Jamie Clarke (born 5 October 1994) is a Welsh professional

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.

Career

Clarke drew attention in 2014 when he defeated former world number 8

Darren Morgan Darren Morgan (born 3 May 1966) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur and is considered amongst the best in the world. Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the professional m ...

in 6–0

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

in the semi-finals of the Welsh Amateur Championship before going on to defeat

Lee Walker Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and former World Seniors Champion. He is an official WPBSA coach and is the long-term coach of Mark Williams. Career After turning professional in 1994 at the ag ...

to capture the highest ranking and most prestigious amateur event in Wales. In 2015 Clarke entered several events in an attempt to qualify for 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, ...

and narrowly missed out by losing in the final of tournaments on 3 occasions. In April, Clarke lost 3–4 in a final-frame decider to

Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer, audio director, and sound designer best known for his work on video game developer Bungie's titles, such as the ''Myth'' series, ''Oni'', the ''Halo'' series, and ''Destiny''. O'Don ...

in the final round of the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-off. Clarke would go on to enter Q School in May 2015, but would be unable to advance further than the third round. In June 2015, Clarke qualified for the knockout stage of

EBSA European Snooker Championship The EBSA European Snooker Championship is the premier amateur snooker tournament in Europe. The event series is sanctioned by the European Billiards and Snooker Association. It first took place in 1988 and has been held annually since 1993. In most ...

as the 19th seed where he lost 4–7 to

Michael Wild Michael Wild (born 27 March 1981) is an English former professional snooker player. Career During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wild competed in the Challenge Tour and International Open Series events, without much success until the 2002/2003 ...

in the final. The following month at the

IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and S ...

Clarke once again reached the tournament final before losing 7–8 in the deciding frame to Boonyarit Keattikun. In February 2016, Clarke once again reached the final of the

as the number 1 seed, however he was once again defeated 4–7 losing to fellow

countryman Countryman may refer to: Arts and media * ''Countryman'' (album), an album by Willie Nelson * ''Countryman'' (film), a motion picture set in Jamaica * ''Countryman'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''Countryman'' (newspaper), a rural-themed new ...

Jak Jones Jak Jones (born 29 July 1993) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is from Cwmbran, Torfaen, in South Wales. He became a professional in 2010 at the age of 16 after winning the 2010 European Under-19 Snooker Championship in Malta. As a ...

. Two months later Clarke again lost a final-frame decider 3–4 to Elliot Slessor in the final round of the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-off. This was Clarke's fifth defeat in the final round of a tournament to qualify for the

. Clarke was finally able to gain professional status at the sixth attempt, in the EBSA Tour Qualifying Play-offs, thanks to victories over former World Championship semi-finalist

Andy Hicks Andrew Hicks (born 10 August 1973) is an English retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Cream of Devon", Hicks was a semi-finalist at both the World Snooker Championship and UK Championship in 1995, and the same stage at four other ...

and English amateur George Pragnall. He qualified for the first time for the

2020 World Snooker Championship The 2020 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was th ...

, defeating

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

10–8 in the first round despite Allen scoring 5 centuries. Clarke was involved in a controversial incident during his second round match against

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He ...

. Clarke was leading 7–2 when McGill complained to him directly that he had stood in his eyeline on several occasions during the match while he was getting down on a shot. Referee Jan Verhaas intervened but it seemed to unsettle Clarke after he won the frame. During the interval he tweeted 'You want to dance, let's dance.' McGill won the remaining five frames of the session to trail 7–8. Ultimately the match went to a decider; Clarke was in first during the deciding frame before failing to escape from a snooker, and leaving a free ball. This was enough for McGill to win the match and see Clarke lose 12–13. Clarke's campaign at the

2021 World Snooker Championship The 2021 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2021 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 4 ...

ended in a similar fashion. In the last qualifying round, he led Mark Davis 7-2 after the first session before Davis won seven frames on a spin in the second session, with Clarke eventually losing 8–10.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Amateur finals: 6 (2 titles)

Team finals: 1

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Jamie Rhys Welsh snooker players Living people 1994 births Snooker players from Llanelli