Stephen Lee
Name: Stephen Lee
DOB: October 12th, 1974
Nationality: English
Turned Pro: 1992
Highest Ranking: #5 (2000/1)
Current Ranking: #25
Highest Break: 145 (2008 Northern Ireland Trophy)
Career Highlights: 1998 & 2001 Grand Prix Champion, 2002 Scottish Open Champion, 2006 Welsh Open Champion, 2008 Masters Finalist, 2003 World Semi-Finalist
In short
With one of the best cue actions the game has ever seen, Stephen Lee is an extremely talented player who was at the turn of the century was one of the most dangerous players on the tour.
Despite four ranking event titles however, there have been a number of critics of his game, pointing to his cautious style of play as typified by his reluctance to split the pack of reds until the last possible moment, as well as problems caused by his weight. Still, he has been a force to be reckoned with for a long time now and is not a player that you would want to come up against early in an event.
Recently though he has suffered a number of poor results and at the end of the 2007/8 season he lost his place in the top 16 that he held for 11 straight years. There was talk of retirement but he has returned for the new season to set about regaining a place among the world elite where a man with his talent surely belongs.
Early career
As a British U16 and U18 Champion at amateur level, Lee joined the main tour at the start of the 1992/3 season and did not take long to settle in the pro ranks. In fact on the way to making the quarter-finals in the European Open as well as two other last 16 places, Stephen won a staggering 33 successive frames during qualifying matches, an all-time record that is unlikely ever to be beaten.
Following a similar second season in 1993/4, Stephen was up to a hugely impressive 40th position in the world rankings, giving himself a strong platform to build on for the following year. Although he did not make a big leap then, he did at least manage to qualify for the World Championship for the first time, losing to eventual finalist Nigel Bond in the first round.
The next two seasons again witnessed a steady improvement in results as he moved firstly into the top 32 before breaking into the elite top 16 for the first time in 1997 following his first win at the Crucible.
In 1997/8 he consistently won matches, reaching his first ranking event semi-final at the UK Championship before losing out to Ronnie O’Sullivan. He repeated this achievement at the Scottish Open, again losing to O’Sullivan, but he had at least done enough to move into the top ten for the first time at number nine.
Grand Prix Champion
The next step for Lee was to reach a final and this was soon to come at the 1998 Grand Prix. Here he came up against rookie Marco Fu who was having an inspired week of his own, but it was Lee who was to prevail 9-2 to win his first ranking event crown. Another four quarter-finals, including the 1999 World Championship crowned his best season to date as he moved up to sixth in the rankings.
1999/2000 saw Stephen again reach the latter stages of several events including two finals though he was to win neither. Other good results pushed him up to a career high ranking of number five, though this was to be short-lived as his next season was to be slightly less successful.
The 2001/2 season turned out to be the best of Lee’s career however as he won the Grand Prix for the second time. In the final of the tournament, rebranded as the LG Cup, he met old rival Peter Ebdon and won convincingly 9-4. He followed this up with his third ranking crown at the Scottish Open and actually ended the season ranked number one on the one year rankings
The next season saw no more titles come his way, but he did reach the semi-finals of the World Championship, beating Steve Davis, Jimmy White and Marco Fu before losing to eventual winner Mark Williams. This run, his best at the event to date was at least enough to move him back up to 5th in the world.
Decline
Following this however, things went downhill for Stephen as his results began to worsen. This continued to the extent that he entered the final few events of the 2005/6 season provisionally ranked outside of the top 16, though he retained his status by surprisingly winning his fourth ranking event title at the 2006 Welsh Open.
This was only to be a temporary reprieve however as his other results continued to be poor, culminating in him losing his top 16 place at the end of the 2007/8 season, although he did reach the final of the invitational Masters event in 2008.
2008/9
Back in the qualifiers, 2008/9 was to be an inconsistent season for Stephen as at times he played really well, notably reaching the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, but also managing to lose three first round matches.
The highlight of his season was probably his final qualifying round match against Judd Trump for the World Championship as he recovered from 6-2 down to complete a brilliant 10-8 victory with arguably the finest clearance that I have ever seen at a live snooker match. Every shot seemed to be getting away from him but he kept potting them in and secured a memorable win.
Typical of his season however, once at the Crucible he went down rather tamely to Welshman Ryan Day in the next round and ended the season up one place in 25th.
Ranking Event wins (4)
| Event | Year |
| Grand Prix/LG Cup | 1998, 2001 |
| Scottish Open | 2002 |
| Welsh Open | 2006 |
