[1]
Professional 2010–
Highest ranking 17 (September 2016–present)
Current ranking 18 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £219,020[2]
Highest break 144 (2014 World Open)[3][4]
Century breaks 108[5]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1

Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of Alan McManus.[6]

McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings.[7] McGill won the 2016 Indian Open after having never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event previously.

Career

Amateur years

He was runner-up to Stuart Carrington in the 2006 Junior Pot Black.[8]

He was runner-up in the 2008 European Under-19′s Championship behind Stephen Craigie.[9]

In the 2009/2010 season he won the fifth event of the International Open Series and finished fourth in the rankings. Thus, McGill received a place on the professional Main Tour for 2010/2011. He reached his first professional final losing 1–6 to John Higgins in the 2011 Scottish Professional Championship.

2011/2012

McGill did not manage to qualify for the main stage of any ranking event tournaments during the season, reaching the final qualifying on one occasion in an attempt to reach the German Masters.[10] He reached the semi-finals of Event 3 in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series, which included wins over experienced campaigners Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, before losing 0–4 to Ben Woollaston.[11] McGill's season concluded with an 8–10 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the penultimate qualifying round for the World Championship, finishing the season ranked world number 50.[10][12]

2012/2013

McGill could only qualify for the China Open during the 2012/2013 season. He beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wildcard round.[13] He faced Mark Allen in the last 32 and lost 1–5.[14] McGill had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship events by reaching his first ever ranking final in the European Tour Event 5, played in his homeland of Scotland. He saw off the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins to make it through to the quarter-finals where he was 0–3 and 51 points down against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon to triumph 4–3.[13][15] He was also 1–3 down in the semis to Andrew Higginson, but recovered to win on a respotted black. McGill played Ding Junhui in the final and came up short of winning the title as he lost 2–4.[15] The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals,[16] where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline.[13] In the third round of World Championship Qualifying McGill fought back from 3–8 down against Rod Lawler to force a decider which Lawler won.[17] McGill ended the season at number 48 in the world rankings, at that point his highest position.[18]

2013/2014

Anthony McGill at the 2014 German Masters

McGill lost in qualifying for the first three events of the season, but at the Indian Open he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time.[19] He faced Robbie Williams and was whitewashed 4–0.[20] At the minor-ranking Zhengzhou Open he let a 2–0 lead slip in the semi-finals against Liang Wenbo to lose 4–3.[21] McGill was beaten in the last 32 of ranking events on three further occasions during the season.[19]

2014/2015

McGill began the season with a 5–3 loss to John Higgins in the first round of the Wuxi Classic. He reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen.[22] McGill eliminated both Michael Georgiou and Igor Figueiredo by 6–4 scorelines at the UK Championship and then came back from 4–1 down against Nigel Bond to triumph 6–5.[23] He reached his first UK quarter-final by holding on to beat John Higgins 6–5 after being 4–1 up, but attributed the win to Higgins' bad form rather than his own good play.[24] McGill then lost 6–4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan after being 2–0 ahead and admitted he had blown his opportunity to knock out the four-time UK champion after failing to capitalise on the many chances that came his way during the game. However, he did break into the top 32 in the world rankings for the first time after the event.[25] McGill finished 21st on the European Order of Merit to play in the Grand Final and overcame Peter Ebdon 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Joe Perry.[26]

McGill finished the year by qualifying for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, after coming through three matches, ending with a 10–9 victory over Mark King which he closed with a 127 break.[22] Compatriot Stephen Maguire levelled their first round match at 9–9 after having been 9–5 behind, but McGill once again made a century break in the deciding frame, this time a 122.[27] McGill then knocked out defending champion Mark Selby 13–9 in the second round, with Selby stating that he believed McGill could win the title if he could maintain his form.[28] In the third ranking event quarter-final of his career, McGill lost 13–8 to Shaun Murphy.[29] The crowd warmed to McGill during his run in the tournament due to him smiling frequently between shots and displaying a relaxed attitude.[30][31] He was the world number 24 afterwards, resulting in a climb of 21 places in 12 months.[32]

2015/2016

The first ranking event McGill qualified for this season was the International Championship and he thrashed Sean O'Sullivan 6–0, before losing 6–1 to Mark Selby. He exited in the second round of the UK Championship 6–4 to Luca Brecel and reached the last 32 stage of a ranking event for just the second time this season at the Welsh Open with wins over Liam Highfield and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but lost 4–2 to Neil Robertson.[33] McGill overcame Hatem Yassen 10–1, Craig Steadman 10–9 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10–7 to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row.[34] In a rematch of last year's quarter-final, McGill met Shaun Murphy and came back from 6–4 to win 10–8.[35] However, after he lost 13–9 to Marco Fu in the second round, McGill described his play as rubbish.[36]

