Lee Walker

Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and former World Seniors Champion. He is an official WPBSA coach and is the long-term coach of Mark Williams.

Career After turning professional in 1994 at the age of 18, Walker reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1997, with victories over Dave Harold 10–7 and Alan McManus 13–10, before he lost 13–8 to Alain Robidoux. This was the first time he had reached the latter stages of a ranking tournament, and he also reached the last 16 of the same tournament in 2004 with a 10–7 win over Stephen Lee before losing 13–5 to David Gray. He dropped off the Main Tour after the 2005–2006 season, but returned a year later after a strong campaign on the Pontin's International Open Series, from which the top 8 finishers gain Main Tour places. However he dropped off again at the end of the season.

Walker did however return to the tour in 2014 as he won a 2-year tour card by reaching the semi-final stage of the second event of the 2014 Q School.

2016/2017 season In 2016–17, he had one of his most impressive seasons to date, the highlight being his run in his home tournament, the Welsh Open. He defeated Rhys Clark, and former world champions Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott before losing in the fourth round to Zhou Yuelong.

2017/2018 season In the 2017–18 season, Walker had his best run in a ranking event to date, reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 Gibraltar Open where he was defeated 4–2 by eventual runner-up Cao Yupeng.

2021/2022 season Walker won the 2022 World Seniors Championship at the Crucible Theatre. He recovered from 0–3 down to defeat the defending champion David Lilley in the semi-finals, and then came from 1–3 and 2–4 behind to defeat three-time champion Jimmy White 5–4 in the final. Walker became the 11th different winner of the World Seniors Championship.

2022/2023 season Walker chose not to enter any tournament in the season, except the invitational Champion of Champions. After losing his first round match against Mark Selby, he announced that he had already retired from all activities on the main tour, due to business and coaching obligations.

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

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 1 Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 1998 Merseyside Professional Championship Peter Lines 4–5

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2008 TCC Open Snooker Championship 7–5Runner-up 1. 2014 Pink Ribbon Peter Lines 1–4

Amateur finals: 4 Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2006 PIOS – Event 3 Leo Fernandez 5–6Runner-up 2. 2007 PIOS – Event 4 Kuldesh Johal 4–6Runner-up 3. 2011 IBSF World Snooker Championship Hossein Vafaei 9–10Runner-up 4. 2014 Welsh Amateur Championship Jamie Clarke 6–8

Seniors finals: 1 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2022 World Seniors Championship Jimmy White 5–4