Tom Ford (born 17 August 1983) 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 from

the Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. Ford reached the final of the

2016 Paul Hunter Classic The 2016 Paul Hunter Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 28 August 2016 at the Stadthalle in Fürth, Germany. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2016/2017 season. Named in honour of former pr ...

, before losing the final 2–4 to

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 also reached the semi-final of both the 2018 UK Championship and the 2019 English Open. Ford has compiled five

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 ...

s in competitive play, and over 200 breaks.

Career

Early years

As a junior, Ford played against

frequently. He began his professional career by playing the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour. His first quarter-final came at the 2005 Malta Cup where he beat

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

, but eventually lost 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 ...

. In the 2007 Grand Prix, he made a

147 147 may refer to: * 147 (number), a natural number * AD 147, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century * 147 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 147 AH, a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 764 – 765 CE ...

against

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

, after having just come out of hospital suffering from gastroenteritis, but still missed out on the last 16, eventually finishing 3rd in his group. He secured the high break and maximum prize, but it was not televised. In the last 32 of the

2007 Northern Ireland Trophy The 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 4–11 November 2007 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Stephen Maguire won his first ranking tournament since 2004 by defea ...

he held

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, ...

to 4–4, before missing the final blue, allowing O'Sullivan to clinch the frame. Ford made his World Championship debut in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, after beating

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 ...

10–3 in the final qualifying round. He played Mark Allen in the first round, where he lost 4–10.

2010/2011

Early in the season Ford won his first professional title, Event 3 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 ...

, beating

Jack Lisowski Jack Adam Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he is known for his atta ...

4–0 in the final while working with sports mentor Matt Andrews. Ford failed to qualify for the main draws of both the Shanghai Masters and the World Open, but did beat

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

and

Gerard Greene Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast. Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his ...

to reach the Last 32 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 ...

. He was drawn against Mark Allen and lost 5–9. Ford did not qualify for the final stages of any other ranking event for the season after losing 8–10 to Liu Chuang in Round 4 of qualifying for 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, ...

2011/2012

The first

world ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

event of the season was the inaugural

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 ...

, where Ford reached the final stages by beating

. He then beat world number 15

Jamie Cope Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player. A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his h ...

5–3 before being whitewashed 0–5 by eventual winner

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 ...

in the last 16. He made it through to his third successive

main draw where he played former world champion

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 ...

, but was comfortably beaten 1–6. Ford won his second PTC title at Event 11 in December by defeating

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began his pr ...

4–3. He finished twelfth in 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 2012 Finals, where he lost to

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 ...

1–4 in the last 24. He then qualified for the wildcard round of the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, h ...

with a 5–0 whitewash of Anthony Hamilton and beat Irishman

Philip Arnold Philip Arnold (1829–1878) was a confidence trickster from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and the brains behind the legendary diamond hoax of 1872, which fooled people into investing in a phony diamond mining operation. He managed to walk away from t ...

5–1 to reach the last 32, where he met Mark Allen. Ford held a 3–0 lead, but went on to lose the match 4–5. He qualified for the Welsh Open and beat

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 ...

4–2 in the opening round, before losing to Stephen Lee 1–4. Ford also reached the second round of the World Open, thanks to the withdrawal of

, but exited the tournament in a final frame decider versus Mark King. He then lost to Lee again, this time in the first round of the China Open, before failing to qualify for the

after being edged out 9–10 by

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 ...

. Ford finished the season ranked world number 26, meaning he had risen eight places during the year.

2012/2013

Ford qualified for six ranking events during the 2012–13 season. Out of those he lost in the first round in three and in the second round of both the

and Welsh Open 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 ...

1–5 and

3–4 respectively. He couldn't qualify for the Players Tour Championship Finals through the Order of Merit as he finished 46th, but he did play in all three of the new Asian PTC's. His best result came in the Third Event, where he lost 3–4 in the semi-finals to

. Ford finished sixth on the Asian Order of Merit, inside the top eight who qualified for the Finals. It was at the Finals that Ford had his best run in a ranking event of his career. He saw off

4–2,

4–3 and

Marco Fu Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time snooker world rankings, ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix (snooker), 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian ...

