Pro Snooker Blog

Name: Michael White

DOB: July 5th, 1991

Birthplace: Neath, Wales

Turned Pro: 2007

Highest Ranking: #69 (2010/11)

Current Ranking: #69

Highest Break: 135

Career Highlights: 2009 Welsh Number 1, 2006 IBSF Grand Prix Winner, National Champion at U-14, U-18 and U21levels, former European U-19 Champion

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Junior Career

Like fellow professional Daniel Wells, 17-year old Michael White is another gifted young player who hails from the town of Neath in South Wales and if his junior record is anything to go by, he could reach the very top of the game.

Credited as the youngest player ever to have made a century break (aged just 9), Michael was clearly a fine prospect from an early age. Nationally he is a champion at under-14, under-18 and under-21 level, as well as a runner-up at senior level and what is most impressive is his age  when winning these events. In 2003 when he took under-14 and under-18 glory he was just 12 years old and it was just two years later when he completed the set with under-21 and second place in the senior event.

More was to come on the international stage however as he won the European U-19 Championship with victory over Vinnie Muldoon as well as becoming the youngest ever winner of the IBSF World Grand Prix in 2006, again aged just 14 which unfortunately meant that he was too young to join the main professional tour due to the age restrictions in place.

GSC

Main Tour 2007/8

The age restrictions in place were to become an even greater issue when he did graduate to the main tour a year later as he was forced to miss the qualifiers for the season opening Shanghai Masters tournament because they fell just days before his 16th birthday. Whether this affected him mentally for the rest of the season only he knows but the only managed to win four matches and lost his professional place at the end of the year.

2008/9

Barring a run to the final in Event Three, the 2008/9 PIOS series at Prestatyn was fairly uneventful for Michael, indeed he barely competed in the other events as he finished up in 35th place.

Instead he chose to focus on the Welsh national events and this proved to be a great success as he won events at senior, under-19 and under-21 levels. By the end of the campaign he had won three of the four events played at senior level and immediately secured a return to the main tour as a result.

2009/10

Now knowing exactly what to expect on the professional circuit, Michael got his second stint amongst the big boys off to an encouraging start with victories over Lee Page and Mark Davis to reach the third qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters. Though he could only reach the second round at the Grand Prix, the UK Championship was to see him reach the last 48 for the first time with victories over fellow Neath pro Daniel Wells, Jin Long and the experienced Jamie Burnett.

Michael takes a notable scalp, the 1991 world champion John Parrott

From there his season was to tail off somewhat as he won just one further match during the three remaining tournaments of the year. In particular his 10-9 World Championship qualifying defeat at the hands of Thailand’s Noppadol Sangnil was to be a real disappointment, though thanks to his earlier results he was at least sure of retaining his main tour place for 2010/11, finishing 6th on the one-year list of players not ranked inside the top 64 on the two-year list.