Stephen Maguire
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| Born | 13 March 1981 Glasgow, Scotland |
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| Sport country |  Scotland |
| Nickname | On-Fire Livewire Maggi |
| Professional | 1998– |
| Highest ranking | 2 (2 years) |
| Current ranking | 8 |
| Career winnings | UK£818,450[1] |
| Highest break | 147 (2x) |
| Century breaks | 200 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 4 |
| Minor-ranking | 1 |
| Non-ranking | 1 |
| www.stephenmaguire147.co.uk | |
Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish professional snooker player.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Maguire almost qualified for the 2000 World Championships, leading eventual semi-finalist Joe Swail 9–6 in the final qualifying round before losing 9–10,[2] but first served notice of his true potential by knocking out Stephen Lee in the first round of the UK Championship in 2002.
Maguire was the surprise winner of the 2004 European Open. Ranked 41 in the world at the time, he beat well established top-16 player Jimmy White 9–3 in the final. It was in that same season that he qualified for the World Championship for the first time, losing 6–10 in the first round to Ronnie O'Sullivan, but O'Sullivan admitted to being impressed by Maguire's performance and tipped him to be a future World Champion.[3]
[edit] 2004/2005
The start of the 2004/2005 season saw Maguire establish himself as one of the game's brightest talents. He performed well at the season opening Grand Prix, reaching the quarter-finals, and things improved further at the British Open in Brighton. Maguire defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 6–1 in the semi-finals, leading O'Sullivan to claim that 'he had never seen anything like that on a snooker table before' and also rated Maguire as 'probably the best player in the world at the moment'.[4] Although Maguire lost the final 6–9 to his compatriot John Higgins, he more than made up for it at the next event, the UK Championship, snooker's second biggest tournament.
The Scotsman played some superb snooker on the way to the final, beating the likes of Mark King, Mark Davis, Stephen Lee, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis. Davis described Maguire as 'inspired',[5] while O'Sullivan was again rich in his praise for the yougnster, claiming 'he could rule the game for the next ten years'.[6] In the final, Maguire blazed past David Gray with an emphatic 10–1 win.[7]
The rest of the season was an anti-climax of sorts however. He lost against defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–10 in their World Championship first-round match, despite having led 9–7, but he still moved up to #3 in the world rankings.
[edit] 2006–2009
In the 2005/2006 season, he only reached one quarter-final, showing evidence of a loss in form, especially when losing 4–13 to qualifier Marco Fu in the second round of the 2006 World Championships.
In 2007, he recorded his best run at the World Championship reaching the semi-final, where he lost 15–17 to eventual champion John Higgins having led 14–10.
Maguire again beat Shaun Murphy in the 2007 UK Championship semi-final 9–5 only to lose 2–10 against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final. In the 2008 China Open, he compiled a 147 in narrowly beating his friend Ryan Day 6–5 in the semi-finals, before edging out Shaun Murphy once again in the final by 10 frames to 9.
Despite losing at the quarter-final stage of the 2008 World Championship in another final frame decider (12–13) to Joe Perry, he became the world number 2 for the next season, his highest ever ranking having severed most of his ties the previous summer, Maguire formally left management company 110sport in the summer of 2008, but returned in October.[8]
The 2008/2009 season he failed to win a ranking event, but done enough to maintain his number two ranking at the end of the season by consistently reaching the later stages of tournaments. His best runs were semi-final appearances in the Shanghai Masters and UK Championship. In the Shanghai Masters he lost narrowly 5–6 against Ronnie O'Sullivan and in the UK Championship 4–9 against Shaun Murphy.
[edit] 2009/2010
Maguire began the 2009/2010 season by winning the first event of the Pro Challenge Series beating Alan McManus 5–2 in the final.
Maguire was formally detained by Strathclyde Police on August 27, 2009, following allegations that he and countryman Jamie Burnett had colluded to produce a 9–3 victory for Maguire in their clash in the 2008 UK Championship.[9]
Maguire had to withdraw from the first ranking event, the Shanghai Masters, due to shoulder injury. In the Grand Prix he won his first ranking match of the season, defeating Nigel Bond 5–3, before losing his next match 1–5 against Ding Junhui.
At the UK Championship he reached the semi-finals by defeating Michael Holt 9–6 in the first round, Stuart Bingham 9–3 in the second round and Peter Lines 9–3 in the quarter-final, before he lost again against Ding Junhui 5–9.
Maguire's first event of 2010 was the Masters. He beat Mark King 6–3 in the first round and Ryan Day 6–1 in the quarter-finals, but lost 3–6 in the semi-finals against Mark Selby.
Maguire then reached the semifinals of the Welsh Open. He defeated Dominic Dale 5–4 in the first round, Barry Hawkins 5–1 in the second round and Mark Williams 5–1 in the quarter-finals, but he lost 3–6 against defending champion Ali Carter.
