Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won seven major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in 1998 after winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship. He was in the top 16 of the snooker world rankings for 11 consecutive years, from 2005 to 2016, twice reaching world no. 2. He is a prolific break-builder, having compiled over 500 century breaks, including three maximums.
Maguire turned professional as a snooker player in 1998. He qualified for the 1999 UK Championship, where he was defeated 2âÂÂ9 by Mark King in the first round. He played in qualifying for the 2000 World Championship, defeating Wayne Brown, Nick Walker and Bradley Jones to reach the final qualifying round, where he lost 9âÂÂ10 to Joe Swail. Maguire qualified again for the 2002 UK Championship, going on to defeat Fergal O'Brien 9âÂÂ4 in the first round, before losing 7âÂÂ9 to Ken Doherty in the second.
Two years later, Maguire reached the final of his first world ranking event, the 2004 European Open. Ranked 41st in the world, he defeated Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry (both 5âÂÂ4), John Higgins 5âÂÂ3 and Stephen Lee 6âÂÂ4 to meet Jimmy White in the final. He then defeated White 9âÂÂ3 to win the championship. The BBC described Maguire as a "surprising winner", and he admitted to being "very surprised how badly everybody has played against me here". At the 2004 World Championship later that season, he qualified for the 32-player competition for the first time. He lost 6âÂÂ10 in the opening round to Ronnie O'Sullivan, who admitted to being impressed by Maguire's performance and tipped him to be a future world champion.
The following season at the 2004 British Open, Maguire defeated O'Sullivan 6âÂÂ1 in the semi-finals to reach his second ranking event final. This led to O'Sullivan claiming that he had "never seen anything like that on a snooker table before" and also rated Maguire as "probably the best [player] in the world at the moment". Maguire met John Higgins in the final, but lost 6âÂÂ9.
At the 2004 UK Championship, Maguire defeated Mark King, Mark Davis, Stephen Lee, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis en route to the final, where he defeated David Gray 10âÂÂ1. Players praised the quality of play that Maguire had produced to win his first Triple Crown event. Davis described him as "inspired", while O'Sullivan suggested that he could "rule the game for the next ten years". In the first round of the 2005 World Championship, Maguire led O'Sullivan 9âÂÂ7 but lost the match 9âÂÂ10. At the end of the season he moved from 24th to 3rd in the world rankings.
During the 2005âÂÂ06 snooker season, Maguire only reached one quarter-final, at the 2006 Malta Cup where he lost 4âÂÂ5 against Ken Doherty. He won his first-round match at the 2006 World Championship, but lost to Marco Fu 4âÂÂ13 in the second round. However, at the 2007 World Championship the following year, he defeated Joe Perry, Joe Swail and Anthony Hamilton to reach the semi-finals. He played John Higgins and led 14âÂÂ10, but lost seven out of the next eight to lose 15âÂÂ17.
Maguire won the ranking Northern Ireland Trophy in November 2007, defeating Fergal O'Brien 9âÂÂ5 in the final. His second Triple Crown final came at the 2007 UK Championship. He defeated Joe Swail, Ian McCulloch, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy to reach the final, where he was defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan 10âÂÂ2. At the 2008 China Open, Maguire compiled his second maximum break against Ryan Day in the semi-finals. He won the match 6âÂÂ5 and then beat Murphy in the final 10âÂÂ9 on a to win the title. He reached the quarter-final stage of the 2008 World Championship, but lost in another final-frame decider (12âÂÂ13) to Joe Perry. He ended the 2007âÂÂ08 season ranked world number two. He retained this position going into the 2009âÂÂ10 season, after reaching the semi-finals of both the Shanghai Masters and the UK Championship.
Maguire began the 2009âÂÂ10 season by winning the first event of the Pro Challenge Series, defeating Alan McManus 5âÂÂ2 in the final. He followed this by reaching the semi-finals at the UK Championship by defeating Michael Holt 9âÂÂ6 in the first round, Stuart Bingham 9âÂÂ3 in the second round, and Peter Lines 9âÂÂ5 in the quarter-finals, before losing to Ding Junhui 5âÂÂ9. At the invitational Masters event in January, he beat Mark King 6âÂÂ3 in the first round and Ryan Day 6âÂÂ1 in the quarter-finals, but lost 3âÂÂ6 in the semi-finals against Mark Selby. He also reached the semi-final stage at the Welsh Open, beating Dominic Dale 5âÂÂ4 in the first round, Barry Hawkins 5âÂÂ1 in the second round, and Mark Williams 5âÂÂ1 in the quarter-finals, but he lost 3âÂÂ6 against defending champion Ali Carter. Maguire made a poor start to the 2011âÂÂ12 season, with first-round exits at the opening two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters. He defeated Stephen Hendry and John Higgins at the UK Championship to set up a quarter-final with world number seven Judd Trump, but lost the match 3âÂÂ6. He made three century breaks during the tournament, including a 144, which was the highest of the event.
