Anthony McGill

Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of Alan McManus.[2]

This article is about the snooker player. For the clarinetist, see Anthony McGill (musician).

Anthony McGill
Born (1991-02-05) 5 February 1991
Glasgow, Scotland
Sport country Scotland
Nickname
  • The Smiling Assassin
  • Licensed to Thrill
  • The Tartan Nugget
  • The Glaswegian Gladiator
Professional2010–
Highest ranking13 (March 2018)[1]
Current ranking 18 (as of 1 February 2021)
Career winnings£935,075
Highest break144:
2014 World Open
Century breaks171
Tournament wins
Ranking2

McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings.[3] He won the 2016 Indian Open, after having previously never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event.

Career

Amateur years

He was runner-up to Stuart Carrington in the 2006 Junior Pot Black.[4]

He was runner-up in the 2008 European Under-19's Championship behind Stephen Craigie.[5]

In the 2009/2010 season, he won the fifth event of the International Open Series and finished fourth in the rankings. Thus, McGill received a place on the professional main tour for 2010/2011. He reached his first professional final, losing 1–6 to John Higgins in the 2011 Scottish Professional Championship.

2011/2012

McGill did not manage to qualify for the main stage of any ranking event tournaments during the season, reaching the final qualifying on one occasion in an attempt to reach the German Masters.[6] He reached the semi-finals of Event 3 in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series, which included wins over experienced campaigners Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, before losing 0–4 to Ben Woollaston.[7] McGill's season concluded with an 8–10 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the penultimate qualifying round for the World Championship, finishing the season ranked world number 50.[6][8]

2012/2013

McGill could only qualify for the China Open during the 2012/2013 season. He beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wild-card round.[9] He faced Mark Allen in the last 32 and lost 1–5.[10] McGill had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship events by reaching his first ever ranking final in the European Tour Event 5, played in his homeland of Scotland. He saw off the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins to make it through to the quarter-finals where he was 0–3 and 51 points down against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon to triumph 4–3.[9][11] He was also 1–3 down in the semis to Andrew Higginson, but recovered to win on a respotted black. McGill played Ding Junhui in the final and came up short of winning the title as he lost 2–4.[11] The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals,[12] where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline.[9] In the third round of World Championship Qualifying McGill fought back from 3–8 down against Rod Lawler to force a decider which Lawler won.[13] McGill ended the season at number 48 in the rankings, at that point his highest position.[14]

2013/2014
Anthony McGill at the 2014 German Masters

McGill lost in qualifying for the first three events of the season, but at the Indian Open he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time.[15] He faced Robbie Williams and was whitewashed 4–0.[16] At the minor-ranking Zhengzhou Open, he let a 2–0 lead slip in the semi-finals against Liang Wenbo to lose 4–3.[17] McGill was beaten in the last 32 of ranking events on three further occasions during the season.[15]

2014/2015

McGill began the season with a 5–3 loss to John Higgins in the first round of the Wuxi Classic. He reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen.[18] McGill eliminated both Michael Georgiou and Igor Figueiredo by 6–4 scorelines at the UK Championship and then came back from 4–1 down against Nigel Bond to triumph 6–5.[19] He reached his first UK quarter-final by holding on to beat John Higgins 6–5 after being 4–1 up, but attributed the win to Higgins' bad form rather than his own good play. McGill then lost 6–4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan after being 2–0 ahead and admitted he had blown his opportunity to knock out the four-time UK champion after failing to capitalise on the many chances that came his way during the game. However, he did break into the top 32 in the rankings for the first time after the event.[20] McGill finished 21st on the European Order of Merit to play in the Grand Final and overcame Peter Ebdon 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Joe Perry.[21]

Anthony McGill at the 2015 German Masters

McGill finished the year by qualifying for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, after coming through three matches, ending with a 10–9 victory over Mark King which he closed with a 127 break.[18] Compatriot Stephen Maguire levelled their first round match at 9–9 after having been 9–5 behind, but McGill once again made a century break in the deciding frame, this time a 122.[22] McGill then knocked out defending champion Mark Selby 13–9 in the second round, with Selby stating that he believed McGill could win the title if he could maintain his form.[23] In the third ranking event quarter-final of his career, McGill lost 13–8 to Shaun Murphy.[24] The crowd warmed to McGill during his run in the tournament due to him smiling frequently between shots and displaying a relaxed attitude.[25][26] He was the world number 24 afterwards, resulting in a climb of 21 places in 12 months.[27]

