Lee Spick

Lee Spick (25 April 1980 – 26 January 2015) was an English professional snooker player. A former English under-15 champion, he reached the last 48 of ranking events on five occasions, including twice in the World Championship.

Lee Spick
Born(1980-04-25)25 April 1980
Mansfield, England
Died(2015-01-26)26 January 2015 (aged 34)
Sport country England
Professional2000/2001, 2002/2003, 2005–2010, 2013–2015
Highest ranking65 (2007/2008)
Career winnings£63,410
Highest break144 (Challenge Tour Event 4, 2003–04)
Century breaks49
Best ranking finishLast 48 (x5)
Tournament wins
Non-ranking2

Career

He reached the Quarter-Final of the 2000 Benson and Hedges Championship, with wins against Darren Morgan and Dean Reynolds, as well as others, before losing to Mark Davis 4–5. He also reached the Quarter-Final of the 2001 event, beating the likes of World Championship runner-up Nigel Bond, before losing out to future World Champion Shaun Murphy 3-5

He reached the last 48 of the 2006 World Championship and the 2007 China Open. Previously in the 2005 World Championship he had victories over David Gilbert 10–5, before a remarkable 10–7 win over Ding Junhui, which put him only 2 matches away from a place at the Crucible, but Stuart Bingham denied him with a 10–2 victory. In the 2007 China Open he defeated Jeff Cundy, Tony Drago and Dominic Dale.

In the 2007 UK Championships qualifying in 2007, he defeated Jimmy White 9–7 in arguably one of the best results during his career, but he lost 8–9 to Andrew Higginson in the following round.

At the 2008 China Open, Spick defeated Ashley Wright, Rod Lawler and Mark Davis, before losing in the Last 48 to Dave Harold 0–5.

2008/09 season started relatively quiet for Spick. However, after recording impressive wins over Stephen Craigie (10–5), Barry Pinches (10–5) and Adrian Gunnell (10–2), he was within one match of reaching the Crucible for the first time in his career but lost narrowly 8–10 to Steve Davis. Spick seemed to carry that form into the next season, as he reached the last 48 stage of the Shanghai Masters, however he failed to win a further match during the season and as a result was relegated from the tour.

After having missed the opportunities to return to main tour via Q School in 2011 and 2012, Spick announced his retirement from snooker.[1] However he decided to come back to Q School in 2013, and at Event 3 he defeated Darrell Whitworth, Sanderson Lam, Darren Cook and Duane Jones to win a two-year card for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons. Spick's return proved to be short-lived however, as he only played two matches, losing both, and had multiple withdrawals due to lack of sponsorship and the resulting depression. He never entered another professional tournament after the 2013 UK Championship.

Illness and death

World Snooker announced the death of Spick on 26 January 2015, after a liver-related illness.[2][3]

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2012/
13		 2013/
14
Ranking[4][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 73 65 67 68 [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3]
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not Held LQ A
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ A A A
International Championship Tournament Not Held A LQ
UK Championship A A A LQ A LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A WD
Welsh Open A A A LQ A LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A
World Open[nb 4] A A A LQ A LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A
Players Tour Championship Finals[nb 5] Tournament Not Held DNQ A DNQ
China Open[nb 6] NR A A LQ A Not Held A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A
World Championship A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ A A LQ LQ LQ A A LQ LQ LQ A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Thailand Masters A A A LQ NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 7] A A A LQ A LQ A Tournament Not Held MR NH
British Open A A A LQ A LQ A Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event A LQ A NH NR Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 8] Not Held LQ A A LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Former non-ranking tournaments
Masters Qualifying Event[nb 9] 2R A A QF QF 2R A NH 3R 1R 1R A A Not Held
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was not on the Main Tour.
  3. New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking
  4. The event ran under the names Grand Prix (1997/1998–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  5. The event ran under the name Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  6. The event ran under the name China International (1998/1999)
  7. The event ran under the name Players Championship (2003/2004)
  8. The event ran under the names Irish Open (1998/1999) and European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  9. The event ran under the name Benson & Hedges Championship (1997/1998–2002/2003)

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2002 Challenge Tour – Event 3 Joe Delaney 5–2[5]
Winner 2. 2002 WPBSA Open Tour – Event 5 Mark Gray 5–3[6]

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2001 English Open Kurt Maflin 8–0[7]

References
  1. "Lee Spick announces retirement from snooker". Chad.co.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  2. "Snooker's Spick dies, aged 34". sportinglife.com. 26 January 2015.
  3. "Lee Spick Dies Age 34". World Snooker. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  5. "World Snooker Challenge Tour". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  6. Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Suffolk: Rose Villa Publications. pp. Introduction & 178–186. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  7. "Other Tournaments Until 2020". bgsnooker.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
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