In January 2012, Maguire won his first tournament carrying ranking points for almost four years, at PTC Event 12 in Germany. After beating Joe Perry 4âÂÂ2 in the final, he stated that he had not practised at all over the Christmas period. The result meant that he finished eighth in the Order of Merit and qualified for the 2012 Finals. He exited the Masters in the first round for the second successive year following a 4âÂÂ6 defeat to Mark Williams. He reached the final of the 2012 German Masters, whitewashing both Higgins and Murphy en route. He lost the final 7âÂÂ9 against O'Sullivan, despite making three consecutive century breaks. At the PTC Finals, Maguire was whitewashed 0âÂÂ4 in the semi-finals by Neil Robertson.
After a quarter-final run in the Welsh Open and a first-round defeat in the World Open, Maguire competed in the China Open. He had wins over O'Sullivan and Stephen Lee on his way to the final, where he played Peter Ebdon. Maguire trailed 1âÂÂ5 before winning seven of the next ten frames to level the match at 8âÂÂ8, forcing a deciding frame which Ebdon won. At the 2012 World Championship, Maguire defeated Luca Brecel 10âÂÂ5 in the first round, Joe Perry 13âÂÂ7 in the second, and Stephen Hendry 13âÂÂ2 in the quarter-finals with a . He unwittingly became Hendry's last opponent, as the seven-time world champion retired immediately after the match. Maguire lost his semi-final 12âÂÂ17 to Ali Carter, and finished the season ranked world number four, meaning he had climbed four places during the year.
Maguire lost in the first round of the opening ranking event of the new season with a 4âÂÂ5 defeat to Rod Lawler at the Wuxi Classic and then could not advance out of his group in the Six-red World Championship. His results soon picked up, as he won the second PTC title of his career at the UK PTC Event 1 by beating Jack Lisowski 4âÂÂ3 in the final. He stated after the win that he was going to put a greater emphasis on his play this season. Maguire's form continued as he reached his second consecutive PTC Event final, but this time he lost 3âÂÂ4 to Martin Gould. He then lost in the second round of three consecutive ranking events and the first round of both the Masters and the German Masters.
In February 2013, Maguire won his first ranking event title in over five years at the Welsh Open. He defeated Anthony Hamilton, Matthew Stevens, Alan McManus and Judd Trump to face Stuart Bingham in the final. He came back from 5âÂÂ7 down and eventually won the match with a composed 82 break in the deciding frame to triumph 9âÂÂ8. He lost 4âÂÂ5 to Ricky Walden in the second round of the World Open and, despite finishing third on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals, was beaten 3âÂÂ4 by Joe Swail in the first round. Maguire cruised into the semi-finals of the China Open by seeing off Michael Holt 5âÂÂ3 and Barry Hawkins and Bingham both 5âÂÂ1. He played Neil Robertson and led 4âÂÂ2, but went on to lose 5âÂÂ6. He faced world number 67 Dechawat Poomjaeng in the opening round of the 2013 World Championship and became part of "one of the biggest shocks" in the recent history of the tournament as he lost 9âÂÂ10 to the "charismatic Thai" player.
Maguire's first ranking event of the 2013âÂÂ14 season was the Shanghai Masters, where he was defeated 2âÂÂ5 by Xiao Guodong in the opening round. He reached the semi-finals of the inaugural Indian Open and fought back from 0âÂÂ3 down against home favourite Aditya Mehta to level at 3âÂÂ3 but lost the deciding frame. At the UK Championship, Maguire came back from 2âÂÂ5 down against Luca Brecel in the second round to win 6âÂÂ5 and also edged past Liang Wenbo 6âÂÂ5, before beating John Higgins 6âÂÂ3. He lost 2âÂÂ6 to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals, with the Australian criticising the playing condition of the snooker table as "absolute garbage" after the match.
Maguire defeated both Joe Perry 6âÂÂ4 and Robertson 6âÂÂ2 at the Masters. He faced O'Sullivan in the semi-finals but lost to the reigning world champion 6âÂÂ2. He won three matches to reach the last 16 of the Welsh Open, but relinquished his title by losing 3âÂÂ4 to 19-year-old Joel Walker. He then lost in the first round of the next two ranking events and withdrew from the China Open to enter the 2014 World Championship in poor form. Maguire produced a comeback from 3âÂÂ6 and 6âÂÂ9 down against Ryan Day to send the first-round match into a deciding frame but, despite having a chance to win, he lost 9âÂÂ10. Afterwards, he described it as "a season from hell for me" and "I just want to forget it". He ended the season as world number 14.
