Mark Williams (snooker player)
Mark Williams MBE (born
21 March,
1975,
Cwm,
Wales) is a
Welsh professional
snooker player.
Williams has won 16 ranking tournaments, including two
World Championships, and is the first
left-handed player to win the World Championship.
Williams, a late developer compared with his rivals (including
John Higgins and
Ronnie O'Sullivan), demonstrated his intentions to dominate the game when he won his first
Masters title in 1998. The 1999/2000 season proved to be his defining moment, and he won both the
UK Championship and the World Championship. These results, along with another ranking title and three runner-up positions, allowed him to capture the number one position.
Williams is believed by some to be the greatest ever potter in the game. His break-building is supreme, but relaxed positional play means that he does not often convert his frame-winning breaks of around 60 points to breaks over 100. One of his greatest qualities is his laid-back character, which helps in high-pressure situations.
Another important run of form came in the 2002/2003 season when he won the UK, Masters and World titles. This made him the only the fourth player after
Stephen Hendry,
Steve Davis and Higgins to hold these titles simultaneously. The season proved once again that Williams will go down in history as one of the game's greatest players.
In April 2004 Mark's fiancee Jo gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy named Connor. This, and the fact that he has achieved every ambition in the game, has meant that he often loses focus in matches and, as a result, he has slipped down the rankings. After losing in the first round of the 2003 UK Championship to
Fergal O'Brien, he entered a run of relatively poor form which saw him slide to 9th in the world rankings for 2005/2006, having been only the 22nd-highest points scorer in the previous season, meaning that he would need an improvement of form to simply remain in the top 16.
Williams was awarded an
MBE in June of
2004.
On
April 20,
2005 he became the first Welshman, and the fifth player in history, to score the
maximum 147 break at the
Crucible Theatre during the World Championship. He did this in the final frame of a 10-1 first round victory over
Robert Milkins.
On
March 27th,
2006, Mark won his first ranking event in two and a half years, the China Open in Beijing, beating John Higgins 9-8 in a fantastic final. This helped him return to the top 8 in the world rankings after a dramatic fall in the provisional rankings which saw him facing a possible drop out of the top 32.
It was revealed during the World Snooker Championships in April that Mark had split with coach
Terry Griffiths. The two remain very close friends, but Terry would no longer be coaching him.
Williams was originally an amateur
boxer.
Due to an eyesight problem he is unable to distinguish between the red and brown balls, which has occasionally required him to request clarification from referees.
Williams is often referred to as
Mark J. Williams, to distinguish him from another Mark Williams, an
English player from the 1990s. After his 2000 World Championship win, the prize money was sent to the wrong Mark Williams by accident.
Ranking wins
*
World Championship - 2000, 2003
*
Grand Prix - 1996, 2000
*
Regal Welsh Open - 1996, 1999
*
British Open - 1997
*
Irish Open - 1998
*
Thailand Masters - 1999, 2000, 2002
*
UK Championship - 1999, 2002
*
China Open - 2001, 2006
*
LG Cup - 2003
Other wins
*
Benson & Hedges Masters - 1998, 2003
