Dave Harold

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Dave Harold

Born	December 9, 1966 (1966-12-09) (age 41), Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Nationality	English
Nickname(s)	The Stoke Potter, Bananaman, The Hard Man, 'How Old' Harold
Professional	1991 - Present
Highest ranking	#11 (1996-1997)
2008/09 ranking	#28
Career winnings	£855,275
Highest break	143 (Royal London Watches Grand Prix) 2007
Tournament wins
Ranking	1993 (Asian Open)

Dave Harold (born December 9, 1966) is an English professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He has won one ranking title, reached one further final and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Steve Davis has commented that he is not the most naturally gifted player, but makes up for this with strong tactical play [1].

1 Early Career
2 Top 16 (1996-2002)
3 Later Years
4 Tournament wins
- 4.1 Ranking
5 External links

[edit] Early Career

As an amateur he played as David Harold, but since turning professional in 1991 he has used Dave Harold as his name of preference. He is known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" and is renowned for his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue.

Soon after turning professional, Harold was the surprise winner of the 1993 Asian Open, beating Darren Morgan 9-3 in the final. Ranked 93rd in the world at the time, he became the lowest-ranked player ever to win a ranking tournament. He never repeated this achievement, although he reached his second ranking final in the 1994 Grand Prix, losing 6-9 to John Higgins.

[edit] Top 16 (1996-2002)

Harold has yet to reach a third ranking final, although he has reached five more semi-finals in ranking tournaments, and was a Top-16 player for four seasons between 1995/1996 and 2001/2002, reaching a career-best position of no. 11 in the world rankings in the 1996/97 season. In the 1996 Welsh Open, he lost in the semi-finals, 1-6, to eventual winner Mark J. Williams.

He contended in his first (and so far only) World Championship quarter-final in the 1996 event, where he lost 7-13 to Nigel Bond. He also lost 5-6 to Bond in his 1996 British Open semi-final less than two weeks earlier.

In the 1998 Grand Prix, he knocked out Stephen Hendry and John Higgins en route to the semi-finals, but lost narrowly to eventual champion Stephen Lee. 1998 also saw him reach his first semi-final in the UK Championship, where he was defeated 9-7 by Matthew Stevens.

In the 1999 Grand Prix Harold led Mark Williams 5-3 in the semi-finals but lost 5-6 to the Welshman. This was Harold's last ranking semi-final to date, although he also reached the semis in the non-ranking 2001 Masters, defeating Stephen Lee, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Parrott, but losing his semi-final 5-6 to eventual runner-up Fergal O'Brien after having led 5-1. This tournament marks Harold's only professional victory to date over O'Sullivan, who he has never beaten in a ranking tournament in ten attempts. [2]

[edit] Later Years

Following a poor season in 2001-2002, Harold dropped out of the Top 16, down to number 29 in the World Rankings. A broken wrist sustained on New Year's Eve 2003 saw him drop further down the rankings, out of the top 32, although he had a better 2005/2006 season. Another consistent season in 2006/2007 helped Harold back up to #30 in the world rankings for 2007/2008.

2007/2008 was Harold's most successful season since 2002, starting with a quarter-final appearance in the Shanghai Masters, losing to Dominic Dale who went on to win the tournament. Harold qualified for the 2007 Grand Prix, although he did not get past the round robin phase, finishing fifth in his group of six players; but in the 2007 UK Championship, Harold's resurgence continued as he eliminated World Number 2 Graeme Dott 9-7 in the first round to achieve a place in the last 16 of the tournament for the first time since 1999. However, he lost 2-9 in the second round to Mark Selby. He qualified for the final stages of the World Championship with a 10-4 win over Mike Dunn, but lost 10-3 at the Crucible in the first round proper to local hero Shaun Murphy.

During a preliminary round match against local wildcard Jin Long in the 2007 China Open, Harold, tiring rapidly after the long journey and gruelling battle locked at 4-4, took time out before the deciding frame to leave the playing arena and consume a couple of bananas, returning replenished to finish the job with a clearance on the colours. This gave rise to the affectionate nickname "Bananaman" on the betfair snooker forum, bringing comparisons with the cartoon character Popeye who after consuming spinach was capable of feats of great strength to get the better of his foes. Harold also put up a determined battle against in form Shaun Murphy in the next round but eventually lost 5-3 in a match which featured the longest ever frame in snooker history, lasting 93 minutes and 12 seconds.

Despite failing to get past the 2008 World Championship first round, Harold retained his Top 32 ranking, and starts the 2008/2009 season ranked at #28, his highest ranking since 2003.