Joe O'Connor
Paul Hunter Classic 2017
Born (1995-11-08) 8 November 1995
Leicester, England
Sport country England
Professional2018–present
Highest ranking30 (March 2023)
Current ranking 35 (as of 18 December 2023)
Best ranking finishRunner-up (x1)

Joe O'Connor (born 8 November 1995) is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He was the 2018 English Amateur Champion and a ranking event finalist at the 2022 Scottish Open.

Career

Amateur

Previously a junior pool champion, O'Connor qualified for the snooker main draw as an amateur at the 2014 Wuxi Classic, then faced Neil Robertson at the 2014,[1][2] and Mark Selby at the 2015 UK Championship.[3] He won four events on the 2017–18 English amateur tour.[4]

Ahead of the 2018–19 season, O'Connor defeated Brandon Sargeant 4–1 and then Oliver Brown 4–0 to secure a two-year professional tour card for the first time at the 2018 EBSA Play-Offs at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.[5] In June 2018, he beat Andrew Norman 10–3 to become the English Amateur Champion before turning professional.

Professional

On 28 November 2018 O'Connor defeated world number 12 Ryan Day 6–2 in the first round at the 2018 UK Championship.[6] In February 2019 he defeated top 10 players Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui and John Higgins en route to his first ranking event semi-final at the Welsh Open,[7] eventually losing 6–2 to Stuart Bingham.[8] In the 2021 German Masters he made it to the quarter-finals,[9] but he lost 5–1 to Tom Ford.[10]

In December 2022 O'Connor reached his first ranking final at the 2022 Scottish Open, defeating Zhao Xintong, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden and Neil Robertson throughout the tournament.[11][12] However, he lost 9–2 to Gary Wilson.[13]

In February 2023 O'Connor made it to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open,[14] but lost 5–4 to Pang Junxu,[15] then he defeated number one seed Mark Allen at the Players Championship,[16] before bowing out to Ali Carter at the semi-final stage.[17] In April he lost 8–10 to Andrew Higginson in the qualifying rounds of the World Championship.

In November 2023, he beat Stephen Maguire to qualify for the last-32 of the 2023 UK Championship.[18]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21		 2021/
22		 2022/
23		 2023/
24
Ranking[19][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 68 62 62 47 31
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR RR RR RR
European Masters Not Held A A LQ LQ 3R LQ LQ 1R
British Open Tournament Not Held 4R 2R LQ
English Open Not Held A LQ 1R 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held 1R
Northern Ireland Open Not Held A A 1R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ
International Championship A LQ LQ A A LQ LQ Not Held 1R
UK Championship A 1R 1R A A 3R 1R 3R 2R LQ 1R
Shoot Out Non-Ranking Event A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 3R
Scottish Open Not Held A A 1R 3R 2R LQ F 2R
World Grand Prix NH NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ
German Masters A LQ LQ A A LQ LQ QF LQ 1R
Welsh Open A 1R 1R A A SF 1R 3R LQ QF
Players Championship[nb 4] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ SF
World Open A Not Held A A LQ LQ Not Held
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A LQ LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Championship League A A A A A A RR A A A
Six-red World Championship A A A A A A A Not Held LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A 1R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A LQ LQ A A Non-Ranking Not Held NR
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event A 3R 3R NR Tournament Not Held
Indian Open A LQ NH A A LQ Tournament Not Held
China Open A 1R A A A 2R Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 5] NH MR A A 2R WD Tournament Not Held
China Championship Not Held NR A LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held 1R Not Held
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held 2R 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.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 He was an amateur
  3. ↑ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
  4. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2022 Scottish Open England Gary Wilson 2–9

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2018 English Amateur Championship England Andrew Norman 10–3

References

  1. ↑ "UK Championship 2014: Neil Robertson test excites O'Connor". BBC Sport. 26 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "UK Snooker: Joe O'Connor to man up for crack at champion Neil Robertson". York Press. 21 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Joe O'Connor awaits Mark Selby tie at UK Championship". BBC Sport. 12 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Reports from the English Amateur Tour 2017/18 – EASB". www.easb.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "Clarke and O'Connor Win EBSA Play-Offs - WPBSA". www.wpbsa.com. 18 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Murphy stunned by world number 124". BBC Sport.
  7. ↑ "O'Connor stuns Higgins at Welsh Open". BBC Sport.
  8. ↑ "Welsh Open: Neil Robertson to play Stuart Bingham in final". BBC Sport. 16 February 2019.
  9. ↑ "Ding Progresses To Continue Trophy Pursuit". World Snooker Tour. 28 January 2021.
  10. ↑ "Lisowski Clinches Semi-Final Spot". World Snooker Tour. 29 January 2021.
  11. ↑ "Outstanding O'Connor Reaches Maiden Final". World Snooker Tour. 3 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Scottish Open 2022: Joe O'Connor stuns Neil Robertson to book place in first final of his career". Eurosport. 3 December 2022.
  13. ↑ "Wonderful Wilson Crushes O'Connor In Scottish Final". World Snooker Tour. 4 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Crunch Time For Allen In Bonus Race". World Snooker Tour. 17 February 2023.
  15. ↑ "Milkins Sees Off 'Pitiful' Allen". World Snooker Tour. 18 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "Players Championship: Joe O'Connor stuns Mark Allen in Wolverhampton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  17. ↑ "Carter Battles Past O'Connor". World Snooker Tour. 25 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  18. ↑ "O'CONNOR BEATS MAGUIRE TO EARN HIGGINS CLASH". wst.tv. 23 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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