4–1 to advance to the semi-finals. His nerves showed early on against

as he fell 0–3 down, but composed himself to level at 3–3. Ford had three chances to win the deciding frame, but left Robertson a chance when escaping a snooker to lose 3–4. Ford ended the season ranked world number 24.

2013/2014

At the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open Ford reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the third time in his career by beating Ryan Day and

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championsh ...

, before losing 3–5 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 ...

. He won through to the second round of both the Indian Open and Welsh Open but was eliminated by

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional i ...

and

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 ...

respectively. Ford defeated James Cahill 10–6,

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

10–1 and

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

10–8 to qualify for the

for the second time. He rallied from 6–2 down in the first round against

to level at 8–8, before losing two successive frames to exit the tournament.

2014/2015

Ford qualified for the

for the fourth year in a row and lost 3–5 to

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

in the first round. He had five defeats in a row after this until beating

Barry Pinches Barry Pinches (born 13 July 1970 in Catton, Norwich) is an English professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F.C. He is a former top 3 ...

6–4 in the opening round of the

, his first win in the event after six prior losses. Ford was beaten 3–6 by Joel Walker in the second round. He had a resurgence of form at the Asian Tour event, the Xuzhou Open by knocking out five players to reach the semi-finals, where he lost the last two frames in a 3–4 defeat to Joe Perry. Ford entered the qualifying rounds of the

needing wins to ensure his survival on the tour as he was close to ending the season outside the top 64 in the world rankings. He did so by seeing off

Andrew Norman Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio '' The Companion Guide to Rome'' (2010), was a runne ...

10–2 and David Gilbert 10–8 to meet

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 final round, where he lost 8–10. Ford ended up 59th in the world rankings, a drop of 27 places during the year.

2015/2016

Ford began the 2015–16 season by reaching the third final carrying ranking points of his career after overcoming the likes of Joe Perry,

and

Ben Woollaston Ben Woollaston (born 14 May 1987) is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. His sole professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship event in 2011. Woollaston's only ranking event final came at the ...

at the Riga Open. Ford won the first frame against

, but could not capture another to be beaten 1–4. At the

, he defeated

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 ...

6–1 and then beat Mark Williams for the first time by recovering from 3–5 down to win 6–5. He followed that up by easing past

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

6–1, but accused his opponent

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 ...

of boring him off the table in the fourth round after it was Ford who lost 5–6 having been 5–3 up. Ford failed to build upon this during the rest of the season as he could not get beyond the second round of any ranking event. However, he was able to build on his world ranking to finish as the world number 43, an increase of 16 spots during the year.

2016/2017

A 4–1 victory over Jamie Jones at the

Paul Hunter Classic The Paul Hunter Classic is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It changed from a ranking event to a 16-man invitational event in 2019. From 2010 to 2015 it was part of the Players Tour Championship. Barry Hawkins is the reigning champion. After los ...

saw Ford reach the second ranking event semi-final of his career and he beat

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker playe ...

4–2, closing the match with a 136 break. In Ford's first ranking event final he was 2–2 with

, before his fellow Leicester player knocked in two 50 plus breaks to defeat Ford 4–2. At the

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

he beat Rory McLeod,

and

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cha ...

all by 4–2 scorelines, before losing 1–4 to

. Ford qualified for the

by ousting

5–1 and then made a 147 in a first round 5–2 win over

Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addit ...

. He saw off Mark King 5–2, but then lost 2–5 to

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 ...

in the quarter-finals. Ford qualified for his third

courtesy of victories over Jamie Bodle,

Chris Wakelin Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices in Bar 8 in Rugby. Career Early career Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his ...

and

Hossein Vafaei Hossein Vafaei ( fa, حسین وفایی ایوری; born 15 October 1994) is an Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first professional player from Iran. He won his first professional title at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Mark ...

. From holding a narrow 2–1 advantage over

in the first round, Ford was eliminated 3–10.

2017/2018

2018/2019

2019/2020

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Minor-ranking finals: 3 (2 titles)

Non-ranking finals: 2

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

References

External links

Tom Ford
at ''worldsnooker.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Tom English snooker players People from Blaby District Living people 1983 births