Rod Lawler

Lawler at the2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1971-07-12)12 July 1971 (age 54) Liverpool,Lancashire, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	Rod the Plod[1]
Professional	1990–2021, 2022–2024
Highestranking	20 (1996/1997)
Century breaks	114
Best ranking finish	Runner-up (x1)
Tournament wins
Minor-ranking	1

Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English former professionalsnooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod".^[1]

After turning professional in 1990, Lawler reached one ranking tournament final, the1996 International Open, where he lost 3–9 toJohn Higgins, and won one minor-ranking tournament, Event 3 of the2012/2013 Players Tour Championship, where he defeatedMarco Fu 4–2 in the final.

Lawler compiled over 100 competitivecentury breaks during his career. His highest is a 143, in qualifying for the2003 World Championship.^{[citation needed]} He fell off the tour at the end of the2023-24 snooker season.

Lawler turned professional in 1990. His first season proved to be quite successful as he reached the last 32 in theDubai Classic, losing out 2–5 to formerWorld Billiards ChampionRex Williams. He then followed this up with a run to the Quarter Finals of theClassic, beatingJohn Virgo 5–3 to qualify, as well asJoe Johnson 5–3 in the second round, before losing 2–5 toMike Hallett. His best run in a ranking tournament was in 1996, when he reached the final of theInternational Open, beating World ChampionStephen Hendry 5–3 in the second round, but his run ended in the final where he lost 9–3 toJohn Higgins.^[2]

He also reached the final of the1994 Benson and Hedges Championship, losing 5–9 toMark Williams in the Final.

In 1995, Lawler reached the semi-final of theMalta Masters, beating futureUK ChampionMatthew Stevens in the Quarter Final, however he lost in the semi-final to the home favouriteTony Drago. He followed up this result by reaching the last 16 of theGrand Prix, beating the aforementioned Tony Drago in the last 32, before being whitewashed 5–0 by Stephen Hendry.

Lawler has qualified for the final stages of theWorld Championship on two occasions, the first being in1995, where he beat a youngMarcus Campbell in qualifying, before losing toPeter Ebdon in the last 32 at theCrucible. He qualified again in1996, beating former World ChampionDennis Taylor in the final qualifying round. At the Crucible he then beat 1991 World ChampionJohn Parrott 10–6, before losing in the last 16 toDave Harold by 13 frames to 6. This was, to date, his best World Championship performance.

In 1997, Lawler reached the semi-final of theBenson and Hedges Championship, losing a final frame decider againstAndy Hicks.

His best result in theUK Championship came in1998, where he beatJamie Burnett andJohn Read, before losing to Matthew Stevens in the last 16.^[3]

Lawler also reached the Quarter Finals of the2003 Welsh Open, beating players such asStephen Maguire,Jimmy White andMichael Holt before losing 2–5 to seven time World ChampionStephen Hendry

Lawler narrowly missed out on a place in the last 32 in the2009 China Open, winning three qualifying matches, the last of which was againstMatthew Stevens, to reach the venue inBeijing, only to lose 3–5 to local wildcardYu Delu.^[4]In 2010 however, Lawler did reach the last 32 of theChina Open, winning three qualifying matches againstMatthew Selt,Dominic Dale, andRicky Walden. Also defeating wildcardSupoj Saenla 5–3, before losing to then number 8 seedMark Selby

The2011–12 was a disastrous season for Lawler. He reached the third qualifying round in three ranking events. Apart from that he lost a lot of matches which then proved quite costly at the end of the season as he finished ranked 73, losing his place on the main tour. He then entered the2012 Q School and reached the semi-finals of Event 3 by beating another former professionalJoe Delaney to regain his tour place for the next two seasons.

Lawler had a great start to the2012–13 season as he won all four matches to qualify for theWuxi Classic. At the venue he defeatedLi Hang andStephen Maguire to reach the last 16 where he was narrowly beaten 4–5 byGraeme Dott. In September he won his first professional title at theUK PTC 3 event defeatingMarco Fu 4–2 in the final^[5] inGloucester, Beating the likes ofStuart Bingham,Stephen Lee andDominic Dale en route to the final.

Following his Gloucester success, he continued to perform well, reaching the final qualifying round of both theUK Championship andHaikou World Open tournaments, with his results enough to move him back inside the top 64 provisionally.

