By Elliott West
Introduction
Born in 1969, Brady Gollan was one of the lesser known players on the main tour. A Canadian player who turned professional in 1989 and whose career on the main stage lasted until 1994. Gollan could be described as a ‘comeback kid’ as his time on the baize is littered with various matches where the doubters wrote him off but like any great player, he dug deep and produced a slice of snooker magic with his trusted cue.
Career
Brady Gollan first turned professional in 1989, thanks to the Professional Play-offs, the system used at the time for the players to make the Herculean leap from turning from amateur to professional status. A surge to the third round was sealed with victory when he beat Patsy Fagan, 9-2. Buoyed on by this triumph, Brady produced a tremendous run in his first season, recording three last-32 finishes. He reached this stage at the 1989 Hong Kong Open, Asian Open and the World Championship. He also reached the last 16 of the UK Championship. In Hong Kong, Dennis Taylor came back at Gollan from 2-4 down to beat Brady, 5-4, while Willie Thorne defeated him, 5-1 in Thailand. His run at that year’s UK Championship had wins over Dave Martin, Eddie Charlton with an eventual exit after losing to Alain Robidoux, a fellow Canadian, 5-9.
At the World Championship in 1990, luck again fell on the Canadian’s side with wins over Clive Everton, 10-2, Paul Gibson, 10-5, Kirk Stevens, 10-6, Brian Morgan, 10-6 and Eugene Hughes, 10-7, to qualify for the World Championship first round. Unfortunately, despite this fantastic run, Gollan came up against Doug Mountjoy. Brady led the match 4-2 and then later, 8-7 but couldn’t quite keep the Welshman at bay and subsequently lost the match, 8-10. One crumb of hope came of this loss though as when the ranking list was published, Gollan had finished in 54th place and retained his tour card.
During that season, Brady reached the last 32 of the 1990 Asian Open, losing, 4-5 to Doug Mountjoy and in the 1991 British Open, he was whitewashed, 5-0 by Dennis Taylor at the last 32 stage. He also came up against a dominant force, Jimmy White at the 1991 World Masters and lost the match, 0-7. However defeat soon turned to victory, when he recorded the best performance of his professional career at the 1991 European Open. His scalps at this tournament were impressive, defeating Mike Darrington, Bob Chaperon, James Wattana, Peter Francisco and Doug Mountjoy to reach the semi-final. He then lost to the overall champion, Tony Jones, 2-6 but picked up a prize cheque of £12,000 for his efforts, the highest payout of his professional career. Gollan then attempted to get the Crucible but was stopped in his tracks by Barry Pinches, who beat him, 10-6. Brady finished the season 35th in the rankings.
This was sadly the last hurrah in Gollan‘s professional career and subsequent victories were very sparse. In the 1991-1992 season, he did reach the last 32 of the Dubai Classic, losing to Joe Johnson, 2-5 and the last 16 of the Strachan Open where he lost to Ken Doherty by the same score line. He also lost his first World Championship match to Andy Hicks, 1-10.
The following season, Brady only had four match victories and three last-64 finishes. Gollan finished the season placed 68th. His career at competitive level ended after a 1-5 defeat to Dermot McGlinchey at the 1994 British Open. He continued to be listed as a non-active player and was eventually relegated from the tour in 1996. Since retiring, Brady has had numerous successes as an amateur with a victory in the 2018 Canadian National Snooker Championship, a tournament which he had already first won in 1988 and most recently, back to back titles in the BC Open Championship. The latest being in February, 2020 when he beat newcomer, Bill Yang, 4-0 and also notched up the highest tournament break of 68. A tournament that Gollan clearly found his stroke in.
Summary
Brady Gollan has been one of the more successful Canadian players in snooker history with many accomplished finishes in professional tournaments. His victories have also continued into retirement. A player who made his highest break of 120 in the 1989 Professional Play-offs, amassed £60,830 in career earnings and made five centuries. Despite being lesser-known, his legacy remains on the match sheets.
