Oliver Lines (born 16 June 1995) is an English 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 practices at Northern Snooker Centre in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. He is the son of professional snooker player
Peter Lines
Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...
.
Career
Amateur
Lines switched sports from
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
to snooker at aged 14. His progression continued by entering into the
Players Tour Championship
The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification ...
events in 2011,
but made little impact in the
2011/2012 season.
2012/2013 saw major improvement
and a notable 4–3 over
Joe Perry in
2012 UKPTC 3.
He also entered Q School for the first time in May 2013 in the hope of qualifying on the main but failed to do after securing four wins in the three events.
Despite not qualifying for the main tour, Lines’ performances in Q School were enough to earn him a top up place in the qualifying round of the
2013 Australian Goldfields Open, his first senior ranking event. He won in the opening round, beating fellow Leeds-based player
David Grace
David Grace (born 1949 in Rugby, Warwickshire, Rugby, Warwickshire, England) is a British motorsport, racing driver and businessman. He was the Chief Executive Officer, CEO at Rockingham Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2002, and oversaw the openi ...
5–4, but suffered a 5–4 reverse in the second round last-96 stage to
Zhang Anda
Zhang Anda (born 25 December 1991) is a Chinese professional snooker player, who made his debut on the Main Tour for the 2009–10 season. He qualified by winning the ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship.
Standing at 5 ft. 3 in. tall, he ...
of China. For the rest of the season, Lines continued to enter PTC and amateur events, with his most notable result being a 4–2 over professional
Scott Donaldson
Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player.
Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...
in the
2013 Ruhr Open.
Professional
In 2014, Lines won a place on the professional
World Snooker Tour
The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...
for the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons after beating
Josh Boileau
Josh Boileau (born 2 July 1995 in Newbridge, County Kildare) is a former Irish professional snooker player. He is the 2016 Under-21 European Snooker Champion.
Career
In 2014 Boileau entered the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships in B ...
6–1 in the final of the
2014 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships.
2014/2015
His first match as a professional was a successful one, beating
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 ...
5–4 in the qualifying stages of the
Wuxi Classic
The Wuxi Classic was a professional snooker tournament held from 2008 to 2014 in the city of Wuxi, China. It was a ranking event from 2012 through 2014. For the 2015/16 season, World Snooker reduced the number of ranking events held in China, whi ...
, but he lost 5–1 to amateur
Oliver Brown at the venue stage. He had a run to the last 16 stage of the opening Asian PTC event of the season in the
Yixing Open, but failed to qualify for the
Australian Goldfields Open
The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015.
History
Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-pr ...
and
Shanghai Masters.
In qualifying for the
International Championship
The International Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump.
History
The event was introduced in the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", because the tournament ha ...
Lines beat world champion and world number one
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 ...
6–4 from 4–0 down at the mid-session interval. He continued to impress at the
Haining Open
The Haining Open is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It was a minor-ranking part of the Players Tour Championship until 2015.
History
The tournament started in 2014 and was staged at the Haining Sports Center in Haining, Zhejiang, China. The ...
by reaching his first professional semi-final after dispatching
Ryan Day 4–2 with breaks of 120 and 113. He then edged out
Jimmy Robertson 4–3, but was whitewashed 4–0 in the final by
Stuart Bingham
Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...
. He came through a wildcard match at the International, but lost 6–3 to
Rod Lawler
Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod".
After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tournament fin ...
in the first round.
Lines’ Asian final helped him finish fifth on their
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
to make his debut in the
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
, where he was eliminated 4–1 by
Matthew Selt
Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professional snooker player originally from Romford, east London and now living in Chelmsford, Essex. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh on the Pontin's International Open ...
in the opening round. His first season as a professional concluded with a 10–7 defeat against
Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to:
Entertainers
*Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host
* Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese
*Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...
in the second round of
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, ...
qualifying.
He finished his first season as a professional ranked world number 78.
2015/2016
Lines signed up with Django Fung, who manages players such as
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...
and
Judd Trump
Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...
, and Lines hoped it would help him further his career.
A 4–2 win over
Ali Carter
Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...
saw Lines reach the last 16 of the
Riga Open, but he lost 4–0 to
Liang Wenbo
Liang Wenbo (; born 25 March 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player based at the Oracle Snooker Club, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. Liang, who plays left-handed, has reached one Triple Crown final, made three Masters appearances, and ...
. He qualified for the
International Championship
The International Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump.
History
The event was introduced in the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", because the tournament ha ...
by beating
Gary Wilson 6–3 and then won a match at a ranking event for the first time in his career by eliminating
Noppon Saengkham
Noppon Saengkham (; born 15 July 1992) is a Thai professional snooker player.
Career
Early years
In April 2009, Saengkham lost in the final of the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 1–5 to Zhang Anda. He went one better at the 2009 IBSF ...
6–4, before losing by a reversal of this scoreline to
David Gilbert. He made it through to the second round of the
UK Championship
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...
with a 6–2 victory over
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 ...
, but was then whitewashed 6–0 by world number one
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 ...
. A second last 16 showing in the European Tour events came at the
Gibraltar Open and was ended by
Alfie Burden
Alfred Burden (born 14 December 1976) is an English professional snooker player from London.
Career
Burden originally had his eyes set on making a career as a professional footballer, but a badly broken leg curtailed this ambition. He spent a c ...
, but Lines finished 35th on the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
. He also got into the top 64 at the end of the season for the first time as he was ranked 61st in the world.
2016/2017
At the
2016 Indian Open
The 2016 Indian Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 5–9 July 2016 at the HICC Novotel Hotel in Hyderabad, India. It was the second ranking event of the 2016/2017 season.
Hyderabad hosted the event f ...
, Lines reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time by beating
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 ...
4–1 and
Andrew Higginson
Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English former professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open.
Career
Early years
After some success in amateur tourn ...
4–2, but lost 4–2 to
Shaun Murphy
Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...
. After defeating
Martin O'Donnell
Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's series, such as '' Myth'', ''Oni'', ''Halo'', and ''Destiny''. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical colleague Michael Salvatori ...
at the
UK Championship
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...
, Lines knocked out world number three
Judd Trump
Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...
6–2 and said it was the first time he had played well in a televised match. He reached the last 16 for the second time this season by dispatching
Jimmy Robertson 6–0, but could not pick up a frame himself as
Marco Fu
Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and the 2016 Scottish Open. He ...
won 6–0. After losing 4–0 in the third round of the
Scottish Open, Lines lost five of his six matches in the remainder of the season.
Performance and rankings timeline
Career finals
Minor-ranking finals: 1
Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)
References
External links
Oliver Linesat ''worldsnooker.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lines, Oliver
Snooker players from Leeds
1995 births
Living people