2015/2016

The first ranking event McGill qualified for this season was the International Championship and he thrashed Sean O'Sullivan 6–0, before losing 6–1 to Mark Selby. He exited in the second round of the UK Championship 6–4 to Luca Brecel and reached the last 32 stage of a ranking event for just the second time this season at the Welsh Open with wins over Liam Highfield and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but lost 4–2 to Neil Robertson.[28] McGill overcame Hatem Yassen 10–1, Craig Steadman 10–9 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10–7 to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row.[29] In a rematch of last year's quarter-final, McGill met Shaun Murphy and came back from 6–4 to win 10–8.> However, after he lost 13–9 to Marco Fu in the second round, McGill described his play as rubbish.[30]

2016/2017

McGill advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Riga Masters, but was thrashed 5–0 by Michael Holt.[31] Another quarter-final followed at the Indian Open by whitewashing Stuart Bingham 4–0 and he followed that up by eliminating Stephen Maguire 4–1 and Shaun Murphy 4–2, after trailing 2–0.[32] McGill played Kyren Wilson in the final, the first to feature two players under 25 in five years, and they went into the interval at 2–2. After the break, McGill took three successive frames to seal his first ranking event title with a 5–2 victory.[33] Three comfortable wins saw him advance to the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he lost 5–2 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. McGill's fourth quarter-final of the season arrived at the European Masters and he was ousted 4–2 by Neil Robertson.[31]

This was the first season where the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is settled by a 10-minute frame played under a shot clock, had its status upgraded to a ranking event. McGill progressed through to the final and beat Xiao Guodong by 67–19 points to claim his second ranking event title. Afterwards McGill stated that there was "no way on God's earth" that the tournament should be a ranking event due to the conditions it's played under.[34] He was a seeded player in the World Championship for the first time, but from 2–2 with Stephen Maguire in the first round he conceded 447 points without reply and McGill went on to be defeated 10–2.[35] He just fell short of ending a season inside the top 16 for the first time as he was 17th.[36]

2017/2018

McGill reached the final of the Indian Open again but was unable to defend his title, losing 5-1 to John Higgins.[37] McGill was beaten in the first round of the 2018 Dafabet Masters, losing 6–4 to John Higgins. This marked his first appearance at the tournament. McGill lost to Mark Davis in the first round of the Snooker Shootout 2018. Davis scored a century break (102) to knock McGill, defending champion out of the tournament.

2018/2019

McGill's form slipped this season and saw his world ranking dropped from 14th to 23rd by the end of the season. He was unable to advance past the third round in all the tournaments.

2019/2020

McGill was involved in perhaps the greatest frame in snooker history in the semi final of the World Snooker Championship with Kyren Wilson. In the deciding frame, the total frame score of 186 was one of the highest in history, in which McGill conceded 43 points in nine attempts to get out of a snooker.[38][39] McGill eventually lost the frame, and the match, after 61 minutes.[40] 1991 world champion John Parrott said that "we will never see a frame like that again."[41]

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21
Ranking[42][nb 1] [nb 2] 59 50 48 45 24 28 17 14 23 22
Ranking tournaments
European Masters Tournament Not Held QF QF 3R LQ 4R
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R SF 3R 1R 4R
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 3R 3R 1R 1R 2R
UK Championship LQ LQ LQ 3R QF 2R 2R 2R 1R 2R 4R
Scottish Open Not Held MR Tournament Not Held 2R 2R 1R 2R 1R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ 2R QF DNQ DNQ 2R
German Masters 1R LQ LQ 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event W 1R 1R QF
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ 3R 2R 3R 2R 2R 1R 4R
Players Championship[nb 3] DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ 2R DNQ 1R QF DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 2R 4R 2R 2R
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ QF 2R 1R 2R 1R SF
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held A A A 1R 1R A A A
The Masters A A A A A A A 1R A A A
Championship League A A A A A A 2R WD RR SF A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship A NH A A A 2R A SF 1R RR
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic Non-Rank. LQ LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open NH LQ LQ LQ LQ A Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ Non-Rank. NH
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 2R A A NR NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held QF 2R NH W F LQ Not Held
China Open LQ LQ 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 3R Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 4] Tournament Not Held Minor-Rank. QF QF 1R LQ NH
International Championship Not Held LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R NH
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR 1R 1R 3R NH
World Open[nb 5] LQ LQ LQ 1R Not Held QF QF LQ 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Scottish Professional Championship F Tournament Not Held
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R Ranking Event
Shoot-Out 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R Ranking Event
China Championship Tournament Not Held 1R Ranking
Romanian Masters Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters Ranking Event 2R A NR
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a variant format event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  4. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  5. The event was called the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score
Winner 1. 2016 Indian Open Kyren Wilson 5–2
Winner 2. 2017 Snooker Shoot Out Xiao Guodong 1–0
Runner-up 1. 2017 Indian Open John Higgins 1–5

