Dene O'Kane (born 24 February 1963) is a former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

player from Auckland, New Zealand.

Career

O'Kane won the 1980 New Zealand Amateur Championship, and represented New Zealand at the 1982 IBSF World Snooker Championship, winning six of his nine group matches, but failing to qualify on difference. He turned professional in 1984, In his first professional tournament, the 1984 International Open, he won four qualifying matches, 5–2 against Maurice Parkin, 5–1 against

Eddie McLaughlin Eddie McLaughlin (born 11 April 1980 in New Zealand) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Glasgow Warriors. He is Scottish qualified as his paternal grandparents are from Greenock. His father and two uncles have repre ...

, 5–4 against Jack Fitzmaurice and 5–4 against

Mike Hallett Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator. Career Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ran ...

, before losing 3–5 to

Willie Thorne William Joseph Thorne (4 March 195417 June 2020) was an English professional snooker player. He won one ranking title, the 1985 Classic. He also reached the final of the 1985 UK Championship, losing 16–14 to Steve Davis after leading 13–8 ...

. Also in his debut season, he reached the quarter-finals of the

1985 British Open The 1985 British Open (also known as the 1985 Dulux British Open due to sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament, that was held from 17 February to 3 March 1985 with television coverage on ITV beginning on 22 February from the ...

, and progressing through the qualifying rounds with four wins and a

walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over") is awarded to the opposing team/player etc, if there are no other players avai ...

, reached the last 32 of the

1985 World Snooker Championship The 1985 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place from 12 to 28 April 1985 at the Crucible The ...

, losing 4–10 to David Taylor. He 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, ...

s in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

. He reached the final stages (last 32 or better) of the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it ...

six times, but never in consecutive years. He was the runner up in the 1989 Hong Kong Open, losing 8–9 to

after leading 8–6. He first reached the top 32 in the world rankings for the 1985/1986 season, returning 3 years later. In 1991/1992 he reached his career high of 18. He remained in the top 32 until 1996/1997. Having won £415,000 in prize money during his career, O'Kane started a career in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

in 2007.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Team finals: 1

Amateur finals: 12 (8 titles)

References

External links

Profile on worldsnooker.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okane, Dene New Zealand snooker players 1963 births Living people Competitors at the 2009 World Games Sportspeople from Auckland