Mark J Williams - Snooker.org (original) (raw)
Born
March 21, 1975
Lives
Cwm, Gwent, Wales
Nickname
"Sprog"
Turned pro
1992
Highest pro break
147 (two times: 2005 Embassy World Championship and 2010 Euro Players Tour Championship Event Three)
Highest ranked
Current ranking (end of 2021/2022)
7
World Championship best
Winner three times (2000 and2003,2018)
Best major ranking event performance
Winner of 26 tournaments: Regal Welsh 1996,1999; Grand Prix 1996; British Open 1997,2021,2023; Irish Open 1998; Thailand Masters 1999,2000,2002; UK Championship 1999,2002; World Championship 2000,2003,2018; Grand Prix 2000; China Open 2002,2006,2010; LG Cup 2003; German Masters 2011,2018; Northern Ireland Open 2017; World Open 2018; WST Pro Series 2018; Tour Championship 2024
Minor ranking event wins
2010 Star Xing Pai Players Tour Championship Event One,2013 Euro Tour Two
Major invitation tournament victories:
Benson & Hedges Masters 1998,2003; Seniors World Championship 2015; 6 Red World Championship 2017
Speciality
Potting
Achievements
Mark J Williams broke into the snooker elite in the 1995/96 season. In that year he won his first major tournament, the1996 Welsh Open. In 1998 he won the Benson & Hedges Masters by beating Stephen Hendry on a respotted black in the final.
In the 1998/99 season he won three ranking tournaments; the 1998 Irish Open, the1999 Welsh Open and the1999 Thailand Masters. This makes him only the fourth player in history to win three ranking titles in one season.Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry andJohn Higgins are the other three players to have managed this feat.
In 2000 he finally became world champion by beating long-time friend and rival, Matthew Stevens 18-16 in the final after being behind the entire match. In 2003 and 2018 he won it again.
Another important title was the1999 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship.
He also won the very first Players Tour Championship event in 2010. He later added the 2013 Euro Tour 2.
Previously he has also won the 1994 Benson & Hedges Championship.
Until going down 9-7 to Fergal O'Brien in the 2003 Travis Perkins UK Championship Mark Williams won his first match in 48 straight ranking tournaments!
Mark J Williams made four centuries against Stephen Lee in the first round of the 2011 Bank of Beijing China Open, and still lost 5-4.
Williams shares the record for most tons by one player in a tournament. He made 16 centuries during the 2022 World Championship.
See Williams' profile in the Score Centre for results from 2010/2011 and onwards.