Daryl Peach (born 8 March 1972) is an English professional

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

player, from

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final to become the first British player to win the

WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organized by Matchroom Sport, who pro ...

. Representing England with partner Mark Gray, Peach has competed at the

World Cup of Pool The World Cup of Pool is an annual international single-elimination tournament for doubles teams in nine-ball pool competition. The Philippines holds the record for World Cup wins, winning the title on four occasions. In 2023, they also became t ...

on six occasions, reaching the final in

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and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. Peach represented Great Britain and won the inaugural World Team Championship in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. He has also represented Europe in the Mosconi Cup in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and was a member of the winning team on both occasions. Peach was the youngest winner of the

World Pool Masters The World Pool Masters is an annual international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters (until 1995) until players from other parts of the globe were invited. History Throughout much of its history, the tournament ...

, his first pool tournament, winning the 1995 event at the age of 23 years and three months. He is also the first player to have been ranked number one in the UK rankings, European tour rankings, and WPA World rankings concurrently. Peach is a five-time winner on the

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlanti ...

, having won events from 2007 until 2012. With a total of nine medals from tour events, Peach is the tenth most successful player on the tour of all time.

Career

Snooker and transition to pool (1991–1995)

Peach was born on 8 March 1972 in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England, and moved to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

when he was 14 years old. Originally a

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player, he turned professional in 1991 but was unable to reach the TV stages of any tournaments. Peach played alongside the likes of

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

, Mark Williams and

John Higgins John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...

, who were all battling in the qualifying rounds at the same time. He reached a peak ranking of 250th in the world on the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...

. His last snooker tournament was the 1995 Welsh Open, where he lost 4–5 to Matthew Stevens in the opening qualifying round. Following this loss, Peach was convinced by a friend to take up

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle o ...

pool, and he entered a UK ranking event "just to see". He won this event in convincing fashion, beating some of the highest ranked UK players along the way. After this initial win, he entered the next three UK ranking events, winning them all to make it four out of four. He quickly rose to the top of the UK pool rankings, and consequently received an invitation to the 1995 European Pool Masters tournament (which later became the

). He sailed through the event and defeated Lee Kendall in the final, making Peach the youngest winner of the tournament at age 23 years and three months. He was then invited to represent Europe at the 1995 Mosconi Cup, partnering pool players Kendall, Oliver Ortmann and Tom Storm, and snooker players

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgi ...

and

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

. The European team won the series, 16–15, with Peach playing an integral part in Europe's first-ever victory in the event. Following his huge successes, Peach decided not to renew his professional snooker status, opting to play pool instead.

Post European Masters (1996–2004)

After the promising start to his pool career, Peach spent the next few years cementing his place at the top of the UK rankings, playing between 25 and 30 UK ranking events per year. He slowly started to filter more and more European events into his calendar, along with the occasional world major event. He competed in the World Pool Masters, twice reaching the semi-finals. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2004 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he lost to Michael Schmidt 7–10. Peach was also starting to make a breakthrough on the tough

, reaching the semi-finals of the Austria Open, and later the final of the German Open where he finished runner-up to Ortmann.

United Kingdom number one again...

In 2005, Peach reached the main stages of all six Euro Tour events. He progressed to the round-of-16 stage at the Belgium and Swiss Opens, the quarter-finals at the German and Costa Del Sol Opens, and the semi-finals of the Austria Open. He later reached the quarter-finals of the WPA World Eight-ball Championship, after defeating Ralf Souquet in the round of 16, losing to eventual champion Wu Jia-qing. His season results led him to become the number one ranked player in the United Kingdom, a position that was becoming to be a given for Peach. This success gave him the opportunity to represent England at the 2006 World Cup of Pool doubles event, where he partnered Steve Davis. In the first round, the pair defeated the South Korean team of Jeong Young-hwa and Lee Gun-jae 9–6, but lost in the quarter-finals to Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris of the United States. In late 2006, Peach decided to enter a qualifying event in Holland to win a place on the new International Pool Tour (IPT), which he won. He played in the IPT World Open (eight-ball), finishing in 17th place, and the IPT North American Open, where he finished seventh.

