Name: Tom Ford
DOB: 17th August 1983
Nationality: English
Turned Pro: 2000
Highest Ranking: #26 (2011)
Highest Break: 147 (2007 Grand Prix)
Career Highlights: 2010 PTC3 winner, 2011 PTC11 winner, 2005 Malta Cup quarter finalist, 2007 Grand Prix last 16 & 147 against Steve Davis, 2007 Malta Cup last 16
Career summary
A national champion at both under-15 and under-18 level, Tom was regarded as one of the most promising young players in the game for a number of years and turned professional in 2000.
His first few years as a pro were largely without note as he dropped off the main tour in 2003, but he bounced back at the first attempt with a number of strong performances on the Challenge Tour.
Second time around however his performances would be much improved and he did enough to re-enter the rankings in 74th position for the 2004/5 season.
The highlight of that campaign came at the Malta Cup where he embarked on his best career run to date. Beginning in the first qualifying round he defeated Gary Wilson, Nick Walker, Dave Harold and Tony Drago to qualify for the TV stages in Malta.
Once there he beat local hope Joe Grech 5-1 in the qualifying round before seeing off Chris Small and 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty to reach his first quarter-final. Unfortunately once there he came up against an in-form Stephen Hendry who went on to win the event, but he had at least done enough to move up to 51st in the rankings.
Tom during his 2010 World Championship qualifier against Judd Trump
2009/10
During the following years however Tom struggled to match that sort of performance and despite a first career 147 at the 2007 Grand Prix against Steve Davis, had made no further impression on the rankings.
Tom’s 2009/10 campaign got off to a bad start when he lost out to Matt Couch in his Shanghai Masters opener but from there he did not lose another opening round match, qualifying for his first venue of the season at the UK Championship qualifiers by defeating David Hogan, Stuart Pettman and most impressively Barry Hawkins before also qualifying for the final stages of the Welsh Open.
Though he lost out to Neil Robertson and Mark Allen in those last 32 matches respectively, he continued to win matches and headed to the World Championship qualifiers with a real chance of reclaiming a place inside the top 48.
Tom during his 2010 World Championship qualifier against Judd Trump
His opening qualifier in Sheffield saw him pitted up against Irishman David Hogan and having started brightly with breaks of 132 and 82, Tom never really looked back as he eased to a 10-3 win. His second match however was far tougher and finding himself 6-3 down to Anthony Hamilton at the mid-session interval, some might have expected him to let his disappointment get the better of him during the evening session. In fact however, Tom was able to come out and not only level the match at 6-6, but then go on to add the next four to seal a 10-6 win.
On paper his toughest match was still to come however as he faced Judd Trump in the final qualifying round, but as he raced into an 8-1 lead at the end of the first session you would not have thought it! Tom duly returned to complete a 10-3 victory later in the day and book his place at the Crucible Theatre for the first time.
Unfortunately for Tom however, like many Crucible debutants he could not reproduce the form that he has displayed at the qualifiers and lost out 10-4 to Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen.
2010/11
Not to be too disheartened from his Crucible humbling, Tom started the new season in fine form with a quarter-final appearance at the first event of the new Players Tour Championship.
His fortunes were to improve further in the third event as Tom defeated Andy Hicks, Mark Davis and finally Jack Lisowski 4-0 to win his first professional title and ultimately move up into the top 32 for the first time at the season’s second cut-off point following the UK Championship.
From there however the second half of Tom’s season was to prove disappointing as he won just one further match in a ranking event to reach the final qualifying round of the China Open before losing out to Welshman Ryan Day. A 10-8 defeat to Chinese youngster Liu Chuang in his opening World Championship qualifier meant that Tom would finish the campaign ranked in 34th place.
2011/12
Tom made a solid start to the 2011/12 season, successfully qualifying for the season-opening Australian Goldfields Open as well as consistently winning matches during the PTC series without managing to break through into the latter stages.
His form improved towards the end of 2011 however as he defeated Xiao Guodong and Anthony Hamilton without the loss of a frame to qualify for both the UK Championship and German Masters tournaments, before he defeated a string of top names to win his second professional title at the PTC11 event in Sheffield. Tom’s reward for these victories was that he would rise to a career high ranking of 26 at the second mid-season seedings revision in January 2012.
Minor Ranking Event wins (2)
| Event | Year |
| Players Tour Championship | 2010 (Event Three) |
| Players Tour Championship | 2011 (Event Eleven) |
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5 comments
3 pings
Sammy@SnookerSceney
April 26, 2009 at 12:57 pm (UTC 0)
I’ll be supporting Ford as well in 2009/10!
Good Luck, such a great talent so a shame he hasn’t done much in his career
Uncle Robert Ford
February 15, 2010 at 10:24 pm (UTC 0)
Following Tom Ford from what i see he seems to need a plan and a bit of discipline he seems to do so well,i feel he can go much more further forward, interesting i wish him all the luck.
Uncle Robert Ford
February 15, 2010 at 10:25 pm (UTC 0)
Following Tom Ford from what i see he seems to need a plan and a bit of discipline he seems to do so well,i feel he can go much more further interesting i wish him all the luck.
GS
August 12, 2010 at 9:12 pm (UTC 0)
Players Tour Championship Event is Minor-Ranking one.
robert ford
August 16, 2010 at 12:39 pm (UTC 0)
nice to be kept up to date, as there seems to be no interest for snooker in Montreal, Canada.
Roewe Shanghai Masters 2008: Day One - Wenbo Wins All-Asian Clash « Pro Snooker Blog
September 29, 2008 at 4:58 pm (UTC 0)
[...] second match of the day to go to a day deciding frame was that between Leciester’s Tom Ford and Chinese wildcard Yu Delu. In what was a match with some solid scoring, highlighted by a 107 [...]
Roewe Shanghai Masters 2008: Day One - Wenbo wins as wildcards fall « Pro Snooker Blog
September 29, 2008 at 5:03 pm (UTC 0)
[...] second match of the day to go to a day deciding frame was that between Leciester’s Tom Ford and Chinese wildcard Yu Delu. In what was a match with some solid scoring, highlighted by a 107 [...]
Roewe Shanghai Masters 2008: Day Two - Super Selby breezes past Trump « Pro Snooker Blog
September 30, 2008 at 11:13 am (UTC 0)
[...] was not to be a good day for Leicester’s other top player Tom Ford however as double world champion John Higgins won moved into the next round with a narrow 5-4 [...]