| Biography: |
Dave Harold will always be remembered as the lowest ranked
player ever to have won a ranking title when he captured the
1993 Asian Open from a ranking position of 93rd. Previously
however, Dave, 'The Stoke Potter', had enjoyed a fair amount
of success as an amateur before joining the professional ranks
along with hundreds of other hopefuls for the 1991/92 season.
With Barry Pinches he had won the 1988 British Pairs
championship and won the All England CIU title but lost in the
pro-ticket qualifiers. The following year he won several
important pro-ams and qualified for the 1990 World Amateur
championship in Sri Lanka. There he lost to Joe Swail in the
last 16 but he beat Joe to win £3000 in the Everards Open and
took another £3000 first prize in a tournament in Singapore.
His best performance in his first professional season was the
last 32 of the Grand Prix but there were several good runs in
other events and a ranking of 93rd at the season's end out of
some 500 was no bad at all. 1992/93 looked like being
something similar with respectable performances in most
ranking events and a last 16 spot in the B & H Championship.
He had however qualified fore the final stages of the Asian
Open in Bangkok in March having had to win four matches to do
so. When he got there he beat Stephen Hendry in the last 16
and went all the way to the final, luckily not having to meet
any other top 16 players on the way. Darren Morgan was
comfortably beaten 9-3 in the final and Dave was in the record
books. He proved this was no fluke as just a couple of weeks
later he was in the semi-final of the Sky International but
this time Hendry got his revenge. Dave was now ranked 50th.
Another solid season followed in 1993/94 when he only failed
to reach at least the last 32 in two events, his best being
the Regal Welsh quarter-final. He also reached the second
round on his first visit to the Crucible only to lose to
Hendry again. He also got to the semis of the non-ranking B 7
H Championship and entered the top 32 at number 19. In 1994/95
he reached his second ranking final, losing to John Higgins in
the Grand Prix and three other quarter-final places ensured a
top 16 spot at number 13.
Two semis and three quarter-finals, including the Embassy,
came in the next season moving him up to eleventh but by the
end of the 1996/97 circuit, despite two more quarter-finals,
he has lost his top 16 place being down to 18th. Another
mediocre season followed which saw him drop another place but
in 1998/99 he reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix
and UK championship as well as the final of the B & H but
failure to qualify for Sheffield meant that he finished just
outside the top 16 at 17th. He got that place back in the
elite after the next season which included another Grand Prix
semi-final and although he struggled a bit in 2000/01 he
managed to hang on in 15th place, a drop of two from the
previous list. He did however have a great tournament in the
Masters at Wembley. He put out John Higgins in his opener and
after coming back from 1-5 down to beat John Parrott 6-5 in
the quarters, he surprised everyone with an uncharacteristic
display of emotion. He then lost to Fergal O'Brien in the
semi-final.
Even though his results in 2001/02 were a little better, he
had a lot of ground to make up and one quarter-final
appearance was not enough to keep him in the top 16 and he was
back down to 21st.
Dave's deliberate and methodical style do not make him one of
the most exciting players to watch but he is a dour competitor
and one his fellow professionals would always rather avoid.
His prize money to date is just over £590,000.
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