2016/2017

McGill advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Riga Masters, but was thrashed 5–0 by Michael Holt.[37] Another quarter followed at the Indian Open by whitewashing Stuart Bingham 4–0 and he followed that up by eliminating Stephen Maguire 4–1 and Shaun Murphy 4–2, after trailing 2–0.[38] McGill played Kyren Wilson in the final, the first to feature two players under 25 in five years, and they went into the interval at 2–2. After the break, McGill took three successive frames to seal his first ranking event title with a 5–2 victory.[39]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2010/
11
2011/
12
2012/
13
2013/
14
2014/
15
2015/
16
2016/
17
Ranking[40][nb 1] UR[nb 2] 59 50 48 45 24 28
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 3] Tournament Not Held Minor-Ranking QF
Indian Open Tournament Not Held QF 2R NH W
World Open[nb 4] LQ LQ LQ 1R Not Held QF
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 2R
Shanghai Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R
European Masters Tournament Not Held QF
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R
International Championship Not Held LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 3R
UK Championship LQ LQ LQ 3R QF 2R 2R
Scottish Open Not Held MR Not Held
German Masters 1R LQ LQ 2R 1R LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ 3R 2R 3R
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ 2R DNQ
China Open LQ LQ 1R 1R 2R 1R
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ QF 2R
Non-ranking tournaments
China Championship Tournament Not Held 1R
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held A A A 1R
Ranking & variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Variant Format Event
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship A NH A A A 2R A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic Non-Ranking LQ LQ 1R Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open NH LQ LQ LQ LQ A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R Ranking
Former variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R RV
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.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Event means an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Event means an event is/was a variant format event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  4. The event was called the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  5. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2016 Indian Open England Kyren Wilson 5–2

Minor-ranking event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2012 Scottish Open China Junhui, DingDing Junhui 2–4

Non-ranking event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2011 Scottish Professional Championship Scotland John Higgins 1–6

Amateur event finals

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1 2008 European Under-19 Snooker Championship England Craigie, StephenStephen Craigie 2–6
Runner-up 2. 2010 European Under-19 Snooker Championship Wales Jones, JakJak Jones 4–6

References

  1. "World Snooker Championship: Anthony McGill licensed to charm". BBC Sport. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  2. "Prize Money - All-time, Professional". CueTracker - Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  3. "Haikou World Open Century Breaks". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  4. "Anthony McGill, Season 2013/2014". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  5. "Centuries". Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  6. "Anthony McGill Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  7. "2009–10 PIOS Rankings". Global Snooker. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  8. "Pot Black, Junior Pot Black". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  9. "European Under 19 Championship 2008". maximumbreak.com. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  10. 1 2 "Anthony McGill 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  11. "Players Tour Championship 3 Round 4 to Final" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  12. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 "Anthony McGill 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  14. "Mark Allen sets up Neil Robertson clash at China Open". News Letter. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  15. 1 2 "Ding Takes Scottish Crown". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  16. "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  17. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  18. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  19. 1 2 "Anthony McGill 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  20. "Wallasey's Robbie Williams will face Ding Junhui in the semi-finals of the Indian Open". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  21. "Mac snookered in last-four thriller". Evening Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Anthony McGill 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  23. "Snooker: Tables turned on Nigel Bond as he bows out of UK Championship". Derby Telegraph. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  24. "Anthony McGill edges out John Higgins in thrilling decider at the UK Championship". Daily Mail. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  25. "Scots snooker star Anthony McGill blows chance to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan but is tipped to go right to the top". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  26. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  27. "Marvellous McGill Stuns Maguire". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  28. "Anthony McGill can win world snooker title, says Mark Selby". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  29. "Shaun Murphy reaches Crucible last four by subduing Anthony McGill". Guardian. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  30. "How Scotland's new snooker star Anthony McGill pulled back from the brink and became the Crucible killer". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  31. "World Snooker Championship: Anthony McGill licensed to charm". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  32. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  33. "Anthony McGill 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  34. "Ding Books Crucible Spot". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  35. "Shaun Murphy knocked out of the World Championship by Anthony McGill". Daily Mail. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  36. "World Snooker Championship: Marco Fu battles through against McGill". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  37. "Anthony McGill 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  38. "McGill is Star of India". World Snooker. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  39. "Indian Open: Scot Anthony McGill secures first ranking title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  40. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

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