David Grace

David Grace (born 5 May 1985) is an English professional snooker player and painter. After being a successful junior and amateur player, notably winning the English Amateur Championship in 2005 and 2008, he became a professional in 2008, gaining his place by winning the 2008 European Snooker Championships, where he beat Craig Steadman in the final.

In 2009, Grace took part in the men's singles snooker competition at the World Games in Kaohsiung, finishing as the runner-up in this event, winning the silver medal. He entered the 2015 UK Championship as the world number 81, but progressed through to his first ranking event semi-final which he lost 6–4 to Liang Wenbo. Grace fell off the tour in 2018, but regained his place on the tour in 2019 after finishing in the top two on the 2018–19 Challenge Tour ranking list. This earned him a two-year card for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons.

Career 2011/2012 season As a new player on the tour Grace would need to win four qualifying matches in order to reach the main draw of the ranking events. He failed to win more than one match in each of his first six attempts to do this until he played in the qualifying for the China Open. There he beat Daniel Wells, Barry Pinches and Matthew Selt, before losing 4–5 to Tom Ford in the final round.

Grace played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, with his best finishes coming in Event 10 and Event 12, where he reached the last 16. He was ranked 63rd in the PTC Order of Merit. Grace ended the season ranked world number 77 and would ordinarily be relegated from the snooker tour as he did not finish in the top 64 who retain their places. However, due to his performances in the PTC events, he earned his place for the 2012–13 season. He played in all ten Players Tour Championship events this season, where he enjoyed his best result in the PTC Event 1 by beating James Gillespie, Jimmy White and Gareth Allen, before losing to Jack Lisowski. His season ended when he was beaten 9–10 by Craig Steadman in the first round of World Championship Qualifying. Grace fell 11 places in the rankings during the year to finish it world number 88.

2013/2014 season Grace went one better than last season in the qualifying rounds of the 2013 Shanghai Masters by winning four matches, concluding with a 5–2 victory over Tom Ford, to reach the main stage of a ranking event for the first time in his career where he was whitewashed 5–0 by Barry Hawkins. He lost his first match in all eight remaining ranking events after this.

2014/2015 season At the minor-ranking Yixing Open, Grace won three matches to reach the last 16 where he was whitewashed 4–0 by Ryan Day. Grace qualified for the first ranking event of the 2014–15 season, the Wuxi Classic by beating Jimmy Robertson 5–4, but he lost 5–1 to Judd Trump. This last 64 appearance proved to be his best result in a ranking event this year. In the second round Grace was knocked out 5–1 by Mark Allen. At the UK Championship, Grace defeated Andrew Higginson 6–1, Robert Milkins 6–2, Jack Lisowski 6–4 and Peter Ebdon 6–2 to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career. He fell 5–1 down to Martin Gould, but remarkably won five successive frames to eliminate him 6–5. In the semi-finals, Grace built a 4–2 advantage over Liang Wenbo, but saw it erased to be 5–4 behind. He then missed a simple pink in the next frame which would have taken the match to a decider, stating afterwards that he had twitched on it. Despite this, Grace earned £30,000 for his first last four showing after he had made £13,000 in the previous two seasons. His form continued into the Gibraltar Open where he won four matches to meet Liang in the quarter-finals and was beaten 4–1.

2016/2017 season At the Paul Hunter Classic, Grace beat Sean O'Sullivan 4–0 and Matthew Stevens 4–3 and then did not drop a frame in eliminating Jack Lisowski and Robbie Williams. This saw him play in his second career ranking event quarter-final in which he led Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 3–1, but lost 4–3. Grace was beaten 4–1 by Barry Hawkins in the third round of the English Open and lost in the quarter-finals of the Shoot-Out to Shaun Murphy. Grace only trailed 5–4 at the end of the first session after being 5–1 down and then made a century to be 7–6 behind. However, Wilson then took three successive frames to win 10–6. His end-of-year ranking of 44 is the highest Grace has ever been.

2017/18 season He dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017/18 season but entered Q School in an attempt to win back a place. However, his bid to regain professional status ended unsuccessfully, as he lost in all three 2018 Q School events.

Personal life Grace also works at the Northern Snooker Centre and sells his own portrait paintings of snooker players.

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 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. PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1 Outcome No.YearChampionship Opponent ScoreRunner-up 1.2009World Games Nigel Bond 0–3

Pro-am finals: 3 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent ScoreWinner 1. 2008 Pontins Spring Open Nigel Bond 5–1Runner-up 1. 2016 Pink Ribbon 3–4Winner 2. 2017 Vienna Snooker Open Nigel Bond 5–2

Amateur finals: 5 (5 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent ScoreWinner 1. 2005 English Amateur Championship Andy Symons-Rowe 8–3Winner 2. 2008 English Amateur Championship (2) Ben Hancorn 9–7Winner 3. 2008 EBSA European Snooker Championships Craig Steadman 7–6Winner 4. 2018 Challenge Tour – Event 2 Mitchell Mann 3–0Winner 5. 2018 Challenge Tour – Event 6 Ben Hancorn 3–0