Sam Craigie

Sam Craigie (born 29 December 1993) is an English professional snooker player from Newcastle. He enjoyed a successful junior career before turning professional in 2011.

Sam Craigie
Born (1993-12-29) 29 December 1993
Sport country England
Professional2011/2012, 2016–
Highest ranking51 (December 2020–)
Current ranking 51 (as of 1 February 2021)
Career winnings£79,499
Highest break141:
2017 Shanghai Masters (qualifying)
Century breaks60
Best ranking finishQuarter-finals (2019 China Open)

Career

Early career

Craigie qualified for the 2011/2012 Main Tour after winning the 2010 IBSF World Under 21 Championships.[1] He defeated his brother Stephen 7–6 in the semi-finals before beating Li Hang 9–8 in the final to secure the title.

2011/2012 season

In his debut season on the snooker tour he was unranked and therefore needed to win four qualifying matches to make the main draws of the ranking events. He won two matches in attempts to reach both the Australian Goldfields Open and German Masters respectively and had his best set of results in qualifying for the China Open, where he beat Adam Wicheard, Liu Song and Gerard Greene, before losing to Ricky Walden 3–5 in the final round.[2] Craigie played in 11 of the 12 minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, with his best finish coming in Event 11 where he was defeated by Walden again, this time in the last 16 by 4 frames to 2.[2] Craigie finished his first season ranked outside of the top 64 who automatically retained their places for the 2012/2013 season and therefore dropped off the main tour.[3]

Following years

Craigie played in two events in the 2012/2013 season, but could only pick up one frame.[4] He did not enter an event in the following season, but did play in 2015 Q School, coming closest to rejoining the tour in the first event when he was defeated 4–2 by Adam Duffy in the last 32.[5]

2016/2017 season

In 2016, Craigie managed to receive a two-year tour card for the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons after successfully qualifying through the EBSA Play-Offs in Sheffield, beating Adam Duffy 4–3 in the last round of the event.[6] He qualified for the World Open with a 5–3 victory over 1997 world champion Ken Doherty and won his first match in a main draw of a ranking event by beating Marco Fu 5–3 in the opening round.[7] Craigie was then edged out 5–4 by Matthew Selt. Craigie made a century and two fifty plus breaks to whitewash Jamie Jones 4–0 at the Northern Ireland Open, before John Higgins made a 147, 137 and 130 in a second round 4–1 defeat.[8] Craigie was 3–1 ahead of Mark King at the interval of their first round match at the UK Championship and that quickly became 4–1 when King was docked a frame for forgetting his cue at the resumption of play. Craigie went on to win 6–2, but in the second round lost 6–5 to Luca Brecel after leading 5–3.[9][10] Shaun Murphy knocked Craigie out of the Shoot-Out and in the second round of the Gibraltar Open.[11]

He dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017/18 season but entered Q School in an attempt to win back a place. He defeated former crucible semi-finalist Andy Hicks in round 3 of the first event.[12] He defeated Dechawat Poomjaeng in the final round to secure his return to the tour at the first event.[13]

Personal life

Craigie's elder brother Stephen was also a professional snooker player.

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21
Ranking[14] [nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 1] [nb 1] [nb 2] 76 [nb 3] 66 58
Ranking tournaments
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held WD 1R 2R 2R WD
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R 4R 2R 1R 2R
UK Championship A LQ A A 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R
Scottish Open Not Held MR NH 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
German Masters A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event 3R A 1R 1R 2R
Welsh Open A LQ A 1R 1R 3R 3R 1R
Players Championship[nb 4] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 2R 3R WD 2R
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship A LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Championship League A A A A A A A 2R A
Former ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open NH LQ A LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A LQ A A LQ LQ Non-Rank. NH
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event A 2R 1R NR NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held LQ LQ 3R Not Held
China Open A LQ A A LQ 2R QF Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 5] Tournament Not Held MR 1R 2R WD 2R NH
International Championship Not Held A LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R NH
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ 1R 1R NH
World Open A LQ A NH 2R 1R WD 1R NH
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. He was an amateur.
  2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. Players qualified through Q School started the season without ranking points.
  4. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2015/2016)
  5. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2010 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship Li Hang 9–8

References
  1. "2010 IBSF World Under 21 Championships". Global Snooker. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  2. "Sam Craigie 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  3. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  4. "Sam Craigie 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  5. "Sam Craigie 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  6. "Slessor and Craigie Win EBSA Play-Offs". World Snooker. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  7. "Emerging star Sam Craigie sends Marco Fu crashing out on opening day of the World Open". Live Snooker. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  8. "Sam Craigie 4–0 Jamie Jones". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  9. "UK Championship 2016: Mark King knocked out of first round after forgetting cue". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  10. "Luca Brecel 6–5 Sam Craigie". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  11. "Sam Craigie 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  12. http://www.worldsnooker.com/craigie-charges-to-maintain-q-school-hopes/
  13. http://www.worldsnooker.com/craigie-clinches-tour-card-as-pros-bounce-back/
  14. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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