In June 2014, Maguire whitewashed Judd Trump 5âÂÂ0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Wuxi Classic where he lost 4âÂÂ5 against Martin Gould, despite making the tournament's highest break of 145. Three months later, he won the Six-red World Championship, defeating Ricky Walden 8âÂÂ7 in the final. However, he failed to advance beyond the second round in the three major ranking events following Wuxi. After losing 1âÂÂ4 to Trump in the opening round of the Champion of Champions, Maguire hinted at retiring from the game. When he came back from 0âÂÂ3 down against Yu Delu to win 6âÂÂ4 in the second round of the UK Championship, he remarked that he might seek the help of a sports psychologist in the future. He then beat Mark Williams 6âÂÂ2, David Morris 6âÂÂ3 and Marco Fu 6âÂÂ4 to play in his first major ranking event semi-final in over a year. He again faced Trump and lost the first four frames, as well as being 1âÂÂ5 behind. Maguire pulled the deficit back to a single frame and had chances to send the match into a deciding frame, but went when escaping a snooker on the colours and lost 4âÂÂ6. A week later, Maguire continued his resurgence of form to win the inaugural Lisbon Open, defeating Matthew Selt 4âÂÂ2 in the final. During the German Masters, he stated that he had regained his confidence and it would take "something special to stop him". He needed two snookers in the deciding frame of his quarter-final match with Neil Robertson, which he managed after Robertson accidentally potted the black. In his second consecutive ranking event semi-final, Maguire was defeated 2âÂÂ6 by Mark Selby. He advanced to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open without facing a top-16 player, and lost 1âÂÂ5 to John Higgins.
In 2015, Maguire qualified for the televised stages of the World Championship for a 12th straight year courtesy of Selby defeating Robert Milkins in the China Open, which kept Maguire in the top 16. In the opening round of the World Championship, he forced a deciding frame after having been 5âÂÂ9 down to Anthony McGill, but then lost the decider. This was the fourth time in five seasons that Maguire had lost in the last 32 of the World Championship, and on each occasion he exited 9âÂÂ10 having trailed and levelled the match. His end-of-season ranking of world number 15 was the lowest he had been in 11 years.
Maguire and teammate John Higgins lost in the final of the 2015 Snooker World Cup to Chinese teenagers Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao. Maguire then reached the semi-finals of the first ranking event of the year by thrashing Judd Trump 5âÂÂ1 at the Australian Goldfields Open, but he lost 1âÂÂ6 to Martin Gould. He began his fourth-round match against Neil Robertson with a 118 break, but it was the only frame he could win in a 1âÂÂ6 defeat. He was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the German Masters 1âÂÂ5 by Graeme Dott and the first round of both the Welsh Open (3âÂÂ4 to Martin O'Donnell) and the World Grand Prix (0âÂÂ4 to Higgins). He failed to qualify for the PTC Finals after finishing 42nd on the European Order of Merit. This meant that Maguire needed a strong run at the China Open to avoid having to qualify for the 2016 World Championship at the end of the season. He achieved this with four wins to the China Cup semi-finals, but he was then whitewashed 6âÂÂ0 by Trump. Despite his automatic qualification for the World Championship, Maguire stated that he felt embarrassed at being unable to motivate himself for the event, after losing 7âÂÂ10 to Alan McManus in the first round. His 18th-place campaign was the first time that Maguire finished outside of the top 16 since 2004.
Maguire beat Barry Hawkins to make the quarter-finals of the Indian Open where he lost 1âÂÂ4 to Anthony McGill. He made a 147 and two other centuries in his 5âÂÂ0 wildcard win over Xu Yichen at the Shanghai Masters. He then whitewashed Shaun Murphy 5âÂÂ0 and defeated Hawkins 5âÂÂ3 and Michael White 5âÂÂ1 to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 3âÂÂ6 to Ding Junhui. He lost 3âÂÂ6 to Luca Brecel in the fourth round of the UK Championship and was then defeated 1âÂÂ5 against Mark Selby in the quarter-finals of the China Open. Maguire was unable to break back into the top 16 during the season and so needed to win three matches to qualify for the 2017 World Championship. Victories followed over Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn, Nigel Bond and Li Hang and he faced McGill in the opening round. From 2âÂÂ2, Maguire scored 447 points without reply and went on to triumph 10âÂÂ2 in his first match win at the Crucible since 2012. He then thrashed Rory McLeod 13âÂÂ3 with a session to spare to reach the quarter-finals and came from 1âÂÂ5 down to draw level with Barry Hawkins at 6âÂÂ6. However, from 9âÂÂ9 Maguire lost four frames in a row to be beaten 9âÂÂ13.
