Dominic Dale

Dominic Dale

Dominic Dale at the 2014 German Masters
Born (1971-12-29) 29 December 1971
Coventry, England
Sport country  Wales
Nickname The Spaceman
Professional 1992–
Highest ranking 19 (1999/00)
Current ranking 38 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £1,022,447[1]
Highest break 145 (1999 UK Championship)[2]
Century breaks 195[3]
Tournament wins
Ranking 2
Minor-ranking 1
Non-ranking 1

Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale[4] on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh[5] professional snooker player and occasional snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC. He is often by commentators referred to as the greatest player to never be in the top 16.

Career

Dale was born in Coventry, England.[5] He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, which allowed him to compete at the World Amateur Championship in Bangkok. Dale reached the final, but lost 9–11 against Noppadon Noppachorn. Dale turned professional for the 1992/1993 season.[5]

He has won two ranking tournaments in his career, the first of which – the Grand Prix in 1997 – he won while ranked number 54 in the world, beating then world number 2 John Higgins 9–6 in the final. It took him a decade to repeat the achievement at the 2007 Shanghai Masters, where he defeated compatriot Ryan Day 10–6 in the final, from 2–6 behind. On his way to the Shanghai final he beat Rory McLeod, Ken Doherty, Adrian Gunnell, Dave Harold and Mark Selby.[6]

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 beat Peter Ebdon at the 2008 Malta Cup, despite a bout of stomach cramps and a drinking session the night before the match.[7]

Dale is the only player to have won multiple ranking tournaments without ever reaching the top 16, but he was 14th on the one-year list for both 1997/1998 and 1999/2000 (missing out due to an unsuccessful 1998/1999 season).

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.

Dale won the third professional tournament of his career when he won Event 6 of the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011, beating Martin Gould 4–3 in the final. This win, along with other consistent performances, were enough to see him back into the top 32 players. He also qualified for the World Championship for the first time since 2004,[8] although he was comprehensively beaten 10–2 in the first round by Ronnie O'Sullivan.

2011/2012 season

Dominic Dale at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic

Dale had a good start to his 2011/2012 season as he reached the quarter-finals of the first event, the Australian Goldfields Open. Dale was originally due to meet Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, but due to his withdrawal for medical reasons he instead played amateur Steve Mifsud and won 5–2.[9] He then beat home favourite Neil Robertson on the final black in a 5–4 win lasting almost four hours,[10] before losing to Mark Williams in another final frame decider, having never been behind in the match until the end.[11] He then reached the final stages of the UK Championship for the first time since 2005 by beating Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round and was drawn against Judd Trump in the last 32. Dale led 4–2 before Trump had a large slice of fortune in the seventh frame by fluking a pink. Dale would eventually lose the match 4–6.[12] He also reached the 2012 PTC Finals courtesy of finishing twentieth in the Order of Merit.[13] His qualification was largely due to making the final of Event 10, where he was beaten by Michael Holt 2–4.[14] In the Finals he lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round.[15] Dale qualified for the World Championship with a 10–3 victory over Ben Woollaston to set up another first round meeting with Judd Trump.[15] He led the match 7–6 against an opponent who later revealed to be suffering from food poisoning, before conceding four successive frames to lose 7–10.[16] Dale finished the season ranked world number 23, meaning he had climbed 8 places during the year.[17]

2012/2013 season

Dominic Dale at the 2013 German Masters

Dale qualified for nine of the eleven ranking events during the 2012/2013 season, but lost in the first round in eight of them.[18] The exception was at the International Championship where he beat Graeme Dott 6–3, before losing 5–6 to 14-year-old Lü Haotian in the second round.[19] Dale's best run in the PTC's came at Event Three by reaching the semi-finals in a run that included a 4–2 over Mark Selby, but he lost to world number 65 Rod Lawler 0–4.[18] Dale finished 28th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals.[20] Dale reached the opening round of the World Championship by dispatching Alfie Burden 10–5 and played Judd Trump at this stage for the second successive year where he was defeated 10–5.[18] His end of season ranking was world number 23 for the second year in a row.[21]

2013/2014 season

Dominic Dale at the 2014 German Masters

Dale reached his second quarter-final in the Australian Goldfields Open in three years in the early stages of the 2013/2014 season. He eliminated Mike Dunn and Fergal O'Brien, but then lost 5–1 to Marco Fu.[22] In the next four ranking events he lost in the first round of two and failed qualify for both of the others.[22]

In January 2014, Dale won the Snooker Shoot-Out final in Blackpool, beating Stuart Bingham in a close frame. Dale had received significant support from the crowd and had promised to sing My Way should he win the event. In his post-match interview he sang a short rendition of the song, showcasing an impressive baritone voice.[23] The result seemed to kick start his season as the following week he beat Steve Davis and John Higgins at the German Masters, but let a 3–1 lead slip in the last 16 against Ding Junhui to lose 5–3.[24] Dale also won two matches before falling at the third round in the Welsh Open and World Open, losing to Mark Selby and Alan McManus respectively.[22]

