Name: Jimmy Michie
DOB: 4th August 1971
Nationality: English
Turned Pro: 1991
Highest Ranking: #41 (2000/1)
Highest Break: 139 (1991 B&H Championship)
Career Highlights: 1999 British Open semi-finalist, 2002 LG Cup semi–finalist, 1994 Grand Prix quarter-finalist, 1996 World Championship Last 32
Career highlights
The strongest runs of Jimmy’s career were to come at the 1999 British Open and the 2002 LG Cup where he reached the semi-finals only to lose to Anthony Hamilton and Chris Small respectively. He also qualified for the Crucible once in 1996, though having arrived in a stretch limo things did not go to plan as he lost at the last 32 stage to Thailand’s James Wattana.
Unfortunately for Jimmy though, following his LG Cup run in 2002, his cue was to be stolen along with his car and despite offering £1,000 for its return, he would never see it again. It was probably no coincidence that that incident his ranking was to fall by approximately 20 places and he was never to repeat those semi-final runs again.
As well as his role as a player, Jimmy was for a time also a regular face at the calendar’s major ranking events as he entertained fans in the ‘Cuezone’ for the week. During the latter stages of his career he also sought to improve his fitness and was involved in a number of charity events in honour of the late Paul Hunter.
Jimmy at the 2010 World Championship qualifiers
2008/9
2008/9 was to prove a tough season for Jimmy, the highlight being a run to the last 32 of the Grand Prix where he eventually lost out to defending champion Marco Fu. A disappointing 10-6 defeat to Paul Davies in his opening match at the World Championship qualifiers was to follow and left him sweating on other results in order to retain his top 48 status for 2009/10.
2009/10
The first half of 2009/10 was no kinder to Jimmy as he won just one match during the first four ranking events staged, though this was at least at the UK Championship where there was more points on offer than most tournaments.
Further early exits followed at the Welsh and China Open tournaments in early 2010 before he managed to confirm his main tour place for the following season with an emphatic 10-2 victory over David Gray at the World Championship qualifiers. Unfortunately for Jimmy though, defeat to Graeme Dott in the next round meant that he would drop to 56th place in the rankings, his lowest position since the 2005/6 season.
2010/11
Having struggled for form for much of the previous season, Jimmy’s struggles continued into 2010/11 as a last 32 run in the World Open aside, he found wins hard to come by. As a result Jimmy took the decision to retire from snooker following his defeat to Marcus Campbell during the 2011 Snooker Shootout.