Jimmy White « Pro Snooker Blog

Name: Jimmy White

DOB: May 2nd, 1962

Nationality: English

Turned Pro: 1980

Highest Ranking: #2 (1987-9)

Current Ranking: #60

Highest Break: 147 (1992 World Championship)

Career Highlights: 1992 UK Champion, Twice Grand Prix Champion, Twice Mercantile Credit Classic Champion, Twice British Open Champion, Six times World Finalist

Website: http://www.jimmywhirlwindwhite.com/

In short

One of, if not the most popular player ever to have picked up a cue, there can be little doubt that Jimmy is also the most talented player never to have won the world title as his otherwise sizeable trophy collection shows.

Known as the Whirlwind for his quick and easy on the eye style, Jimmy is also an outstanding player when using the rest which has proved to be a great asset down the years. Now 47 years old, his game is not what it was, though he continues to fight hard and keep his legion of fans coming back for more.

Can he get back into the top 16 for a fourth time? Very unlikely but with a good couple of seasons, we may yet see him on our screens for a while longer…

An example of the play that has made Jimmy White so popular

Early career

An outstanding junior player, Jimmy first caught the eye of snooker experts as a 15 year old when he became the national champion in 1977. He followed this up with victory in the English Amateur Championship a couple of years later before going further with victory in the IBSF event out in Launceston.

Going Pro

Already recognised as a superb natural talent, it was time for White to turn professional and after an impressive debut season, he ended up ranked up in 21st position. His most notable achievement was becoming the youngest player ever to have qualified for the final stages of the World Championship at the Crucible, putting up a great fight in his first match before going down 10-8 to eventual champion Steve Davis.

Defeat did not hurt his progress however as in the following season he won the Scottish Masters (becoming the youngest ever winner of a ranking event in the process), Northern Ireland Classic and also reached semis in both the UK and World Championship to move into the elite top 16 after just 18 months on the circuit. Indeed that World semi-final was one of the most memorable snooker matches of all-time, Jimmy leading 15-14 and being well up in the next frame before falling to one of the great comebacks against friend Alex Higgins.

Indifferent spell and revival

His next 18 months were to be less successful however, ‘only’ making two finals before losing in round one of the World Championship in 1983. He then lost the first three matches of 1983/4 and questions were being asked as to whether we had already seen the best of Jimmy White.

These were answered emphatically however with a run to the semi-finals of the UK Championship (eventually losing out to Davis), before a brilliant Masters victory at Wembley against Terry Griffiths in the final. He then followed this up with a run at the Crucible, defeating Rex Williams, Eddie Charlton, Cliff Thorburn and Kirk Stevens to make his first final.

Jimmy in the first of his six world finals

Unfortunately for Jimmy however he came up against the machine that was Steve Davis and despite recovering from 12-4 down to make it 16-17, he just came up short, losing out 18-6. As we all know though, it would not be the last time that White was to suffer such disappointment…

1984/5 saw a few more invitational events go his way, but it was the following year which would see him finally win his first ranking event title at the Mercantile Credit Classic. Helping him to maintain his position of number seven in the rankings, this seemed to give White a bit more confidence and more big titles came his way including the Grand Prix and the British Open crowns. Along with another World semi-final, these helped to move him up to a career-high ranking of number two in the world, right behind his great rival Steve Davis.

A new rival

The next couple of years saw only one further title come his way, but his form remained consistent and he kept a place in the top four as the 1980′s came to a close. As his great rival Steve Davis began to slow down ever so slightly, Jimmy must have thought that his opportunity to finally become the dominant force in the game had arrived.

Unfortunately for him however, just as Davis began his decline, another young superstar by the name of Stephen Hendry was beginning his emergence, indeed pushing Jimmy to a deciding frame in their 1988 World Championship meeting in the second round.

At the World Championship final in 1990 however, Hendry took his revenge, defeating White 18-12 to become the youngest ever world champion. White had looked great up until the final, defeating David Taylor, John Virgo, Terry Griffiths and finally his old rival Davis to get that far, but Hendry was just too strong for him.

1990/1 saw success come his way in the Mercantile Classic, World Matchplay and World Masters events, but again there was to be disappointment in the final as this time his hopes were dashed by a determined John Parrott who ran out an 18-11 winner.

Hendry hat-trick

Jimmy takes his second Grand Prix title with a nailbiting win over Irishman Ken Doherty in 1992

Though the British and European Open titles came his way in the following season, his successes were overshadowed by the start of a three year run of finals between White and his great rival Stephen Hendry. This time around in 1992, although White made a historic 147 break in an earlier round against Maltese star Tony Drago, further disappointment was to come in the final as Hendry got the better of him 18-14.

1992/3 was a similar story as following big victories in the Grand Prix and UK Championship, his season was marred by another loss to Hendry at Sheffield, this time by a comprehensive 18-5 scoreline, the last time a final was won with a session to spare.

