Shaun Murphy
Name: Shaun Murphy
DOB: August 10th 1982
Nationality: English
Turned Pro: 1998
Highest Ranking: #3 (2007-)
Current Ranking: #3
Highest Break: 147 (2001 B&H Championship)
Career Highlights: 2005 World Champion, 2008 UK Champion, 2007 & 2008 Malta Cup Champion, 2009 World Championship Finalist, 2008 China Open Finalist, 2005 & 2007 Pot Black Finalist, 2000 B&H Championship Winner
In short
A determined and gritty individual, Shaun Murphy realised his childhood dream when he surprisingly became World Snooker Champion for 2005. While he has not gone on to win a great deal of silverware in the years since, Shaun has managed to be one of the most consistent players on the tour, regularly reaching the latter stages of ranking events. As a result he will remain at number 3 in the rankings for a third successive season in 2009/10.
When he won the World Championship, the aspect of his game that stood out the most was his devastating long game that frequently allowed him to get in first and establish a frame-winning lead, if not winning it in one visit. Since then however Murphy has learned to kerb his attacking instincts to a degree and shown a greater all-round game that is needed to compete with the very best.
As was shown during his heavy defeat to John Higgins in the 2009 World Championship final however, his safety game although improved, could still be better and this remains probably his biggest weakness. The other question that could perhaps be raised is concerning his ability to convert semi-final appearances into tournament wins as since becoming world champion in 2005, he has reached the semi-finals of a ranking tournament on ten occasions and only twice gone on to take the trophy.
Early career
Having started playing snooker aged just 8, Murphy was making century breaks within two years and by the time he was 13 had secured a £5,000 sponsorship deal with Dr Martens.
Having graduated to the amateur ranks, Murphy established himself as one of snooker’s most promising young players during the early 1990’s. Notably he won the UK Junior Championship from 1994-6, won the 2000 English Open and twice reached the final of the English U-21 Championship, several years before his 21st birthday.
Having turned professional in 1997 just days before his 16th birthday, Murphy’s early years on the tour were unspectacular. Highlights included being voted as the 2000 World Snooker Newcomer of the Year and Young Player of Distinction of the Year, as well as winning the 2000 B&H Championship tournament. This allowed him to play in the Masters tournament the following January where having comprehensively beaten Marco Fu in the first round, he lost narrowly to Stephen Hendry in the next. Although he failed to qualify for the event the following season, he did make his first career 147 in one of his qualifying matches.
He continued to move up the rankings during the next couple of years, twice reaching the Crucible where he would lost to former world champions Hendry and Ireland’s Ken Doherty as well as reaching the semi-finals of the European Open. These results helped to ensure that he started the 2004/5 season in the top 48 of the rankings for the first time, though I doubt even he imagined what was going to happen next.
World champion
Having qualified for the 2005 Embassy World Championship by defeating both Marcus Campbell and Joe Swail in the qualifying rounds, Murphy entered the tournament hoping to do better than in his previous two attempts. Paired with the struggling Chris Small in the opening round, Murphy brushed him aside to win his first match at the Crucible Theatre in what would turn out to be Small’s last ever match.
In round two he faced a much sterner test however in the form of former champion John Higgins but he handled the occasion brilliantly, winning 13-8. A thrashing of his idol Steve Davis followed in the quarter-final before he came up against another former world champion, Peter Ebdon. Full of confidence, Murphy defeated his illustrious opponent 17-12 to advance to not only his first world final, but his first ranking event final full stop.
Here he would face Wales’ Matthew Stevens and although very much the underdog, Murphy’s relentless display of long-potting that he had shown throughout the tournament helped him to secure a famous 18-16 victory. This made Murphy the second youngest ever world champion after Stephen Hendry and the first qualifier to do so since Terry Griffiths in 1979.
Subsequent career
Despite being ranked in 21st position, as world champion Murphy was spared the stress of having to qualify for the TV stages of ranking events at the expense of the unfortunate Ian McCulloch for the 2005/6 season. Although he failed to capture a second ranking event tile his performances, highlighted by a run to the final of the 2006 Welsh Open, were enough to move him up to 5th in the rankings. His defence of the World Championship came to an end at the quarter-final stage however when Ebdon gained his revenge for the previous year’s defeat.
The following season brought his second ranking title at the 2007 Malta Cup and he again performed well enough to improve his ranking, this time to third position. He also managed to perform well at the World Championships once again, though he was disappointed to lose his semi-final against Leicester’s Mark Selby from a strong position.
During 2007/8 Murphy was arguably the most consistent player on the circuit, reaching the semi-final stage of no fewer than seven televised tournaments. Despite this however he managed to win only one, the invitational 2008 Malta Cup and was to suffer a disappointing defeat at the hands of Ali Carter in the second round of the World Championship. Again though, his performances were enough to see him end the season third in the rankings.
2008/9
Unfortunately for Shaun, his start to the 2008/9 season was nothing short of a disaster, having lost his opening four matches and slipped from a clear third in the rankings to a precarious sixth on the list. Possible reasons for this include a recent split from his wife of three years, a similar split from long-term coach Steve Prest and various other commitments that have kept him from the practice table at the start of the season.
He returned to form with a bang at the UK Championship in Telford however as after an unconvincing round one win against Martin Gould, he went on to defeat Mark Allen, Stephen Lee, Stephen Maguire and eventually Marco Fu 10-9 in the final to clinch his third ranking event title. That last win coming at 0:22am UK time, it was a hard fought victory and one that saw him become only the tenth player to win both the World and UK Championships.
Following that result his results continued to be improved as he reached the quarter-finals in both Wales and China, before embarking on a fabulous run to his second world final at the Crucible where he would face Scotland’s John Higgins. Having seen off Andrew Higginson, Marco Fu, Stephen Hendry and Neil Robertson already, Murphy went into the match as a slight favourite with some people, but after a close opening session eventually slumped to a heavy 18-9 defeat. The signs were there in his semi-final match with Robertson that perhaps his safety game was not quite where it should be an against a player as tactically aware as Higgins in the final, he was never going to get away with that.
Still, it has been a successful season as a whole, something which looked unlikely after his poor start to the season and he will be hoping to continue his improvement into 2009/10…
Tournament Victories:
Ranking Event wins (3)
| Event | Year |
| World Championship | 2005 |
| Malta Cup | 2007 |
| UK Championship | 2008 |
Non-Ranking Event wins (2)
| Event | Year |
| Benson & Hedges Championship | 2000 |
| Malta Cup | 2008 |