Maguire's form continued to improve in the 2017âÂÂ18 season. He reached the final of the Riga Masters in June, but lost 2âÂÂ5 to Ryan Day. In December, with wins over Yuan Sijun, Jak Jones, Liang Wenbo, Graeme Dott, and Joe Perry, Maguire advanced to the semi-finals of the UK Championship again, but was defeated 4âÂÂ6 by the eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. Shortly after the UK Championship, he reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open but lost 2âÂÂ5 against Judd Trump. In February, Maguire progressed to the semi-finals of another ranking event, this time at the World Grand Prix, but lost 4âÂÂ6 to O'Sullivan despite leading 4âÂÂ2. He qualified for the 2018 World Championship after beating Allan Taylor, Hammad Miah, and Hossein Vafaei, and faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round. Despite leading 4âÂÂ0 and 6âÂÂ3, Maguire lost seven of the next eight frames in the second session and eventually lost 7âÂÂ10.
Maguire made a strong start to the 2018âÂÂ19 season; with wins against Joe Perry and Kyren Wilson, he reached the semi-finals of the Riga Masters but lost 1âÂÂ5 to Jack Lisowski. In October, he advanced to the semi-finals of another ranking event, the English Open, but this time lost 3âÂÂ6 to Stuart Bingham. He performed fairly well at the UK Championship where he progressed to the quarter-finals, but was beaten 1âÂÂ6 by Mark Allen. After strong performances over the past two seasons, Maguire returned to the Masters for the first time since 2015; however, he was outscored 712âÂÂ190 by his opponent Mark Selby and lost 2âÂÂ6. He reached his third semi-final of the season at the German Masters in February, but was defeated by Kyren Wilson 6âÂÂ1. At the 2019 World Championship, Maguire won both of his first two rounds against Tian Pengfei and James Cahill, the latter ending in a final-frame decider, but was unable to replicate the same feat against Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, losing 6âÂÂ13.
In September 2019, Maguire won the Six-red World Championship for the second time, after beating his fellow countryman John Higgins 8âÂÂ6 in the final. In December, he reached the final of the UK Championship for the third time, his first appearance in the final since 2007. Despite losing the first four frames to his opponent, Ding Junhui, Maguire managed to recover to 3âÂÂ5 at the end of the first session. In the second session, after making back-to-back centuries, he was only 6âÂÂ8 behind but lost two more frames and the match 6âÂÂ10. The highlight of the extended 2019âÂÂ20 season for Maguire was the Tour Championship in June, where he beat Mark Allen 10âÂÂ6 in the final, to secure the ã150,000 winner's prize and his first ranking event title since 2013. At the 2020 World Championship, he was defeated 3âÂÂ10 by Martin Gould. Maguire began 2021 with a win over Mark Selby at the Masters, before a 5âÂÂ6 loss to eventual champion Yan Bingtao.
At the 2022 Masters, Maguire was beaten in the first round by Mark Selby 36. At the 2022 World Championship, Maguire beat rival Shaun Murphy in the first round 108. He went on to reach the quarter-final where he lost heavily to Ronnie O'Sullivan 513.
At the 2024 World Championship, Maguire beat Ali Carter 107 in the first round and Shaun Murphy 139 in the last 16. In the quarter-final he lost 813 to David Gilbert.
At the 2025 Championship League, Maguire beat Joe O'Connor 31 to win his seventh ranking event, five years after his last.
Maguire has a professional rivalry with Shaun Murphy. In a match at the 2004 Grand Prix, Murphy was involved in one of Maguire's frames being forfeited. As the match was about to begin, Maguire realised he had forgotten to bring his chalk with him so he asked referee Johan Oomen for permission to leave the arena. Murphy spoke to the referee while Maguire was away; the tournament director Mike Ganley was summoned, and he docked Maguire a frame for not being ready to start at the scheduled time. Maguire later won the match 5âÂÂ2.
A few weeks later, while playing in the final of the 2004 UK Championship, David Gray forgot to bring his chalk into the arena. However, Maguire allowed Gray to retrieve it without a frame being docked. After beating Murphy in the 2007 Welsh Open, Maguire said, "That put the icing on the cake, but we've always had a rivalry. I dislike him and I think he dislikes me. I try hard to beat everyone, but it would have hurt more if I'd lost to him."
Maguire is married and has three children. Unlike fellow professionals, he is permitted to play with his collar open and not wear a bow tie in competition because of a neck condition. Maguire was formally detained by Strathclyde Police on 27 August 2009, following allegations that he and countryman Jamie Burnett had colluded to produce a 9âÂÂ3 victory for Maguire at their clash in the 2008 UK Championship; they were both released without charge.
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