Bernie Mikkelsen (born 11 April 1950) is a Canadian former professional
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
player.
Career
Mikkelsen recorded a 9–8 victory over
John Pulman
Herbert John Pulman (12 December 192325 December 1998) was an English professional snooker player who was the World Snooker Champion from 1957 to 1968. He won the title at the 1957 Championship, and retained it across seven challenges from 1 ...
to reach the semi-finals of the
1976 Canadian Open where he lost 1–9 to
Alex Higgins
Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Wor ...
.
At the 1976
World Amateur Snooker Championship, representing Canada, Mikkelsen recovered from 0-3 behind against
Bert Demarco
Luigi Umberto "Bert" Demarco (9 June 1924 – 17 March 2012) was a Scottish professional snooker player and billiard hall owner. He competed at the World Amateur Snooker Championship several times, and was a professional snooker player from 19 ...
to win 4–3, but with only three wins in eight matches in the qualifying
round-robin group, he did not progress to the later stages.
In 1977 he became the first Canadian player to make a
maximum break
A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...
in competition.
Mikkelsen turned professional in 1979,
and played only at the
World Snooker Championship
The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...
in his first three seasons.
He lost in the first qualifying round each time; 7–9 to Roy Amdor in
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
, 4–9 to
Jimmy White
James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...
in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
, and 6–9 to
Colin Roscoe
Colin Roscoe (born 30 June 1945 in Connah's Quay, Flintshire) is a Welsh former professional snooker player.
Career
Born in 1945, Roscoe won the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1981 and soon after turned professional. He reached his highest ra ...
in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
.
After not competing during the
1982–83 snooker season
The 1982–83 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 7 July 1982 and 27 May 1983. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.
__TOC__
Calendar
Official ran ...
, Mikkelsen reached the third qualifying round of the
1984 World Snooker Championship
The 1984 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1984 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place between 21 April and 7 May 1984 at the C ...
with wins over
Paul Medati
Paul Medati (14 November 1943 – 29 November 2008) was an English professional snooker and pool player.
Career
Medati was born in Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire to Maltese parents, and attended St. Joseph's Primary School.
After playing sno ...
and
Frank Jonik
Francis "Frank" Jonik (2 December 1957 – 31 March 2019) was a Canadians, Canadian professional snooker player.
Career
Born in 1957, Jonik first played competitive snooker in 1978 at the Canadian Professional Championship, and turned professio ...
before being eliminated 3–10 by
Willie Thorne
William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8 ...
.
In a qualifying match for the
1985 World Snooker Championship, Mikkelsen compiled a break of 132, but lost 9–10 to
Malcolm Bradley
Malcolm Bradley (born 8 July 1948) is an English former professional snooker player.
Career
In 1982, Bradley reached the final of the English Amateur Championship, finishing as runner-up after being defeated 9–13 by Dave Chalmers. Bradley an ...
.
Reaching the last 48 of the 1984 World Championship was to be the furthest that Mikkelsen progressed in a major tournament as a professional. His highest
snooker world ranking was 37.
He lost his professional status after withdrawing from a play-off match against the then-amateur
James Wattana
James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...
in 1989.
In 1996, Mikkelsen won the Canadian Open
Nine-ball
Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of e ...
pool championship by defeating
Paul Potier
Paul Richard William Potier (born July 12, 1954 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) is a Canadian professional pool player and two-time Canadian nine-ball champion.
Career
Besides being a touring professional, Paul has been a trick shot artist, coach ...
15–14 in the final.
Career highlights
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikkelsen, Bernie
Canadian snooker players
1950 births
Living people