By Elliott West
Introduction
Born in 1969, Jeff Cundy is typical of a breed of players who chose snooker over education. When he was at school, he told his teacher that he didn’t need to sit all his leaving exams because he was going to make a living from snooker. A bold statement but he was proven to be right as in 1991, he turned professional and enjoyed a tour card on and off from 1991-2007.
Career -1991-1997
His first outing in the snooker tour was at the 1991 Dubai Classic. Perhaps not something to write home about, Jeff lost his first match to Tim Norris 2-5. However he didn’t have to wait too long for a victory, beating Philip Minchin in the second round of the Grand Prix, jubilation was short-lived though as he lost in the third round to Gary Lees 4-5.
This was followed by a successful run in the 1991 UK Championship with wins over Jason Curtis 6-2, Peter Bardsley 6-2, Darren Guest 6-1, Anthony Hamilton 6-3, Graham Cripsey 6-5, Gary Natale 6-4, Jim Wynch 6-2 before losing 2-9 to Mark Bennett. This successful streak earned Cundy £750 and he finished the season 148 in the rankings.
Jeff entered thirteen tournaments during his second season as a professional, his furthest push, being in event 3 of the season, reaching the last 64 of the 1993 Strachan Challenge, losing to Nigel Bond 1-5.
His best performance came in the 1993 British Open where he lost 4-5 to Brian Morgan, reaching the last 96. This earned him £1,025 for the season and he rose six places to 142 in the world rankings.
The following season began with a loss to Paul Wykes 4-6 in the Dubai Classic. Cundy had better luck in the 1993 UK Championship, beating Jonathan Saunders 5-1 and Joe Grech 5-3 before losing to Karl Broughton 3-5 in the last 128.
More mild success followed in the Thailand Open with Jeff reaching the last 96, losing 1-5 to Dave Finbow and he lost to an emerging Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-10, in the last 96 of the 1994 World Championship.
Beginning the 1994-95 season with a ranking of 138, he reached the last 32 of the Welsh Open. Here he defeated Adrian Gunnell 5-0, Jason Greaves 5-2, Mark Davis 5-1, Roger Garrett 5-0, Nick Terry 5-4 and Tony Knowles 5-1 before eventually losing 3-5 to Anthony Bolsover. He followed this performance by reaching the last 64 of the International Open where he lost 1-5 to Mike Hallett. This winning spurt elevated him to 114 in the 1994/95 season and £5,125 in prize money.
1995/96 brought two highlights for the Englishman with runs to the last 64 of the 1995 Grand Prix and the 1996 European Open, he lost to Joe Swail 3-5 in the first and was whitewashed 0-5 by Ian Brunby in the latter.
However the winning streak seemed to have gone cold. Although ranked 103 and retaining his tour card, Cundy only managed to reach the last 96 of the 1997 Welsh Open and a mere £490 in prize money. In the Welsh Open, he lost 3-5 to Euan Henderson and he slipped back to 132 in the rankings as a result.
1998-2003
Forced back to compete in qualifiers, Jeff performed well, reaching the last 64 on four occasions and regained his place on the main tour for the following season.
In 1998/1999, he reached the last 16 of the Benson and Hedges Championship, losing 4-5 to Graham Horne and the last 96 of the 1998 UK Championship, losing to Joe Swail 1-5. The next season, he also reached the last 16 of the Benson and Hedges Championship, losing on this occasion 2-5 to Simon Bedford.
The 2000/2001 season saw a slight revival of success, success that he had achieved in the mid-1990s with Cundy reaching the last 96 of three ranking events and played in the last 64 of the 2001 Welsh Open, losing 4-5 to Paul Davies. His £9,050 earnings from the season, caused his ranking to rise to 105th.
2001/02 was another arid season, only reaching the last 64 of the 2001 Benson and Hedges Championship, losing 1-5 to Nigel Bond. He also earned £4,150 from his appearance in the last 96 of the 2002 World Championship, losing 6-10 to James Reynolds.
2006/2007
Having not reached past the last 80 in any of the 2002/2003 season, Cundy dropped off the tour in 2003. He regained his place in the 2006/2007 season but only won two matches in ranking events, 3-2 over Ian Preece in the 2006 Grand Prix and 9-6 over Mark Joyce in the 2006 UK Championship. As a result, he resumed his amateur career.
Amateur Career (2007-)
Since 2007, Jeff has entered some of the former PTC events and tried to get back on the tour via Q School. He reached the last 64 of the 2013 Indian Open, losing 3-4 to Li Yan and the same stage of the 2015 Riga Open where he lost 2-5 to Martin O’Donnell.
Summary
Being a snooker player isn’t easy. It comes with hard knocks and bitter defeats to swallow. Jeff Cundy was no exception and was clearly a battler in a snooker minefield. Although he didn’t win any professional titles, he showed his skill on the baize and is one of the many players that deserves a mention in any debate about the sport. Jeff later informed me that:
“I was an England junior International in 1985 and 1986, British Under 21 champion in 1986, Players circuit winner on the Isle of Wight in 1989 (old Pro ticket events that used to get 600+ entries), won a couple of tournaments in Germany at Furth and Aachen in 1991 and many pro/am’s across the country. Also after my Pro career I made my first competitive 147 at Leeds age 37 in 2006 in an EASB event followed by my second 147 at the EIS in Sheffield 2012 in another EASB event. Also got to the quarters of the World Amateur in 2013 and was runner up in the European amateur in 2006. Also captained England in the Home Internationals 2013”
Jeff Cundy
