By Elliott West
Introduction
Lee Walker caused an upset at the start of this year’s World Championship qualifiers by knocking out Ken Doherty 6-4. Walker now faces Nigel Bond. Walker, a good friend of Mark Williams and a driving force alongside Steve Feeney in helping Williams win the World Championship in 2018, first became a professional in 1994. His career to date has been a rocky road with two exits from the main tour, firstly in 2006, regaining his place due to good results in the Pontin’s International Series, a year later and via the Q School in 2014.
Lee has had a highest world ranking of 41 in the 2000-01 season and is currently ranked 122. He has made £352,168 in career earnings and made 55 career centuries. His highest break being 140, having made twice in the 2004 European Open and in the 2011 Q School Event 3.
Career
After turning professional at the tender age of 18, Lee Walker reached the quarter-finals of the 1997 World Championship. Having a good run in this iconic tournament, Walker beat Dave Harold 10-7 and Alan McManus 13-10 before losing 13-8 to Alain Robidoux. This was the first time that he reached the latter stages of a ranking tournament. He repeated this good form in 2004 when he reached the last 16 of the same event in 2004 with a 10-7 win over Stephen Lee before losing 13-5 to David Gray.
Despite several departures from the main tour, Lee has reached a number of non-ranking finals as both an amateur and professional. These include as an amateur, the finals of the 2011 IBSF World Snooker Championship, losing to Hossein Vafaei 9-10 and the 2014 Welsh Amateur Championship where he was defeated by Jamie Clarke 6-8. As a professional, he was runner-up in the 1998 Merseyside Professional Championship, losing to Peter Lines 4-5 and was the victor in the 2008 TCC Snooker Open Championship, beating his friend Mark Williams 7-5. He was also runner-up in the 2014 Pink Ribbon event, losing to Peter Lines 1-4.
Walker’s most impressive season has to have come between 2016-2017, reaching the home straight of the Welsh Open, losing in the fourth round to Zhou Yuelong. He also reached the semi-final of the 2018 Gibraltar Open where he was defeated by the eventual runner-up Cao. Walker who has made an amazing recovery from recent back problems, has great potential and is one of the key figures in the Sight Right campaign. However his World Championship hopes are sadly over for another year as he failed to get past his tricky opponent Nigel Bond, losing 6-4 in the World Championship qualifiers last night.
