Anthony McGill

This article is about the snooker player. For the clarinetist, see Anthony McGill (musician).

Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus.^[2]

Anthony McGill

McGill at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1991-02-05) 5 February 1991 (age 33) Glasgow, Scotland
Sport country	Scotland
Nickname	The Glaswegian Gladiator[1]
Professional	2010–present
Highest ranking	12 (March 2022)
Current ranking	39 (as of 28 October 2024)
Century breaks	245 (as of 5 November 2024)
Tournament wins
Ranking	2

McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings.^[3] He won the 2016 Indian Open, after having previously never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event.

Career

Amateur years

He was runner-up to Stuart Carrington in the 2006 Junior Pot Black.^[4]

He was runner-up in the 2008 European Under-19's Championship behind Stephen Craigie.^[5]

In the 2009/2010 season, he won the fifth event of the International Open Series and finished fourth in the rankings. Thus, McGill received a place on the professional main tour for 2010/2011. He reached his first professional final, losing 1–6 to John Higgins in the 2011 Scottish Professional Championship.

2011/2012

McGill did not manage to qualify for the main stage of any ranking event tournaments during the season, reaching the final qualifying on one occasion in an attempt to reach the German Masters.^[6] He reached the semi-finals of Event 3 in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series, which included wins over experienced campaigners Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, before losing 0–4 to Ben Woollaston.^[7] McGill's season concluded with an 8–10 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the penultimate qualifying round for the World Championship, finishing the season ranked world number 50.^[6][8]

2012/2013

McGill could only qualify for the China Open during the 2012/2013 season. He beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wild-card round.^[9] He faced Mark Allen in the last 32 and lost 1–5.^[10] McGill had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship events by reaching his first ever minor-ranking final in the European Tour Event 5, played in his homeland of Scotland. He saw off the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins to make it through to the quarter-finals where he was 0–3 and 51 points down against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon to triumph 4–3.^[9][11] He was also 1–3 down in the semis to Andrew Higginson, but recovered to win on a respotted black. McGill played Ding Junhui in the final and came up short of winning the title as he lost 2–4.^[11] The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals,^[12] where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline.^[9] In the third round of World Championship Qualifying McGill fought back from 3–8 down against Rod Lawler to force a decider which Lawler won.^[13] McGill ended the season at number 48 in the rankings, at that point his highest position.^[14]

2013/2014

Anthony McGill at the 2014 German Masters

McGill lost in qualifying for the first three events of the season, but at the Indian Open he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time.^[15] He faced Robbie Williams and was whitewashed 4–0.^[16] At the minor-ranking Zhengzhou Open, he let a 2–0 lead slip in the semi-finals against Liang Wenbo to lose 4–3.^[17] McGill was beaten in the last 32 of ranking events on three further occasions during the season.^[15]

2014/2015

McGill began the season with a 5–3 loss to John Higgins in the first round of the Wuxi Classic. He reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen.^[18] McGill eliminated both Michael Georgiou and Igor Figueiredo by 6–4 scorelines at the UK Championship and then came back from 4–1 down against Nigel Bond to triumph 6–5.^[19] He reached his first UK quarter-final by holding on to beat John Higgins 6–5 after being 4–1 up, but attributed the win to Higgins' bad form rather than his own good play.^{[citation needed]} McGill then lost 6–4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan after being 2–0 ahead and admitted he had blown his opportunity to knock out the four-time UK champion after failing to capitalise on the many chances that came his way during the game. However, he did break into the top 32 in the rankings for the first time after the event.^[20] McGill finished 21st on the European Order of Merit to play in the Grand Final and overcame Peter Ebdon 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Joe Perry.^[21]

Anthony McGill at the 2015 German Masters

McGill finished the year by qualifying for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, after coming through three matches, ending with a 10–9 victory over Mark King which he closed with a 127 break.^[18] Compatriot Stephen Maguire levelled their first round match at 9–9 after having been 9–5 behind, but McGill once again made a century break in the deciding frame, this time a 122.^[22] McGill then knocked out defending champion Mark Selby 13–9 in the second round, with Selby stating that he believed McGill could win the title if he could maintain his form.^[23] In the third ranking event quarter-final of his career, McGill lost 13–8 to Shaun Murphy.^[24] The crowd warmed to McGill during his run in the tournament due to him smiling frequently between shots and displaying a relaxed attitude.^[25][26] He was the world number 24 afterwards, resulting in a climb of 21 places in 12 months.^[27]

