Rod Lawler
Name: Rod Lawler
DOB: July 12, 1971
Nationality: English
Turned Pro: 1990
Highest Ranking: #20 (1996/7)
Current Ranking: #61
Highest Break: 143 (2003 World Championship Qualifying rounds)
Career Highlights: 1996 International Open Finalist, 2003 Regal Welsh Quarter Finalist, 1996 World Championship Last 16, 2008 Bahrain Championship last 32
Career Summary
An ever-present on the professional circuit since the 1990/1 season, Rod’s most successful period came in the mid-90’s when he reached his only ranking event final at the 1996 International Open. There he defeated world number one Stephen Hendry in the second round before going all the way to the final before losing to another Scot, John Higgins. He did however take victory in two non-ranking events in the same year, the Finnish and the China Masters.
The previous year he had also made the final stages of the World Championship in Sheffield with a 10-5 win over former champion Dennis Taylor. Once at the Crucible he defeated another former champion in the shape of John Parrott before seeing his run ended by the Stoke Potter Dave Harold.
Since those successes though (which saw him go up into the top 30 of the rankings for a couple of seasons), victories have been hard to come by for Rod as he has consistently finished in around 50th place in the standings. 2007/8 in particular was disappointing as he only had a couple of last 48 appearances to show for it, putting him down 11 places and only just keeping a spot on the tour.
2008/9
Starting the season ranked 72nd on the provisional list, Rod would have to raise his game to keep his spot for another season and this is what he did as he qualified for the TV stages of both the Bahrain Championship and the China Open.
His most important victory however was to come at World Championship qualifiers in February as in his opening match he came up against Matt Selt in what was a effectively a shoot-out for a top 64 place. Despite Selt being in good form, Rod managed to come through with a 10-4 victory and ensure that he would hang on to his tour status for yet another season.
Tournament Victories:
Non-Ranking Event wins (2)
| China Masters | 1996 |
| Finnish Masters | 1996 |
