Murdo MacLeod (born 14 January 1947 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

) is a Scottish 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

MacLeod turned professional in 1981, aged 34. He retained his place on the snooker circuit until the end of the 1996–1997 season, attaining a career-high ranking of 22nd, which he held from 1986 to 1987. MacLeod progressed to the last 16 of a ranking event on nine occasions, his first being in the 1982 Professional Players Tournament, the last at the 1988 British Open, but never any further than this. He won the

Scottish Professional Championship The Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament which was open only for Scottish players. The final champion was John Higgins. History The Scottish Professional Championship was held in Edinburgh in Dece ...

on two occasions, defeating

Eddie Sinclair Eddie Sinclair (5 May 1937 – January 2005) was a Scottish professional snooker player. Career Sinclair turned professional in 1979 at the relatively advanced age of 42, reaching a high ranking of 26th in 1982 and holding that position for tw ...

11–9 in 1983 and 10–2 in 1985, and was the beaten finalist in the 1988 and 1989 editions of the tournament, losing 4–10 to

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

and 7–9 to John Rea respectively. He played at the

Crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

stages 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 1985 which he lost 5–10 to

Doug Mountjoy Doug Mountjoy (8 June 1942 – 14 February 2021) was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the ...

in the first round and in 1987 when he beat

Rex Williams Desmond Rex Williams (born 20 July 1933) is a retired English professional snooker and billiards player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the Worl ...

10–5 before losing to defending champion Joe Johnson 7–13 in the last 16. Having slipped gradually down the rankings in the mid-1990s, MacLeod's position of 333rd was not sufficient for him to retain his professional status, and he dropped off the snooker tour aged 50 in 1997.

Non-ranking wins

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

Scottish snooker players 1947 births Sportspeople from Edinburgh Living people {{UK-snooker-bio-stub