2015/2016

The first ranking event McGill qualified for this season was the International Championship and he thrashed Sean O'Sullivan 6–0, before losing 6–1 to Mark Selby. He exited in the second round of the UK Championship 6–4 to Luca Brecel and reached the last 32 stage of a ranking event for just the second time this season at the Welsh Open with wins over Liam Highfield and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but lost 4–2 to Neil Robertson.^[28] McGill overcame Hatem Yassen 10–1, Craig Steadman 10–9 and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10–7 to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row.^[29] In a rematch of last year's quarter-final, McGill met Shaun Murphy and came back from 6–4 to win 10–8.^{[citation needed]}> However, after he lost 13–9 to Marco Fu in the second round, McGill described his play as rubbish.^[30]

2016/2017

McGill advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Riga Masters, but was thrashed 5–0 by Michael Holt.^[31] Another quarter-final followed at the Indian Open by whitewashing Stuart Bingham 4–0 and he followed that up by eliminating Stephen Maguire 4–1 and Shaun Murphy 4–2, after trailing 2–0.^[32] McGill played Kyren Wilson in the final, the first to feature two players under 25 in five years, and they went into the interval at 2–2. After the break, McGill took three successive frames to seal his first ranking event title with a 5–2 victory.^[33] Three comfortable wins saw him advance to the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he lost 5–2 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. McGill's fourth quarter-final of the season arrived at the European Masters and he was ousted 4–2 by Neil Robertson.^[31]

This was the first season where the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is settled by a 10-minute frame played under a shot clock, had its status upgraded to a ranking event. McGill progressed through to the final and beat Xiao Guodong by 67–19 points to claim his second ranking event title. Afterwards McGill stated that there was "no way on God's earth" that the tournament should be a ranking event due to the conditions it's played under.^[34] He was a seeded player in the World Championship for the first time, but from 2–2 with Stephen Maguire in the first round he conceded 447 points without reply and McGill went on to be defeated 10–2.^[35] He just fell short of ending a season inside the top 16 for the first time as he was 17th.^[36]

2017/2018

McGill reached the final of the Indian Open again but was unable to defend his title, losing 5–1 to John Higgins.^[37] McGill was beaten in the first round of the 2018 Dafabet Masters, losing 6–4 to John Higgins. This marked his first appearance at the tournament. McGill lost to Mark Davis in the first round of the Snooker Shootout 2018. Davis scored a century break (102) to knock McGill, defending champion out of the tournament.

2018/2019

McGill's form slipped this season and saw his world ranking dropped from 14th to 23rd by the end of the season. He was unable to advance past the third round in all the tournaments.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	2010/ 11	2011/ 12	2012/ 13	2013/ 14	2014/ 15	2015/ 16	2016/ 17	2017/ 18	2018/ 19	2019/ 20		2020/ 21	2021/ 22	2022/ 23	2023/ 24	2024/ 25
Ranking[38][nb 1]	[nb 2]	59	50	48	45	24	28	17	14	23		22	16	16	18	32
Ranking tournaments
Championship League	Non-Ranking Event											RR	RR	A	A	A
Xi'an Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held															1R
Saudi Arabia Masters	Tournament Not Held															3R
English Open	Tournament Not Held						2R	SF	3R	1R		4R	2R	2R	1R	2R
British Open	Tournament Not Held												1R	1R	LQ	LQ
Wuhan Open	Tournament Not Held														LQ	2R
Northern Ireland Open	Tournament Not Held						3R	3R	1R	1R		2R	LQ	SF	2R	2R
International Championship	Not Held		LQ	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	2R		Not Held			3R	1R
UK Championship	LQ	LQ	LQ	3R	QF	2R	2R	2R	1R	2R		4R	QF	LQ	1R
Shoot Out	Non-Ranking Event						W	1R	1R	QF		WD	A	A	A
Scottish Open	Not Held		MR	Not Held			2R	2R	1R	2R		1R	SF	3R	3R
German Masters	1R	LQ	LQ	2R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R		LQ	1R	1R	A
Welsh Open	LQ	LQ	LQ	3R	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	4R		3R	LQ	2R	QF
World Open	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	Not Held		QF	QF	LQ	2R		Not Held			LQ
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held				NR	DNQ	2R	QF	DNQ	DNQ		2R	1R	QF	DNQ
Players Championship[nb 3]	DNQ	DNQ	2R	DNQ	2R	DNQ	1R	QF	DNQ	DNQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held								DNQ	DNQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
World Championship	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	QF	2R	1R	2R	1R	SF		QF	2R	QF	LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters	Ranking Event								2R	A		Not Held			A	A
Champion of Champions	Not Held			A	A	A	1R	1R	A	A		A	A	A	A	A
The Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A		A	1R	A	A
Championship League	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	WD	RR	SF	RR	RR	A	RR	A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic	Non-Ranking		LQ	LQ	1R	Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open	NH	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ	Non-Ranking			Not Held			Non-Ranking
Paul Hunter Classic	Minor-Ranking Event						2R	A	A	NR		Tournament Not Held
Indian Open	Not Held			QF	2R	NH	W	F	LQ	Tournament Not Held
China Open	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	3R	Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 4]	Tournament Not Held				Minor-Rank		QF	QF	1R	LQ		Tournament Not Held
China Championship	Tournament Not Held						NR	1R	1R	3R		Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series	Tournament Not Held											RR	Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters	Tournament Not Held												1R	Not Held
Gibraltar Open	Tournament Not Held					MR	2R	4R	2R	2R		2R	WD	Not Held
WST Classic	Tournament Not Held													2R	Not Held
European Masters	Tournament Not Held						QF	QF	3R	LQ		4R	QF	1R	LQ	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Scottish Professional Championship	F	Tournament Not Held
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held				1R	Ranking Event
Shoot Out	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	Ranking Event
China Championship	Tournament Not Held						1R	Ranking Event				Tournament Not Held
Romanian Masters	Tournament Not Held							1R	Tournament Not Held
Six-red World Championship	A	NH	A	A	A	3R	A	SF	2R	RR		Not Held		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 Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
3. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2010/2011–2015/2016)
4. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 3 (2 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	2016	Indian Open	Kyren Wilson	5–2
Winner	2.	2017	Snooker Shoot Out	Xiao Guodong	1–0
Runner-up	1.	2017	Indian Open	John Higgins	1–5

