Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
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.
Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012
EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
and
2013–14 snooker seasons. He reached his first ranking event semi-final at the
2017 Welsh Open. His first professional tournament win came at the non-ranking
2019–20 Championship League.
Donaldson practises at Locarno Snooker Club in Edinburgh.
Career
Debut season
Donaldson did not participate in the
2012 Wuxi Classic
The 2012 Wuxi Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament held between 25 June–1 July 2012 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first year of the tournament as a ranking event, having been non-ranking in i ...
or the
2012 Australian Goldfields Open
The 2012 Australian Goldfields Open was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place between 9–15 July 2012 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia. It was the second ranking event of the Snooker season ...
which both were held before the
EBSA European Snooker Championships The EBSA European Snooker Championship is the premier amateur snooker tournament in Europe. The event series is sanctioned by the European Billiards & Snooker Association. It first took place in 1988 and has been held annually since 1993. In most y ...
. His first match as a professional was a 4–2 win over
Liam Highfield in the minor-ranking
PTC Event 1.
The tournament formed part of 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, of which Donaldson played all ten tournaments. His best result came in
European Tour Event 1, where he beat Ricky Norris and
Chris Norbury
Christopher Norbury (born 14 August 1986) is an English former professional snooker player. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Norbury first entered Main Tour for ...
, before losing 3–4 to
Michael Wild
Michael Wild (born 27 March 1981) is an English former professional snooker player.
Career
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wild competed in the Challenge Tour and International Open Series events, without much success until the 2002/200 ...
in the last 32. He was placed 70th on the Order of Merit.
His best run of results in a ranking event came at the
Shanghai Masters Qualifying where he defeated
Chen Zhe and
Yu Delu
Yu Delu (; born 11 October 1987) is a former professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. He is currently serving a 10 years and 9 months ban for match-fixing from 25 May 2018 until 24 February 2029. The ban was announced on ...
, but then lost 1–5 to
Nigel Bond.
Donaldson's season ended when he was beaten 6–10 by
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the first round of
World Championship Qualifying. He finished his first year on tour ranked world number 89.
2013/2014 season
In his opening match, Donaldson defeated
Tom Ford 5–1 to qualify for the
2013 Wuxi Classic
The 2013 Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament held between 17 and 23 June 2013 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first ranking event of the 2013/2014 season.
The tournament ...
in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. In his first appearance in the first round of a ranking event he defeated
Gareth Green
Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother ...
5–3 and then beat
Jimmy Robertson 5–4, before losing 5–1 to
Robert Milkins
Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998.
Milkins ...
in the last 16.
[ ] He was knocked out by
Barry Hawkins in the quarter-finals of the minor-ranking
Bulgarian Open and in the semi-finals of the Asian Tour event, the
Yixing Open.
He did not have to qualify for the
UK Championship or the
Welsh Open as all players on the tour began the events at the venue stage this season and Donaldson took advantage. In the UK he saw off
Matthew Selt 6–4 and then secured what he called the best victory of his career to date by taking the last two frames against world number 13
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 a 6–5 win. He lost a high quality encounter 6–3 to
Joe Perry in the last 32. At the Welsh Donaldson saw off a trio of established players in
Robert Milkins
Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998.
Milkins ...
,
David Gilbert and
Andrew Higginson to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time this season, where he was whitewashed 4–0 by
Ding Junhui.
Donaldson's play in Asian Tour events this year helped him to finish eighth 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 ...
to qualify for the
Finals for the first time. He met reigning world champion
Ronnie O'Sullivan and was comfortably defeated 4–0. Donaldson's campaign ended with him at 65th in the world rankings, agonosingly short of reaching the top 64 who stay on tour. However, his standing of 38th on the
European Order of Merit
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
earned him the third of eight spots on offer to non-qualified players to earn a two-year main tour card for the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons.
2014/2015 season
Donaldson began the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
by qualifying for the
2014 Wuxi Classic
The 2014 Wuxi Classic, Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament held between 23 and 29 June 2014 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first ranking event of th ...
, where he was beaten 5–3 by Chen Zifan in the wildcard round. He won four matches to qualify for the
Australian Goldfields Open, which concluded with a 5–2 success over
Kurt Maflin
Kurt Graham Maflin (born 8 August 1983) is an English-Norwegian former professional snooker player. A strong break-builder, Maflin has compiled more than 200 century breaks during his career and has made two 147 breaks in professional competitio ...
, before being whitewashed 5–0 by
Stuart Bingham in the first round.
At the minor-ranking
Yixing Open, Donaldson won four matches to reach the quarter-finals, but lost 4–1 against
Robert Milkins
Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998.
Milkins ...
. However, after a 6–4 loss to
Marcus Campbell in the first round of the
UK Championship, Donaldson lost a further eight matches in a row to end the season.
2015/2016 season
At the
Paul Hunter Classic, Donaldson beat Ashley Hugill 4–1, 2014 world champion
Mark Selby 4–2 and
Martin Gould 4–2 to reach the last 16 where he lost 4–1 to
Mark Williams. He came close to 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 ...
by winning two successive frames to force a decider against
Mark Allen
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
, but lost it. Donaldson finished 59th on the
European Order of Merit
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
which was high enough to earn him a new two-year card for the snooker tour.
2016/2017 season
Donaldson won four matches to meet
Ding Junhui in the opening round of the
Shanghai Masters and had leads of 3–1 and 4–3, before Ding forced a deciding frame. Donaldson had a chance to pull off the shock, but missed a simple black and Ding won through. Donaldson reached the last 16 of both the
European Masters and
Northern Ireland Open, losing 4–3 to
Anthony McGill and 4–2 to
Hossein Vafaei respectively. At the
Welsh Open he beat
Jack Lisowski 4–1,
Mark King 4–2,
Jimmy Robertson 4–0 and
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 ...
4–3 to reach the quarter-finals. He faced
Zhou Yuelong, who was also appearing at this stage of a ranking event for the first time and Donaldson thrashed him 5–0. Donaldson pulled back from 4–1 down against
Judd Trump in the semi-finals to 4–3, but lost 6–3. He won £20,000 for reaching the final four and was placed 65th in the world at the end of the season, the third highest of all the players who began the year on zero ranking points.
2017/2018 season
Donaldson defeated the defending UK champion
Mark Selby, 6–3, in the last 64 at the
2017 UK Championship
The 2017 UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 28 November to 10 December 2017 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. The event was the 41st edition of the UK Championship, first held in 1977, or ...
, but was knocked out in the next round by
Li Hang. Three months later, he reached the semi-final stage of a ranking event for only the second time in his career, at the
2018 Gibraltar Open
The 2018 Gibraltar Open (officially the 2018 ManBetX Gibraltar Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 7 to 11 March 2018 at the Tercentenary Sports Hall in Gibraltar. It was the seventeenth ranking event of the 2 ...
; he won five matches before a 3–4 semi-final defeat against eventual champion
Ryan Day.
Performance and rankings timeline
Career finals
Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)
Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)
References
External links
*
Scott Donaldsonat ''worldsnooker.com''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Scott
1994 births
Living people
Scottish snooker players
Sportspeople from Perth, Scotland