Gerard Greene
Name: Gerard Greene
DOB: November 12th 1973
Nationality: Northern Irish (born in England)
Turned Pro: 1993
Highest Ranking: #26 (2003/4)
Current Ranking: #32
Highest Break: 143 (2000 Masters)
Career Highlights: 2007 Grand Prix Semi-Finalist, Four time Ranking Event Quarter-Finalist, 1996 Polish Masters Champion
Playing Style
An excellent potter, Gerard is an attacking player who when in full flight is capable of causing most players problems. Unfortunately however the other aspects of his game such as his positional play and his temperament are not quite as strong and as a result he has so far failed to quite break into the elite top 16 during his long career.
Early career
Turning professional in 1993, Gerard’s career was largely unremarkable in the 1990’s, though he did have an amazing match where against Steve Davis at the 1996 Grand Prix where he went ‘in-off’ the final black to lose the frames on three occasions. On a more positive note however he did win the non-ranking Polish Masters in the same year which helped to raise his profile within the snooker world somewhat. He also managed to make his first ranking event quarter-final at the Crucible in 1997 where he lost out to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
2000’s
In 2003/4 he enjoyed a strong season, reaching his second ranking quarter-final, as well as making a couple of runs to the last 16. This ensured that he entered the top 32 of the rankings for the first time, becoming the Northern Irish number one by overtaking Joe Swail who was struggling at the time.
His next few seasons were up and down though as he dropped back out of the 32, moved back up again and then finally slipped out again following the 2007/8 season. This latest campaign proved to be bittersweet as he started the season in fine form, reaching his first ranking semi-final at the 2007 Grand Prix where he eventually lost out 6-5 to Marco Fu. Things continued to go well at his home tournament in Northern Ireland where he reached the quarter-finals with impressive wins over Liang Wenbo, Mark Williams and Ken Doherty, before losing out to Mark Allen.
In a strong position in the provisional rankings and looking to at least retain a spot in the top 32, it was a shame that at this point his form seemingly deserted him and his ranking suffered as a result. Losing 10-2 to Mark Davis in the final World Championship qualifying round, this ensured that Greene would end the season just short of his target in a disappointing 33rd place.
2008/9
Gerard’s 2008/9 campaign can best be described as solid without being spectacular as although he won his opening match in six of the season’s eight ranking events, he managed to go further on just two occasions. Importantly though, one of these times was at the World Championship where having defeated Liu Song 10-6 in a nervy match, he overcame the 1997 champion Ken Doherty to qualify for the Crucible stage.
Having lost his opening match there three times before, he was hoping to finally enjoy some success at snooker’s most famous venue but unfortunately he slipped to a 10-5 defeat to world number seven Ali Carter. He did at least do enough to move back up inside the top 32 of the rankings which meant that for 2009/10 he would have to negotiate only one qualifying round in order to reach the venue stage of events.
Tournament Victories:
Non-Ranking Event wins (1)
| Polish Masters | 1996 |
