OnlineSnooker

At A Glance
BORN 29th December 1971
BIRTHPLACE Penarth, Wales
TURNED PRO 1992
EARNINGS 00/01 Ł36,735
RANKING 20
HIGHEST RANKING 19
PERSONAL SPONSORS 110sport
Highland Spring

Achievements

1997 - Grand Prix

Biography
Critics who bemoan that snooker doesn't have any characters these days, obviously haven't met Dominic Dale, undoubtedly one of the most colourful personalities around. Whether it's sporting an all-white suit, a bleached blonde hair style or doing a passable imitation of Roy Orbison, Dale is established as one of snooker's entertainers.

Dale won the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1991 and reached the final of the world amateur soon after. On the back of these performances he turned professional in 1992, aged 20, a little bit older than the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams who also turned pro that year.

He shot to fame in the 1997 Embassy World Championship when, having won 5 matches to reach The Crucible, he pulled off a final ball 10-9 victory over Tony Drago. Commentators struggled to wrap their tongues round his home town of Llanfihangel-ar-arth in West Wales. They were greatly relieved when he moved to Penarth!

That performance pushed him up to 54 in the rankings for the 1997/98 season, which then turned out to be his best season to date. Dale shocked the entire snooker world by coming out of the shadows to win the 1997 Grand Prix, defeating Jimmy White and Steve Davis on his way to the final, where he beat John Higgins 9-6 to bank Ł60,000.

He started the 1998 season solidly winning all his summer qualifying matches to reach the final stages of the season's overseas events. The pressure got to him as defending Grand Prix champion and he crashed out 5-0 to Finland's Robin Hull. However, some solid performances pushed him up to No.19 in the rankings for the 1999/2000 season.

The highlight in early 1999 was being part of the victorious Welsh team in the inaugural Nations Cups and he performed very well in January 2000 as Wales reached the final, before losing to England. Buoyed by his performance he carried his good form on to Thailand reaching the semi-final of the Thailand Masters, losing to eventual winner Mark Williams.

He rounded the season off in style, if not sartorial elegance, reaching his first world championship quarter final.

Last season, Dale did not hit the same heights, but did reach the last 16 of consecutive ranking events at the UK Championship and the China Open. However, just as a place in the top 16 seemed to be beckoning, his results took a turn for the worse and he failed to qualify for the final stages of the world championship. He also lost his opening match at the Scottish Open to end the season on a disappointing footing.