Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh 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 who is the reigning World Seniors Champion. He is both an official

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

and SightRight coach.

Career

After turning professional in 1994 at the age of 18, Walker reached the quarter-finals of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 1997, with victories over

Dave Harold David Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his profession of ...

10–7 and

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

13–10, before he lost 13–8 to

Alain Robidoux Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004 and continues to play in events in Canada. Career He was born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec and joined ...

. This was the first time he had reached the latter stages of a ranking tournament, and he also reached the last 16 of the same tournament in 2004 with a 10–7 win over Stephen Lee before losing 13–5 to David Gray. He dropped off the Main Tour after the 2005–2006 season, but returned a year later after a strong campaign on the Pontin's International Open Series, from which the top 8 finishers gain Main Tour places. However he dropped off again at the end of the season. Walker did however return to the tour in 2014 as he won a 2-year tour card by reaching the semi final stage of the second event of the 2014 Q School.

2016/2017 season

In 2016–17, he had one of his most impressive seasons to date, the highlight being his run in his home tournament, the Welsh Open. He defeated

Rhys Clark Rhys Edward Clark (born 17 September 1946 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand drummer who, since moving to the United States in 1970, has played with such artists as Hoyt Axton, Freddy Fender and, most notably, Billy Joel. Biograp ...

, and former world champions

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

and

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

before losing in the fourth round to

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between ...

2017/2018 season

In the 2017–18 season, Walker had his best run in a ranking event to date, reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 Gibraltar Open where he was defeated 4–2 by eventual runner-up

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

2021/2022 season

Walker won the 2022 World Seniors Championship at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's m ...

. He recovered from 0–3 down to defeat the defending champion

David Lilley David William Lilley (born 31 October 1977 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who usually plays at centre back but has also played at right back. Lilley was most recently the manager of Bellshill Athl ...

in the semi-finals, and then came from 1–3 and 2–4 behind to defeat three-time champion

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 ...

5–4 in the final. Walker became the 11th different winner of the

World Seniors Championship The World Seniors Championship is an invitational seniors snooker tournament which has been played under different formats. As of 2020 the minimum age is 40, but it was 45 in 2011 and 2012. History The event was first held in 1991 with 16 pla ...

2022/2023 season

Walker chose not to enter any tournament in the season, except the invitiational Champion of Champions. After losing his first round match against

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

, he announced that he had already retired from all activities on the main tour, due to business and coaching obligations.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 4

References

External links

*
Lee Walker
at ''worldsnooker.com''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Lee 1976 births Living people Welsh snooker players Place of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Rhyl