A happy moment at the Crucible as he makes a historic 147

A defining moment

Of all the finals though, it was to be 1994 that would go down as the most agonising, famously pushing Hendry all the way to a deciding frame and working himself an opportunity before that infamous missed black saw his hopes dashed once again. Having lost his sixth final and fourth in all to Hendry, he famously declared that “he is starting to annoy me” and few could blame him!

Decline

By this point Jimmy was into his mid-thirties and starting to struggle, suffering a semi-final defeat to Hendry in 1995 and falling out of the top 16 just two years later. He did gain a measure of revenge over Stephen in 1998 as he defeated his old rival 10-4 in the first round at Sheffield, but his run that year ended in the quarter-finals against Essex Exocet Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Still, he had at least moved up three places in the rankings to 18th and following a reasonable season, he edged his way back into the top 16 again. This only lasted for one season though as he slipped back a couple of places again at the end of the 2000/1 campaign.

Revival

Again though, you can never write off White and he regained his elite status once again the following year, making his first ranking event final in nine years at the British Open before losing to Peter Ebdon. Another good run to the semis of the Grand Prix ensured that he moved up to 11th though and he would eventually stay in the top tier for another five years, a run capped by a hugely popular 9-7 victory in the 2004 Players Championship against Paul Hunter.

The last of Jimmy’s 10 ranking titles to date, but what a win it was

Sharp decline

From this high though his career took a huge turn for the worse as just two years later he found himself dropping from 8th to 35th in the rankings, before plummeting down to 60th for 2007/8. Jimmy continued to struggle for form that season and only narrowly managed to retain his place on the tour for 2008/9 by finishing top of the one-year list for players not in the all-important top 64 that year.

2008/9

Despite this, his form during 2008/9 was much improved. Although he did not come close to winning another ranking event title, Jimmy consistently won his first round match and reached the TV stages of both the Northern Ireland Trophy and the Shanghai Masters.

Though it took him until the Welsh Open to again reach the last 32, where he was hammered by eventual winner Ali Carter, he continued to regularly win matches and moved himself up comfortably inside the top 64. Also ranked inside the top 48 on the one-year list, he had given himself a real chance of continuing to progress back up the rankings during the following season.

2009/10

Jimmy got his 2009/10 campaign off to the perfect start by following up on a strong performance in the World Series by going all the way to victory in the Sangsom 6-Red International. While taking the title in itself was an impressive feat, even more so was the manner in which he did it, defeating players such as Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, defending champion Ricky Walden, Mark King and Barry Hawkins en route.

He soon added the Prague leg of the World Series to his roll of honour with a 5-3 victory over Graeme Dott in the final and having made the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in Furth, his form in the invitational events at least was looking as strong as it has for a few years.

In the ranking events however it was a different story as he fell to a 5-2 defeat in the third round of the season-opening Shanghai Masters before losing 5-2 to the in-form Matt Selt in round two of the Grand Prix.

The real blow to his ranking points total however came when he opted to withdraw from the UK Championship in order to participate on UK reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!”. Upon exiting the show, finishing third, Jimmy said:

“I feel fantastic, absolutely delighted,”

“I want to thank all the people for voted for me.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like [this] and we are all going to stay in touch.”

“I’ve learnt a lot about myself and had plenty of time to think – I even lost 22lb!”

While this was a lucrative experience, the UK Championship is of course only bettered in terms of ranking points by the World Championship and his withdrawal saw his provisional ranking drop as low as 61.

On his return there was a welcome return to Wembley for White as he was awarded a wildcard for the Masters tournament, though overwhelmed by the raputous reception he received from the crowd he played poorly and lost out to world number 16 Mark King at the first hurdle.

The pressure upon Jimmy’s shoulders increased further following early exits at the hands of Ian McCulloch and Xiao Guodong in the next two tournaments, both in deciding frames. His defeat to Ian was particularly disappointing as at the interval Jimmy had led 4-0, but lost the next five frames, the decider on a re-spotted black!

Entering the World Championship needing a win to retain his professional place, White crucially delivered against Scotland’s Mark Boyle, emerging as a 10-8 winner to book a tie with 1997 world champion Ken Doherty. Though he had twice defeated Ken during the previous season, Doherty was a different player this time around and ultimately cruised to a 10-3 win, ending Jimmy’s season.

Having earned just 4,870 points during the season in comparison to the 8,250 during 2008/9, Jimmy will have to improve during 2009/10 if he is to retain his tour place as of right…

Tournament Victories:

Ranking Event wins (10)

Event	Year
UK Championship	1992
Grand Prix	1986, 1992
British Open	1987, 1992
Canadian Masters	1988
Mercantile Credit Classic	1986, 1991
European Open	1992
Players Championship	2004

Non-Ranking Event wins (23)

Event	Year
Jameson International	1981
Wembley Masters	1984
Scottish Masters	1981
Hong Kong Masters	1988
Pot Black	1986
Irish Masters	1985-6
Premier League	1993
World Matchplay	1989-90
Northern Ireland Classic	1981
Carlsberg Challenge	1984-5
Thailand Masters	1984/5
Malaysian Masters	1986/7
World Masters	1991
European Challenge	1991
Sangsom 6-Red International	2009
World Series of Snooker	2009 (Prague)