Patrick Wallace
Born (1969-09-20) 20 September 1969
Sport countryNorthern Ireland Northern Ireland
Professional1994–1997, 1998–2006, 2007–2011
Highest ranking34 (2001/02)
Best ranking finishQuarter-final (x1)

Patrick Wallace (born 20 September 1969) is a former professional snooker player from Dungannon in Northern Ireland.[1] During his career, which lasted seventeen years from 1994 to 2011, he won two non-ranking titles and was a quarter-finalist in the 2001 World Championship.

He attained his highest world ranking, 34th, for the 2001–02 season, but dropped off the main tour several times, latterly in 2011. Thereafter Wallace retired as a professional and resumed his career at amateur level for a number of years. His eight wins in the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship are a record.

Career

Amateur

After winning the N. Ireland Championship in 1993, Wallace reached the semi-finals of the World Amateur Snooker Championship in Pakistan in December. He led eventual champion Tai Pichit 7–4 before losing 8–7.

Professional

Wallace turned professional in 1994 and reached the last 32 of the Benson & Hedges Championship, where he lost 1–5 to Rod Lawler. He won four qualifying round matches to appear in the last 128 at the 1995 International Open, but there his progress was halted by a 2–5 defeat to Yasin Merchant of India.

In his second season on the main tour, he improved his personal best performance, recording five victories in the 1995 Grand prix before losing 3–5 in the last 96 to Mark King. He was invited to participate in the 1996 Malta Masters, a sixteen-man event, where he won his first match 4–3 against Tony Drago, but Martin Dziewialtowski beat him 4–1 in their quarter-final.

Wallace did not progress in the following season, dropping from the tour in 1997. However, he beat Shaun Murphy 6–4 in the final of Event 4 of the UK Tour in 1998 to secure his immediate return, and at the 1999 Welsh Open, he recorded a last-16 finish for the first time in his career. Wallace beat Mark Miller, Wayne Brown, Quinten Hann, Ken Doherty, and Tony Chappel, and held James Wattana to 2–2 before losing 2–5.

This performance was sufficient for Wallace's ranking to rise from 150th to 84th in time for the 1999–2000 season, and although that season heralded no great results, his run to the final qualifying round of the 2000 World Championship - where eventual quarter-finalist Dominic Dale beat him 10–8 - saw him enter the top 64 for the first time, finishing at 59th.

The 2000/2001 season was also largely quiet for Wallace, a last-48 showing in the UK Championship, where he again lost to Dale, his best until that season's World Championship. Entering at the last-96 stage, he beat Nick Walker 10–2 and Simon Bedford 10–9 to reach the final qualifying round. Wallace trailed Joe Perry 0–2 but recovered to win convincingly, 10–4, and thus reached the final stages at the Crucible Theatre for the first time. At the Crucible, he was drawn against Alan McManus and, against expectations, Wallace prevailed 10–2; he then won his next match 13–5 against Mark King to reach the quarter-finals. Drawn to play his friend and fellow countryman Joe Swail, this match proved a tighter affair; Wallace led 6–2 and 7–4 but could not prevent an 11–13 loss. Assured of £36,500 in prize money, he went into the 2001/2002 season ranked 34th, his highest-ever position.

The season did not reflect his impressive result at the World Championship, as he could not progress beyond the last 48 in any of the eleven tournaments he entered, and 2002–03 was no better; although he again came within one win of reaching the Crucible, Ali Carter beat him 10–8, and his ranking for the 2003/2004 season dropped to 50th.

In the years that followed, Wallace struggled for results, his ranking eventually falling to 74th in the 2005/2006 season, and accordingly he was relegated from the tour again in 2006. He won the Northern Ireland Amateur Championship for the third time in 2007, defeating Joe Meara 10–5 in the final, and received a wildcard to compete again on the main tour as the Northern Ireland nomination; however, he could not recapture the stellar form he showed in 2001, and from this point until his latest relegation from the tour in 2011, he never broke back into the top 64. He remains the only player ever to have reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in their only appearance at the televised stages.