Dale qualified for the World Championship courtesy of defeating Andrew Higginson in the final round of qualifying.[25] He faced Mark Davis in the first round and beat him 10–5, marking his first win at the Crucible since 2000.[26] Dale followed this up with a 13–4 win over Michael Wasley (who had beaten pre-tournament second favourite Ding Junhui in his opening match) to reach the quarter-finals for the second time, 14 years after the first.[27] Dale played Barry Hawkins and trailed 11–5 after the second session, but then amazingly won seven frames in a row to be just one away from reaching the semi-finals and matching the biggest comeback at this stage ever at the Crucible. However, Hawkins won the two frames he required without giving Dale a chance to beat him 13–12. Later, Dale revealed that he had reverted to an old cue action before the start of the final session.[28]

2014/2015 season

Dale lost 5–3 to Mark Davis in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open and he reached the semi-finals of the Six-red World Championship, where Ricky Walden beat him 7–1.[29] At the Shanghai Masters he knocked out Judd Trump 5–2, before losing 5–1 to Stuart Bingham.[30] This last 16 defeat would prove to be Dale's best finish in a ranking event this season as he could not win another match at a venue until the China Open, when he ousted Jimmy Robertson 5–3, but then fell 5–2 to Barry Hawkins in the second round.[29] He had a consistent year in the minor-ranking European Tour events with a pair of last 16 exits helping him to finish 25th on the Order of Merit to claim the last qualification place for the Grand Final, where he was whitewashed 4–0 by Mark Selby in the opening round.[29]

2015/2016 season

At the International Championship, Dale defeated Matthew Selt 6–1 and then lost 6–3 to Joe Perry in the second round.[31] His second round match with Peter Ebdon at the UK Championship finished at 1:30am as Dale relinquished a 5–4 advantage to be beaten 6–5.[32] Breaks of 72, 73, 82 and 61 saw Dale sneak past Mark Williams in the opening round of the Players Championship Finals 4–3, before he lost 4–1 to Shaun Murphy.[33] Dale won more than one match at a ranking event for the only time this season when he knocked out Jamie Jones and Darryl Hill at the China Open, but then was beaten 6–1 by Stephen Maguire in the third round.[31]

2016/2017 season

Dale saw off Ishpreet Chadha 4–2 and Marco Fu 4–0 to reach the third round of the Indian Open, where he lost 4–1 to Peter Ebdon. At the Paul Hunter Classic he enjoyed victories over Ben Woollaston, Ian Glover, Michael Holt, Yan Bingtao and Jimmy White to play in the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time since 2007.[34] Dale was defeated 4–2 by Mark Selby.[35]

Personal life

Dale's personality, dress sense and hair styles make him one of the more flamboyant players on the circuit. In his early years he wore a white suit with colourful shirts. In 2007 he sported bleached blonde hair with a bright pink shirt. His interests include snooker memorabilia, Art Deco and operatic singing. After his Shanghai Masters semi-final win, he celebrated by singing "My Way" at the post-match conference.[36][37] and so did after the victory in 2014 Snooker Shoot-Out. In December 2007 Dale moved to Vienna with his then girlfriend.[38] His form declined after this move, which he attributed to not having a professional training partner in Vienna,[39] and he returned to live in the UK four years later, although only for a year.[37]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1992/
93		 1993/
94		 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
Ranking[40][nb 1] UR[nb 2] 164 99 79 87 54 23 19 20 20 20 28 32 34 39 31 32 34 45 31 23 23 24 33 38
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 3] Tournament Not Held MR LQ
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 1R LQ NH 3R
World Open[nb 4] LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ W 1R 4R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R RR RR LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 3R Not Held LQ
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 5] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event SF
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held W 1R LQ LQ 1R 1R LQ 2R LQ LQ
European Masters Tournament Not Held 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R
International Championship Tournament Not Held 2R LQ 1R 2R 2R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 4R
UK Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 3R 7R 3R 2R 2R 2R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R
Scottish Open[nb 6] LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 3R 2R 4R 1R 3R 1R 2R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held
German Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held 2R LQ 1R 3R LQ LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 4R 1R 2R 1R LQ 1R SF 2R 1R LQ 1R 1R 1R 1R LQ 1R 3R 1R 1R
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 8] Tournament Not Held 2R 1R DNQ DNQ 1R 2R
China Open[nb 9] Tournament Not Held NR 1R LQ 2R 1R Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 2R 2R 3R
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R LQ 1R QF LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R QF LQ LQ
Ranking & variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Variant Format Event
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held A 1R A A
The Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A LQ A A A A A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held RR A A A RR RR RR RR RR
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 10] Tournament Not Held A A A NH QF 2R SF A 2R
Former ranking tournaments
Dubai Classic[nb 11] LQ LQ 2R LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Not Held Non-ranking QF NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 12] LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R SF LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ 2R LQ LQ 3R 4R 1R 4R 2R 2R 2R 2R 1R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ LQ LQ NH NR Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 13] LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ NH 1R Not Held 1R LQ LQ LQ SF LQ NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR SF 2R 2R Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held QF Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 14] Tournament Not held Non-ranking 1R 1R LQ Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 15] Not held NR Tournament Not held QF 1R QF 1R LQ NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Scottish Masters A A A A A A A A LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 13] Ranking Event NH R Not Held Ranking Event RR Tournament Not Held
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R R
General Cup [nb 16] Not Held F Not Held A NH A A A A A NH
World Seniors Championship Tournament Not Held A A A A QF QF NH
Former variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 2R QF 3R W 1R 1R 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
DQ disqualified from the tournament
NH / Not Held event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season 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 Grand Prix (1992/1993–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  6. ↑ The event run under different names as International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004)
  7. ↑ The event run under different name as German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  8. ↑ The event run under different name as Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  9. ↑ The event run under different name as China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  10. ↑ The event run under different names as Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  11. ↑ The event run under different names as Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  12. ↑ The event run under different names as Asian Open (1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
  13. 1 2 The event run under different names as European Open (1992/1993–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999)
  14. ↑ The event run under different name as Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  15. ↑ The event run under different names as Australian Open (1994/1995) and Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  16. ↑ The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 2 (2 titles)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (2–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1997 Grand Prix Scotland Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins 9–6
Winner 2. 2007 Shanghai Masters Wales Day, RyanRyan Day 10–6

