Barry Hawkins
D.O.B. 23 Apr 1979
Lives Dartford, Kent
Last 5 Seasons27-19-12-30-43
Turned Pro 1996
Best Ranking Performance Semi-finals – Welsh Open 2005, 2006; Grand Prix 2005, China Open 2007
Last season World Snooker Tour prize money
£47,225
Highest Tournament Break 145 - Grand Prix 2005
Hawkins achieved an impressive level of consistency in the 2008/09 season, but it was not quite enough to get him back into the top 16 of the world rankings.
He won his opening match in six of the eight ranking events during the campaign and reached the quarter-finals of two of those.
At the Northern Ireland Trophy, the Dartford-based left-hander scored impressive wins over Jimmy White, Marco Fu and Ryan Day, then looked set to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan when he came from 4-1 down to 4-4 and led 37-2 in the decdiding frame, only for the Rocket to fight back and win it on the colours. "I told him at the end that he should have had that one,” said O’Sullivan of Hawkins after the match. “He’s a tough player and if he wins one tournament he could go on to win a few more.”
At the Bahrain Snooker Championship, Hawkins knocked out Ken Doherty and Mike Dunn before a 5-2 defeat to Mark Allen in the last eight.
The season ended with the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, and Hawkins faced a tricky tie in the final qualifying round against young Welshman Daniel Wells, who had won three consecutive matches by a 10-9 scoreline to get that far. Hawkins must have feared the worst when Wells came from 9-7 down to 9-9, but the Englishman held his composure in the deciding frame to compile an excellent break of 80.
"I would have been devastated to lose, I could have won a lot more easily but I made a few ridiculous mistakes," said Hawkins after booking his place at the Crucible. "If I can cut those mistakes out then I could be dangerous. I was a nervous wreck in the last frame but to win it in one visit is brilliant, that gives me a lot of confidence.”
In January 2009, Hawkins’ wife Tara gave birth to their first child, a son called Harrison. "It’s been a life-changing experience and a good one," he added. "In the last frame I was just thinking about my son and that helped to take my mind off the pressure."
In the first round at Sheffield, he was drawn against former World Champion Graeme Dott, and it turned out to be one of the highest quality matches of the tournament, with eight breaks over 60 in the nine frames played in the second session. But it was Dott who went through to the second round with a 10-8 scoreline. “I’ve been involved in a lot of good matches, not just at the Crucible, but as far as standard goes that’s the best match I’ve been involved in,” said Dott. It was disappointment for Hawkins as he finished the season just one place outside the elite at No 17.
It was also the third consecutive year in which Hawkins had finished the campaign with a narrow first round defeat at the Crucible. In 2008 he lost 10-9 to Ali Carter despite coming from 9-6 to 9-9, and a year earlier he went down 10-9 to Fergal O’Brien.
Hawkins won the qualifying tournament for the 2008 Masters at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. He beat the likes of Nigel Bond and Jamie Cope to reach the final then saw off Kurt Maflin 6-4.
He has reached the semi-finals of four ranking events, most recently at the 2007 China Open in Beijing. He beat home favourite Ding Junhui, Joe Swail and Ken Doherty to set up a semi-final with Jamie Cope, but lost 6-5 on the final black after Hawkins had agonisingly rattled his attempted pot in the jaws of a baulk corner.
The player nicknamed the Hawk reached two ranking semi-finals during the 2005/06 season. The first was at the Grand Prix at the Guild Hall in Preston, losing narrowly 6-5 to O’Sullivan, despite recording a career high 145 break in that game.
At the Welsh Open in Newport, Hawkins accounted for Stephen Hendry on his way to the last four but could not cope with Shaun Murphy, losing 6-1.
The Dartford player’s first semi-final came at the 2005 Welsh Open when he saw off Ebdon and Paul Hunter but was denied a final spot by O’Sullivan, losing 6-4.
The former office clerk first made a name for himself at the 2002 Scottish Open when he knocked out O’Sullivan.
Throughout his teenage years, Hawkins played the cello drums in a local band which played regular concerts in a shopping centre in Wapping and even one in Hyde Park.
"We did the Blue Danube, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Pomp and Circumstance, those sort of tunes," he said. "We were pretty good, I reckon I could pick it up again pretty easily if I tried."
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