After retiring in 2011, Wallace participated in the qualifying rounds for the 2012 World Snooker Championship. He defeated John Parrott 5–0 in the first preliminary qualifying round before beating Joe Delaney 5–2 in the second preliminary round; however, he was defeated in the second qualifying round 10–9 by Yu Delu.

Amateur

Since retiring as a professional Wallace has continued as an amateur, and has won the Northern Ireland Championship a record eight times; he had been holding the title between 2012 and 2016.[2]

In 2016 Wallace received an invitation as a wildcard to the 2016 Northern Ireland Open, where he lost in the first round 2–4 to Michael Georgiou.[3] Having qualified for the 2018 World Seniors Championship, he came within one frame of winning the title, overcoming Simon Dent 3–0, Rhydian Richards 3–1 and Jonathan Bagley 3–2, but surrendered a 3–1 lead against fellow qualifier Aaron Canavan in the final to lose 3–4.[4]

Outside snooker

Wallace is an accountancy graduate from Queen's University Belfast (1992). He captained the Queen's team to the British Universities title at Leeds in 1992.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2016/
17		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21
Ranking[5][nb 1] [nb 2] 285 194 [nb 3] 150 84 59 34 36 50 39 50 [nb 2] 69 73 68 [nb 4] [nb 4] [nb 4] [nb 4] [nb 4] [nb 4]
Ranking tournaments
European Masters[nb 5] LQ LQ LQ NH LQ Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held A A A A
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 1R 2R
UK Championship LQ LQ LQ A 2R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R A A A A A A
Scottish Open[nb 6] LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R LQ Tournament Not Held MR A A A A
German Masters[nb 7] NH LQ LQ A NR Tournament Not Held LQ A A A A A A
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ A 3R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A A
Players Championship[nb 8] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ QF LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ WD A A A
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ A A A A A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Dubai Classic[nb 9] LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Non-Ranking Event LQ NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 10] LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ NR Tournament Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ 1R LQ NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A Non-Ranking NH
China Open[nb 11] Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ LQ LQ Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A Not Held
World Open[nb 12] LQ LQ LQ A 1R LQ 2R 1R 3R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Belgian Masters A QF Tournament Not Held
Malta Masters NH QF Tournament Not Held
Poland Masters NH F Tournament Not Held
Scottish Masters A A A A A A A 1R A Tournament Not Held
Irish Open Tournament Not Held QF Tournament Not Held
Irish Professional Championship Tournament Not Held 1R 1R Tournament Not Held
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 He was an amateur.
  5. ↑ The event was called the European Open (1994/1995–1996/1997 & 2001/2002–2003/2004), Irish Open (1998/1999) and Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  6. ↑ The event was called the International Open (1994/1995–1997/1998) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  7. ↑ The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  9. ↑ The event was called the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and the Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Thailand Open (1994/1995–1996/1997)
  11. ↑ The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  12. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1994/1995–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 4 (2 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1996 Poland Masters Northern Ireland Gerard Greene 5–6
Winner 1. 1998 UK Tour – Event 4 England Shaun Murphy 6–4
Winner 2. 2001 Scottish Masters Qualifying Event Scotland Stephen Maguire 5–0
Runner-up 2. 2018 World Seniors Championship Jersey Aaron Canavan 3–4

Amateur finals: 9 (8 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1993 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Kieran Erwin 10–8
Winner 2. 2000 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Barry McNamee 10–2
Winner 3. 2007 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Joe Meara 10–5
Winner 4. 2012 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Dermot McGlinchey 10–4
Winner 5. 2013 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Jordan Brown 10–4
Winner 6. 2014 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Raymond McAllister 10–4
Winner 7. 2015 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Jordan Brown 10–2
Winner 8. 2016 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Jordan Brown 10–8
Runner-up 1. 2018 Northern Ireland Amateur Championship Northern Ireland Jordan Brown 5–10

References

  1. ↑ Wilde, Jon (25 April 2001). "SNOOKER : Best win of my career: Wallace". The News Letter.
  2. ↑ "Snooker: Dungannon ace Patrick Wallace wins Northern Ireland title for an amazing eighth time - Tyrone Times". Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Northern Ireland Open snooker: Patrick Wallace relishing return to big stage". BBC Sport. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "Jersey's Canavan through to snooker World Championship qualifiers". ITV News. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  5. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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