Darren Morgan

Darren Morgan (born 3 May 1966) is a Welsh former professional snooker player.

Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the professional main tour from 1988 until 2006. He reached a high ranking of eight and was ranked within the top 16 for six years despite never winning a ranking event. He compiled 111 in his career.

Career Morgan was born in Newport, South Wales.

His best achievements as a professional were to win the Irish Masters in 1996, beating Steve Davis 9–8 in the final, and he captained Wales to victory in the 1999 Nations Cup. He was also a semi-finalist in the 1994 World Championship, beating Mark King 10–5, Willie Thorne 13–12 and John Parrott 13–11 before losing to Jimmy White 9–16. He was also a quarter-finalist on three occasions, beating Ken Doherty and Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1996 and 1997 respectively at the Crucible.

Morgan still plays in amateur and pro-am events, and won the EBSA Masters and World Masters Championship titles in 2007. On 22 October 2009 he won the TCC Pro-Am by beating fellow Welshman Mark Williams 7–4 in the final.

On 23 November 2009 Morgan won his second IBSF World Snooker Championship in the Masters section, defeating three-time defending champion Dene O'Kane of New Zealand 6–0 in the final.

Morgan entered the 2010 World Open as an amateur along with fellow senior Tony Knowles and caused an upset by reaching the last 64 of the competition, before narrowly losing to former world number four Matthew Stevens 3–2 in round three.

In November 2011, he entered the World Seniors Championships in Peterborough and came away with victory over Steve Davis in the final. Morgan beat former world champion Cliff Thorburn and 'Whirlwind' Jimmy White in the previous rounds before facing the six-times world champion in the final. In fact, Morgan had to win qualifying matches just to reach the final stages of the tournament. He beat Davis 2–1 in the final and came home to his Club in Cross Keys with the trophy.

In June 2016, as a wildcard entry to the Riga Masters having won the EBSA European Open title several weeks prior, Morgan overcame Bradley Jones 4–3, Adam Stefanow 4–2, Zhao Xintong 4–1, Doherty 4–3 and Xiao Guodong 4–2 to set up a semi-final encounter with Neil Robertson. Appearing at this stage of a ranking event for the first time since 2002, and becoming the oldest ranking semi-finalist since Rex Williams in 1986, Morgan was whitewashed 5–0 by the eventual champion.

Morgan made a maximum break of 147 against Gareth Edwards in an amateur Seniors event in 2023; this possibly makes him the oldest player to achieve a maximum break in competition.

Personal life He lives with his wife, Tracy, and their three daughters in Newbridge, and owns a nearby snooker club and sports shop that provides printing, embroidery, trophies and engraving in Crosskeys, Newport, named The Red Triangle, where he coaches young players. Darren now lives in Pentwynmawr, Newbridge where he is starting up a property portfolio

Performance and rankings timeline

Performance Table LegendLQ 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-finalsSF lost in the semi–finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRunner-up 1. 1992 Welsh Open 3–9Runner-up 2. 1993 Asian Open 3–9

Non-ranking finals: 11 (6 titles)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1. 1989 Pontins Professional 9–2Runner-up 1. 1989 WPBSA Invitational - Event 1 1–8Winner 2. 1990 Welsh Professional Championship 9–7Winner 3. 1990 Shoot-Out 2–1Winner 4. 1991 Welsh Professional Championship (2) 9–3Runner-up 2. 1991 Benson & Hedges Championship 3–9Runner-up 3. 1993 Pontins Professional 3–9Runner-up 4. 1993 King's Cup 3–8Winner 5. 1996 Irish Masters 9–8Runner-up 5. 1997 Irish Masters 8–9Winner 6. 2000 Pontins Professional (2) 9–2

Team finals: 2 (1 title) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipTeam/partnerOpponent(s) in the finalScoreWinner 1. 1999 Nations Cup 6–4Runner-up 1. 2000 Nations Cup 4–6

Pro-am finals: 7 (2 titles) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRunner-up 1. 1989 Dutch Open 5–6 Runner-up 2. 1996 Pontins Spring Open 3–7Runner-up 3. 1999 TCC Open Snooker Championship 4–6 Winner 1. 2000 TCC Open Snooker Championship 6–3 Runner-up 4. 2003 TCC Open Snooker Championship (2) Mark Williams1–6 Runner-up 5. 2004 TCC Open Snooker Championship (3) Mark Williams6–7 Winner 2. 2009 TCC Open Snooker Championship (2) 7–4

Amateur finals: 36 (30 titles)

Seniors finals: 3 (1 title)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1. 2011 World Seniors Championship 2–1Runner-up 1. 2016 World Seniors Championship 1–2Runner-up 2. 2019 World Seniors Championship (2) 3–5