Gary Owen (snooker player)

Gary Owen
Born 1929
Tumble, Wales
Died 1995 (aged 65)[1]
Southport, Queensland, Australia
Sport country  Wales
Professional 1968–1979
Highest ranking 10 (1976/77)
Career winnings £2,950[2]
Highest break 118: 1971 Australian Professional Championship
Century breaks 4[2]
Best ranking finish Quarter-final (1975 World Championship)

Gary Owen (born 1929 in Tumble, Carmarthenshire, Wales; died 1995 in Brisbane, Australia) was a Welsh snooker player.

Career

Owen first emerged as the inaugural British Under-16 champion in 1944 and reached the final of the prestigious English Amateur championship six years later. He then gave up competitive play for a number of years, returning only in the early sixties.

In 1963 he matched the achievement of his brother Marcus, winning the English Amateur Championship. This qualified him to compete for England at the inaugural World Amateur Championship in Calcutta. He won all his matches in a round-robin format and took the title. He became world amateur champion for a second time in 1966, defeating future world professional champion John Spencer in the final.

In 1968 Owen, Spencer and Ray Reardon become the first players in a generation to turn professional. His best performance as a pro came in 1969 when he reached the final of the reconstituted World Professional Snooker Championship, losing to old rival Spencer[1] by 37 frames to 24. A semi-finalist in 1970, he was defeated in the last eight in 1973 and 1975.

Owen emigrated to Australia in 1971, taking a job as the resident professional at a snooker club in Sydney. After gaining Australian citizenship, he represented his new country at the Snooker World Cup in 1979.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1968/
69		 1969/
70		 1970/
71		 1971/
72		 1972/
73		 1973/
74		 1974/
75		 1975/
76		 1976/
77		 1977/
78
Ranking[3] No ranking system 10 13
Ranking tournaments
World Championship F SF RR A QF 2R QF 1R A A
Non-ranking tournaments
Pot Black QF RR SF A A A A A A A
Australian Professional Championship A A A SF F F QF A SF LQ
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
Other (0–2)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1969 World Snooker Championship England John Spencer 27–46
Runner-up 2. 1972 Australian Professional Championship Australia Eddie Charlton 10–19
Runner-up 3. 1973 Australian Professional Championship (2) Australia Eddie Charlton 10–31

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1950 English Amateur Championship England Alf Nolan 5–6
Winner 1. 1963 English Amateur Championship England Ron Gross 11–3
Winner 2. 1963 World Amateur Championship Australia Frank Harris –[n 1]
Winner 3. 1966 World Amateur Championship (2) England John Spencer –[n 1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Title decided alone on group stage

References

  1. 1 2 "Obituary: Gary Owen". The Independent. 4 July 1995. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Career-total Statistics for Gary Owen - Professional". CueTracker. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.