Neal Foulds

Neal Foulds

Foulds as commentator at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1963-07-13) 13 July 1963
Sport country  England
Professional 1983–2004
Highest ranking 3 (1987/1988, 1988/1989)
Career winnings £1,156,213[1]
Highest break 142 (1992 Matchroom League)
Century breaks 86[2]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1
Non-ranking 5

Neal Foulds (born 13 July 1963) is a former English professional snooker player and is now a commentator on the sport.

Career

The son of snooker professional Geoff Foulds, he began playing the game at the age of 11 and by the early 1980s was already one of the strongest players in his area. Following victory in the national under-19′s Championship, Foulds then turned professional in 1983 and at the end of the season qualified for final stages of the World Championship at the first attempt. Even more impressively however, he then defeated twice-champion Alex Higgins 10-9 in the first round before going down 13-9 to Doug Mountjoy in the last 16, a run that saw him enter the rankings at number 30.

Foulds quickly climbed the rankings in the seasons that followed reaching no. 3 within four years. He won his first ranking tournament in 1986, the BCE International, beating Cliff Thorburn 12–9 in the final. In the same season he was runner-up to Steve Davis in the UK Championship, and he also reached the semi-finals of the 1987 World Championship, losing 16–9 to Joe Johnson.[3] Starting the following season up in a career high position of number three, 1987/88 was not to be quite as successful, though another strong run to the quarter-finals in the 1988 World Snooker Championship before losing to Terry Griffiths ensured that he would retain his spot at third in the rankings

From here however he started to struggle, dropping 17 places to 20th in the rankings and finding himself having to qualify for events in the following season. Still, 1989/90 was to see a revival and despite a round one exit at the World Championship to Wayne Jones, he did enough to regain a place in the top 16 before moving up to number seven at the end of 1990/1.

Though he was able to maintain a top 16 place until the end of the 1993/4 season, and a place on the tour until 2004, from the mid-90′s Foulds struggled for form and eventually retired from the sport in 2004.

Foulds made 76 competitive century breaks in his career.

Commentary career

Foulds and Jimmy White in an interview with Shaun Murphy after his victory against Mark Allen

Since his retirement, Foulds has moved up to the commentary box for the BBC, Eurosport, Sky Sports and he also co-hosts all ITV4 tournament coverage, interviewing players as well as commentating. Foulds also works for Ladbrokes, providing in-shop commentary on racing. In 2014, Foulds made a cameo as himself commentating on a fictional match at the climax of the snooker short film drama 'Extended Rest'. [4]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1983/
84		 1984/
85		 1985/
86		 1986/
87		 1987/
88		 1988/
89		 1989/
90		 1990/
91		 1991/
92		 1992/
93		 1993/
94		 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04
Ranking UR[nb 1] 30 23 13 3 3 20 13 6 4 14 25 28 21 30 34 40 73 71 78 114
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 2] Non-Ranking NH QF Not held NR NR Not held
UK Championship 1R LQ 2R F LQ 1R 1R 2R QF 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 1R 2R 5R LQ LQ A
German Masters[nb 3] Not held LQ LQ LQ NR Not held
Welsh Open Not held 3R 3R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ A
World Grand Prix[nb 4] LQ SF 2R SF 1R 3R 2R QF 3R QF 3R 1R 2R 2R 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ A
China Open[nb 5] Not held NR LQ LQ LQ LQ Not held
World Championship 2R 1R 1R SF QF 1R QF 2R 2R QF 2R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A
Non-ranking tournaments
Masters A A A 1R 1R SF A QF SF 1R SF A A A A A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters NH Non-Ranking 1R Not Held
Strachan Open NH 1R MR NR Not Held
Classic LQ LQ QF 1R 2R 2R 1R SF 2R Not held
Dubai Classic[nb 6] Not Held NR A 3R 3R 1R 1R LQ LQ 1R Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 7] Non-ranking Not held 2R QF 2R 1R 2R LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ NR NH
Scottish Open[nb 8] A 1R SF W 2R 2R 3R Not held 1R QF 2R 3R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A
British Open[nb 9] NR 2R 2R F 3R 3R QF 2R 3R 1R 1R 3R 2R 1R QF LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A
Irish Masters Non-ranking event LQ A
Malta Cup[nb 10] Not held 1R QF QF 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R LQ NH LQ Not held LQ LQ A
Former non-ranking tournaments
World Matchplay Not Held A A 1R 1R A Not Held
Scottish Masters A A A A QF NH A A QF W QF A LQ A A A A A A A Not held
Irish Masters A A A A F QF A A 1R 1R A A A A A A A A A Ranking event
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.

Tournament finals

Ranking finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–1)
Other (1–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1986 International Open Canada Cliff Thorburn 12–9
Runner-up 1. 1986 UK Championship England Steve Davis 7–16
Runner-up 2. 1987 British Open England Jimmy White 9–13

Non-ranking finals: 10 (4 titles, 6 runners-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1986 English Professional Championship England Tony Meo 7–9
Winner 1. 1987 Pontins Professional England Willie Thorne 9–8
Runner-up 2. 1988 English Professional Championship England Dean Reynolds 5–9
Runner-up 3. 1988 Irish Masters England Steve Davis 4–9
Runner-up 4. 1988 Hong Kong Masters England Jimmy White 3–6
Winner 2. 1988 Dubai Masters England Steve Davis 5–4
Winner 3. 1991 Pontins Professional England Mike Hallett 9–6
Runner-up 5. 1991 Humo Masters England Mike Hallett 7–9
Runner-up 6. 1992 Pontins Professional England Steve James 8–9
Winner 4. 1992 Scottish Masters England Gary Wilkinson 10–8

Team finals: 2 (2 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Team/partner Opponent(s) in the final Score
Winner 1. 1988 World Cup (1)  England  Australia 9–7
Winner 2. 1989 World Cup (2)  England  Rest of the World 9–8

References

  1. ↑ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Neal-Foulds/Career-Total-Statistics
  2. ↑ http://cuetracker.net/Players/Neal-Foulds/Career-Total-Statistics
  3. ↑ "Clive Everton's Crucible History – 1987 World Championship". BBC. 2001. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  4. ↑ Then and Now: Neal Foulds - Yahoo! Eurosport

Notes

  1. ↑ New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
  2. ↑ The event ran under different names as Australian Masters (1979/1980 to 1987/1988 and 1995/1996), Hong Kong Open (1989/1990) and Australian Open (1994/1995).
  3. ↑ The event ran under different name as German Open (1995/1996 to 1997/1998).
  4. ↑ The event ran under different name as Professional Players Tournament (1983/1984), Grand Prix (1984/1985 to 2000/2001) and LG Cup (2001/2002 to 2003/2004).
  5. ↑ The event ran under different names as China International (1997/1998 and 1998/1999)
  6. ↑ The event run under different names as Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  7. ↑ The event ran under different names such as Asian Open (1989/1990 to 1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994 to 1996/1997).
  8. ↑ The event ran under different names such as International Open (1983/1984 to 1984/1985, 1986/1987 to 1996/1997), Goya Matchroom Trophy (1985/1986) and Players Championship (2003/2004).
  9. ↑ The event was known as International Masters (1983/1984).
  10. ↑ The event ran under different names such as European Open (1988/1989 to 1996/1997 and 2001/2002 to 2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999).
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