|
Mike Hallett was
an outstanding, junior and he won the National
Under-16 title in 1975. He started work as a shipping clerk but
always wanted to be a professional snooker player.
After captaining
the England team in the 1978 Home Championship at the age of 19,
he put forward his application to join the paid ranks in 1979
and, somewhat to his own surprise, was successful at the first
attempt.
He struggled in
his early years and it was not until the 1983 Professional
Players Tournament that he reached the last 16 of a ranking
event, beating Steve Davis on the way, and thus collected any
points. He did however get to that stage of the UK championship
every year except one during that period but that event was
non-ranking at the time. In 1986 he reached the semi-finals of
the English Professional Championship losing only in the
deciding frame to Neal Foulds. He also reached the last 16 of
the Embassy that year, his best to date.
1986/87 saw him
reach the final of the World Doubles with a young man called
Stephen Hendry and he ended the season by reaching the quarter
finals of the world championship. This, together with some
consistent results in the other ranking events, saw him enter
the top 16, at No. 16, for the first time. The following year,
he and Hendry won the World Doubles and he was runner up in the
British Open and a semi-finalist in the Fidelity International.
He was also beaten in the Masters final at Wembley, a 9-0
whitewash by Steve Davis, as well being runner-up in both the
Australian Masters and Pontins Professional Championships.
Three ranking
semi-finals and a world quarter-final in 1988/89 saw him rise to
his highest ever ranking of sixth. That season also saw him get
his first individual title, the Fosters Professional invitation
event and followed this with the English Professional title.
The following
season he finally landed a ranking title, The Hong Kong Open.
After putting out Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White he squeezed
passed Dene O’Kane 9-8 in the final.
In 1991, again
partnered by Stephen Hendry, he took the doubles event at the
one-off World Masters and the next season he won both the
Scottish Masters and the Humo Masters in Belgium.
Since then,
apart from reaching the quarter-finals of the 1993 Welsh Open,
his form has slumped and when the WPBSA restricted the numbers
on the main tour at the end of the 1996/97 season, Mike failed
to make the cut. He got back in again for 1998/99 but failed to
qualify again at the end of that season although he re-qualified
for the 2000-1 season.
After one season
back on the main tour, Mike finished 133rd and failed
to qualify for the 2001/02 season. He played on the Challenge
Tour in the next season in the hope of getting back on the main
tour but to no avail and did not progress beyond the preliminary
rounds of the world championship.
In 2003-4 Hallett
finished 11th on the Challenge Tour to earn himself a swan song
on the Main Tour in 2004-5.
Nowadays he
spends much of his time commentating for TV and it seems
unlikely that we will see him back on the main tour again.
Hallett's
career earnings amount to over £920,000.
|