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

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2010 Players Tour Championship – Event 6 England Gould, MartinMartin Gould 4–3
Runner-up 1. 2011 Players Tour Championship – Event 10 England Holt, MichaelMichael Holt 2–4

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

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2003 Masters Qualifying Event Australia Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson 5–6
Runner-up 2. 2004 General Cup Thailand Kachaiwong, IssaraIssara Kachaiwong 3–6
Winner 1. 2014 Snooker Shoot-Out England Bingham, StuartStuart Bingham 1-0

Team

References

  1. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Dominic Dale - Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "1999 UK Championship - Centuries". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Dominic Dale". Global Snooker. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 "Player Profile: Dominic Dale". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004.
  6. ↑ "Resurgent Dale wins in Shanghai". BBC Sport. BBC. 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  7. ↑ "Time for Welsh win – Dale". Wales Online. 2007-02-11. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  8. ↑ "Dominic Dale secures World Championship qualification". BBC Sport. BBC. 2011-03-13. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
  9. ↑ "O'Sullivan Pulls Out Of Australia Event". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Favourite Neil Robertson knocked out of Australian Goldfields Open". The Guardian. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Williams sets up Doherty semi-final in Australia". BBC Sport. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  12. ↑ "Trump beats Dale". BBC Sport. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  13. ↑ "PTC Order of Merit after PTC12" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Holt Downs Dale For PTC Success". WPBSA. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Dominic Dale 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  16. ↑ "Judd Trump overcomes food poisoning to beat Dominic Dale at the Crucible". The Guardian. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  17. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 "Dominic Dale 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  19. ↑ "Snooker - Lü Haotian stuns Dale to reach International Championship quarters". Eurosport. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  20. ↑ "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  21. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  22. 1 2 3 "Dominic Dale 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Snooker Shoot-Out: Dominic Dale beats Stuart Bingham 77-19 to claim title". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "Ding And Trump Into Quarters". World Snooker. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  25. ↑ "Dott / Williams / Stevens Miss Crucible". World Snooker. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  26. ↑ "World Championship: Dominic Dale and Neil Robertson reach second round at Crucible". Sky Sports. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  27. ↑ "World Snooker Championship 2014: Dale eyes Hawkins win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  28. ↑ "Hawkins Wins Thriller Against Dale". World Snooker. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  29. 1 2 3 "Dominic Dale 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  30. ↑ "Shanghai Masters: Judd Trump & John Higgins lose in first round". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  31. 1 2 "Dominic Dale 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  32. ↑ "Peter Ebdon shocks Stuart Bingham despite sleep woes". Eurosport. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  33. ↑ "Dominic Dale defeats Mark Williams in all Welsh affair at Ladbrokes Players Championship". Wales Online. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  34. ↑ "Dominic Dale 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  35. ↑ "Selby First in Furth". World Snooker. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  36. ↑ http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~2204254,00.html
  37. 1 2 "Players – Dominic Dale". World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  38. ↑ "Dale in a Viennese whirl over move". Wales Online. 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  39. ↑ World Snooker News: Dale – I Haven’t Adjusted To Vienna Move
  40. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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