Minor-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	2012	Scottish Open	Ding Junhui	2–4

Non-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	2011	Scottish Professional Championship	John Higgins	1–6

Pro-am finals: 2 (2 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	2015	PMK Invitational Pro-Am	Michael Leslie	4–3[39]
Winner	2.	2016	PMK Invitational Pro-Am (2)	Graeme Dott	4–2[40]

Amateur finals: 7 (4 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	2004	Scottish Under-16 Championship	Anthony Hughes	5–4[41]
Winner	2.	2005	Scottish Under-16 Championship (2)	Neil Dillon	5–3[41]
Runner-up	1	2006	Junior Pot Black	Stuart Carrington	0–1
Runner-up	2	2008	European Under-19 Championship	Stephen Craigie	2–6
Winner	3.	2009	PIOS – Event 5	Farakh Ajaib	6–0
Winner	4.	2010	Pontins Star of the Future	Jamie Clarke	4–1[42]
Runner-up	3.	2010	European Under-19 Championship	Jak Jones	4–6

References

1. "Anthony McGill". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
2. "Anthony McGill Q&A". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
3. "2009–10 PIOS Rankings". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
4. "Pot Black, Junior Pot Black". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
5. "European Under 19 Championship 2008". maximumbreak.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
6. "Anthony McGill 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
7. "Players Tour Championship 3 Round 4 to Final" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
8. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
9. "Anthony McGill 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
10. "Mark Allen sets up Neil Robertson clash at China Open". News Letter. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
11. "Ding Takes Scottish Crown". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
12. "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
13. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
14. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
15. "Anthony McGill 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
16. "Wallasey's Robbie Williams will face Ding Junhui in the semi-finals of the Indian Open". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
17. "Mac snookered in last-four thriller". Evening Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
18. "Anthony McGill 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
19. "Snooker: Tables turned on Nigel Bond as he bows out of UK Championship". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
20. "Scots snooker star Anthony McGill blows chance to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan but is tipped to go right to the top". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 15 April 2015.
21. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
22. "Marvellous McGill Stuns Maguire". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
23. "Anthony McGill can win world snooker title, says Mark Selby". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
24. "Shaun Murphy reaches Crucible last four by subduing Anthony McGill". The Guardian. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
25. "How Scotland's new snooker star Anthony McGill pulled back from the brink and became the Crucible killer". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 6 May 2015.
26. "World Snooker Championship: Anthony McGill licensed to charm". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
27. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
28. "Anthony McGill 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
29. "Ding Books Crucible Spot". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
30. "World Snooker Championship: Marco Fu battles through against McGill". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
31. "Anthony McGill 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
32. "McGill is Star of India". World Snooker. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
33. "Indian Open: Scot Anthony McGill secures first ranking title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
34. "Anthony McGill wins one-frame Shoot Out tournament". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
35. "Brilliant Selby Eases Through". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
36. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
37. "John Higgins beats Anthony McGill to clinch Indian Open Snooker title". Hindustan Times. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
38. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
39. "2015 PMK Scottish Pro-Am". thecueview.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
40. "2016 PMK Invitational Pro-Am - McGill Doubles Up!". thecueview.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
41. "Global Snooker Countries - Scotland". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
42. "Muir and McGill give hope to Scottish snooker fans". BBC Sport. 28 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

External links

• Cue sports portal

• Anthony McGill at the World Snooker Tour
• Anthony McGill at snooker.org