World nine-ball champion (2007)

In 2007, Peach won his first Euro Tour event, the German Open. En route to the final, he beat Alex Lely 10–6, Dzmitry Chuprov 10–3, Niels Feijen 10–7, Thorsten Hohmann 10–7, and David Alcaide 10–5. In the final, he defeated Dimitri Jungo 10–3. In November, Peach entered the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, held at the

Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose arena, sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Quezon City#Cubao, Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, Philippines (the same arena where

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

defeated

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

in the famous "Thriller in Manila" fight), seeded 17th for the event. He won his double elimination rounds, reaching the knockout rounds. He then defeated defending champion Ronato Alcano 10–6, former runner-up Lee Kung-fang 10–7, and Harald Stolka 11–5, to reach the quarter-finals. There, Peach played another former runner-up Francisco Bustamante, who led 10–9 in a -to-11-racks match. With Bustamante behind the , he played a to make a on the 9. Despite Bustamante celebrating the victory, referee Nigel Reese consulted a television replay of the shot, and declared it to be a foul, awarding Peach . The foul shot was replayed on the big overhead screens, showing that there was no doubt the shot was in fact a foul. Following the decision, it took over 10 minutes for the heavily partisan crowd to settle down and accept the decision. With ball in hand, Peach ran out the high pressured rack to tie the match at 10–10. He then kept Bustamante in his seat, completing his victory with a solid in the final rack decider, winning 11–10. In the semi-final, Peach defeated Hungarian player Vilmos Foldes 11–2 to set up a final match against Roberto Gomez. In the race-to-17-racks match, Peach took to the table better, reaching an early five-rack lead at 8–3. Gomez won six racks in a row to take the lead before Peach went ahead by two at 12–10. Gomez dug in again to retake the lead and go 15–12 ahead. Then it was Peach's turn to build a comeback, levelling the match at 15–15. With two racks required to win the championship, Peach maintained his momentum and won the next rack allowing him to get to the . A long safety battle ensued in rack 32, which was dominated by Peach, enabling him to get the first chance. He convincingly ran the rack to win the championship, becoming the first-ever British winner of the event. Peach was then selected to represent Europe once again, at the 2007 Mosconi Cup, where he partnered Souquet, Feijen, Konstantin Stepanov, and

Tony Drago Tony Drago ( ; born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 ...

. Peach won his second Mosconi Cup winners medal, making it two from two attempts. In the interview after his match against Earl Strickland, Peach branded his opponent the "scum of the earth", following claims that Strickland had purposefully attempted to distract him. The pair were later separated by referee Michaela Tabb, even after a warning from Tabb to Strickland.

Reigning world champion (2008–2010)

Following Peach's world championship victory, he reached the round-of-16 stage of both the 2008 WPA World Eight-ball Championship and the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship. In October 2008, Peach partnered Mark Gray at the 2008 World Cup of Pool. They reached the event's final, losing to the American team of Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening. The World Nine-ball Championship was cancelled, so Peach retained his world championship status until the event returned in

. In the intervening years, Peach won his second and third Euro Tour events at the and . Peach was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2010 World Team Championship alongside Darren Appleton, Imran Majid, Karl Boyes, and Mark Gray. The team qualified for the round of 16, where they defeated Germany 4–0. In their quarter-final against the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the match finished tied at 3–3, and so a tiebreaker was played in a race-to-six-racks. However, the winning team had to win by two clear racks. The match lasted significantly over six racks, with Peach making the winning shot to win 27–25. The team defeated Greece 4–2 to reach the final. In the final, the team played the Filipino team, winning 4–1 to become world champions.

Post world championship (2011–present)

In 2011, Peach won both the international nine-ball and international eight-ball, a feat which has never been repeated. He reached the quarter-final of both the World

and

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "". Although the game has existed since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s as a ...

championships. The following year, Peach won his fourth and fifth Euro Tour events at the . and 2012 Portugal Open. At the 2015 World Cup of Pool, Peach and partner Mark Gray reached the final once again, but lost 8–10 to the

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

team of Ko Pin-yi and Chang Yu-lung. After this point, Peach lost both his parents, and also had a major injury to his right shoulder, which meant that he played sporadically in tournaments since.

Personal life

Peach is married to Lesley Peach; they have one child named Ellie. Peach is an amateur golfer, having gained a handicap of eight in 2010. When not playing pool, he develops real estate.