He won his opening matches at the last two ranking tournament, the China Open and World Championship, but lost in the second round against Mark Allen 3–5 and Graeme Dott 6–13 respectively.
[edit] 2010/2011
Maguire had a relatively quiet season, but he did reach the final of the Welsh Open where he led John Higgins 5–2 before being defeated 9–6. However, he followed this up by losing in the first round of the World Championship for the first time since 2005, as he was defeated by qualifier Barry Hawkins 10–9.
[edit] 2011/2012
Maguire's season started poorly with first round exits at the opening two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters.[10][11] At the UK Championships he defeated Stephen Hendry and John Higgins to set up a quarter-final with world number seven Judd Trump, which Maguire lost 6-3.[12] He made three century "breaks" during the tournament, including a 144, which was the highest of the event.[13]
He won his first ranking event tournament for almost four years in January 2012 at PTC Event 12 - the Arcaden Shopping Open - in Germany. He beat Joe Perry 4-2 in the final and stated afterwards that he hadn't practiced at all over the Christmas period.[14] The result meant that he finished eighth in the Order of Merit and therefore qualified for the 2012 Finals.[15] He couldn't carry his form into the following weeks Masters tournament however, as he exited the event in the first round for the second successive year following a 4-6 defeat to Mark Williams.[16]
[edit] Rivalry
Maguire has a rivalry with Shaun Murphy. In a 2004 Grand Prix match, Murphy was involved in having one of Maguire's frames forfeited. As the match was about to begin, Maguire realised he had forgotten to bring his chalk with him. He asked referee Johan Oomen for permission to leave the arena.[17] While he was away, Murphy spoke to the referee; the tournament director Mike Ganley was summoned and he docked Maguire a frame for not being ready to start at the scheduled time.[18] Maguire later won the match 5–2. Later that year, whilst playing in the final of the UK Championships, David Gray forgot his chalk. However, Maguire let him get it without a frame being docked. After beating Murphy in the 2007 Welsh Open, Maguire said, 'That put the icing on the cake, but we've always had a rivalry. I dislike him and I think he dislikes me. I try hard to beat everyone, but it would have hurt more if I'd lost to him'.[18] After the previously mentioned 2006 World Championship match with Marco Fu, Maguire said, 'I don't want to be a fat world champion', a dig at Murphy.[19]
[edit] Personal life
Stephen has a son Finn and a daughter Faith with his long term fiancee Sharon.[20]
He does not have to wear a bow tie in professional snooker matches due to medical problems, for which he has a doctor's certificate.[21]
[edit] Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 1998/ 99 |
1999/ 00 |
2000/ 01 |
2001/ 02 |
2002/ 03 |
2003/ 04 |
2004/ 05 |
2005/ 06 |
2006/ 07 |
2007/ 08 |
2008/ 09 |
2009/ 10 |
2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | UR[nb 1] | 193 | 100 | 52 | 52 | 41 | 24 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Ranking Tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Goldfields Open | Not Held | 1R | ||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | Not Held | 1R | SF | 1R | 2R | 1R | ||||||||
| UK Championship | LQ | 3R | 1R | LQ | 2R | 2R | W | 3R | 3R | F | SF | SF | QF | QF |
| German Masters | NR | Not Held | QF | |||||||||||
| Welsh Open | LQ | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 2R | 2R | SF | 2R | QF | SF | F | |
| World Open[nb 2] | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | QF | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | QF | |
| China Open[nb 3] | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | Not Held | LQ | 1R | 2R | W | 1R | 2R | 1R | ||
| World Snooker Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | 2R | SF | QF | QF | 2R | 1R | |
| Non-Ranking Tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Premier League | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | RR | A | A | A | A | A | A |
| The Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | WR | 1R | SF | QF | QF | SF | 1R | 1R |
| Former Ranking Tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Scottish Open[nb 4] | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | LQ | Not Held | |||||||
| British Open | LQ | 4R | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | F | Not Held | ||||||
| Irish Masters | Not ranking | 2R | 1R | 1R | NH | NR | Not Held | |||||||
| Malta Cup[nb 5] | A | Not Held | LQ | LQ | W | 2R | QF | 2R | NR | Not Held | ||||
| Northern Ireland Trophy | Not Held | NR | 3R | W | QF | Not Held | ||||||||
| Bahrain Championship | Not Held | QF | Not Held | |||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| NH | tournament not held in that calendar year | A | did not participate in the tournament |
| LQ | lost in qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = round robin) |
| QF | advanced to but not past the quarterfinals | SF | advanced to but not past the semifinals |
| F | advanced to the final, tournament runner-up | W | won the tournament |
| NR | means the event offered no rankings points for that season. | |||
- ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
- ^ The event run under different name as LG Cup (2001/2002-2003/2004) and Grand Prix (1998/1999-2000/2001 and 2004/2005-2009/2010
- ^ The event run under different name as China International (1998/1999)
- ^ The event run under different name as Players Championship (2003/2004)
- ^ The event ran under the names European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999)