Minor-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 2012 Scottish Open Ding Junhui 2–4

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 2011 Scottish Professional Championship John Higgins 1–6

Pro-am finals: 2 (2 titles)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score
Winner 1. 2015 PMK Invitational Pro-Am Michael Leslie 4–3[43]
Winner 2. 2016 PMK Invitational Pro-Am (2) Graeme Dott 4–2[44]

Amateur finals: 4 (1 title, 3 runners-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent Score
Runner-up 1 2006 Junior Pot Black Stuart Carrington 0–1
Runner-up 2 2008 European Under-19 Championship Stephen Craigie 2–6
Winner 1. 2009 PIOS – Event 5 Farakh Ajaib 6–0
Runner-up 3. 2010 European Under-19 Championship Jak Jones 4–6

References
  1. "WORLD RANKINGS After 2018 Ladbrokes Players Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  2. "Anthony McGill Q&A". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  3. "2009–10 PIOS Rankings". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  4. "Pot Black, Junior Pot Black". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  5. "European Under 19 Championship 2008". maximumbreak.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  6. "Anthony McGill 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  7. "Players Tour Championship 3 Round 4 to Final" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  8. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  9. "Anthony McGill 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  10. "Mark Allen sets up Neil Robertson clash at China Open". News Letter. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  11. "Ding Takes Scottish Crown". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  12. "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  13. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  14. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  15. "Anthony McGill 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  16. "Wallasey's Robbie Williams will face Ding Junhui in the semi-finals of the Indian Open". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  17. "Mac snookered in last-four thriller". Evening Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  18. "Anthony McGill 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  19. "Snooker: Tables turned on Nigel Bond as he bows out of UK Championship". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  20. "Scots snooker star Anthony McGill blows chance to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan but is tipped to go right to the top". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  21. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  22. "Marvellous McGill Stuns Maguire". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  23. "Anthony McGill can win world snooker title, says Mark Selby". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  24. "Shaun Murphy reaches Crucible last four by subduing Anthony McGill". The Guardian. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  25. "How Scotland's new snooker star Anthony McGill pulled back from the brink and became the Crucible killer". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  26. "World Snooker Championship: Anthony McGill licensed to charm". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  27. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  28. "Anthony McGill 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  29. "Ding Books Crucible Spot". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  30. "World Snooker Championship: Marco Fu battles through against McGill". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  31. "Anthony McGill 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  32. "McGill is Star of India". World Snooker. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  33. "Indian Open: Scot Anthony McGill secures first ranking title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  34. "Anthony McGill wins one-frame Shoot Out tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  35. "Brilliant Selby Eases Through". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  36. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  37. "John Higgins beats Anthony McGill to clinch Indian Open Snooker title". Hindustan Times. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  38. "THE GREATEST FRAME IN SNOOKER HISTORY? KYREN WILSON AND ANTHONY MCGILL PRODUCE HIGH DRAMA". www.eurosport.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  39. admin. "2020 World Snooker Championship: Kyren Wilson defeats Anthony McGill | FR24 News English". Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  40. "Wilson Beats McGill In Gripping Decider". World Snooker. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  41. "Wilson beats McGill in remarkable finish". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  42. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  43. http://www.thecueview.com/-2015-pmk-scottish-pro-am.html
  44. http://www.thecueview.com/2016-pmk-invitational-pro-am---mcgill-doubles-up-.html
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