His victory over Fu at theUK PTC along with a semi-final run in theEuropean Tour 2012/2013 – Event 6 meant that he qualified for thePTC Finals ranked 7th on the Order of Merit. At the venue in Galway he beatCao Yupeng by a 4–2 scoreline, only to lose toKurt Maflin in the last 16 by 4 frames to 3, having led throughout the match.

At the2013 World Championship, Lawler beat Scottish AmateurFraser Patrick 10–5, he then resisted an admirable fightback to beatAnthony McGill 10–9, after being 7–2 and 8–3 up. However, in the final qualifying round, he lost 7–10 to World number 21Martin Gould, despite being 5–2 up at one point in the match, however, the progression to the final qualifying round netted him £8,200.

Lawler earned £49,050 during the2012–13 snooker season. He also made 15century breaks, more than in any previous season.^[6]

At the Start of the2013–14, Lawler was ranked 59th in theWorld rankings. In the qualifiers for the2013 Wuxi Classic, Lawler lost his qualifying match 2–5 against Chinese youngsterLyu Haotian. In the qualifiers for theAustralian Goldfields Open, Lawler lost his opening match in the last 96 to ScotsmanRoss Muir 1–5. Lawler lost his opening game in theShanghai Masters 1–5 toMohamed Khairy. Lawler ended this run of bad results to beatJak Jones 4–0 to qualify for the inauguralIndian Open. He defeated Indian wildcardKamal Chalwa 4–1, before receiving a bye to the last 32, due to the withdrawal ofAli Carter, however, he was defeated 2–4 byNeil Robertson. He followed this up with a run to the last 16 of the thirdEuropean Tour event, beatingJames Cahill,Liam Highfield andJohn Higgins before losing toMark Allen 2–4. Lawler also qualified for theInternational Championship, beatingIan Burns 6–4 in qualifying, he then beatAditya Mehta 6–4, before losing 4–6 toFergal O'Brien in the last 32. Lawler lost in the last 64 of theUK Championship, having defeatedThanawat Thirapongpaiboon 6–3, before losing 1–6 to John Higgins, he also qualified for theGerman Masters, defeatingMitchell Travis 5–1 in qualifying. He also qualified for theWorld Open, this time defeatingElliot Slessor, also by a 5–1 scoreline.

Lawler qualified for the first ranking tournament of the season, theWuxi Classic, beatingVinnie Calabrese 5–3. In the first round proper, he facedShaun Murphy who won the match 5–1. Lawler failed to qualify for both theShanghai Masters and theAustralian Goldfields Open but then reached the semi-finals of the second Euro Tour (PTC) event, eventually losing 3–4 toMark Allen in a deciding frame. A solid run of results followed, reaching a quarter-final in PTC4 where he eventually lost 3–4 toRobert Milkins, and also reaching the fourth round of theUK Championship where he pulled one back against Mark Allen by beating him 6–4 in the third round, eventually losing 3–6 toJudd Trump. Lawler failed to achieve another deep run in a tournament for the rest of the season, but was consistent in qualifying for the main stages of ranking tournaments, and therefore accumulated enough prize money to finish 39th on the rankings list at the end of the season.

In November 2018, after winning his first round match againstAnthony Hamilton at theUK Championships, Lawler was criticised for his slow play byWorld Snooker ChairmanBarry Hearn taking an average of 39.8s per shot.^[7] Despite this, he reached the quarter final of the Shootout, where players have a limited time (15 seconds for the first five minutes; ten seconds thereafter) to play each shot.

Lawler regained his Main Tour Card in May 2022 by qualifying through the firstQ School event atSheffield. The final qualifying round saw him beatBrandon Sargeant 4–3 which earned him a two year card.

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1996	International Open	John Higgins	3–9

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2012	Players Tour Championship – Event 3	Marco Fu	4–2

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1994	Benson & Hedges Championship	Mark Williams	5–9
Winner	1.	1995	Merseyside Professional Championship	Dean Reynolds	5–4[9]
Winner	2.	1996	Finnish Masters	Stefan Mazrocis	6–2
Winner	3.	1996	China Masters	Shokat Ali	6–3
Runner-up	2.	2000	Merseyside Professional Championship	Michael Holt	3–5[9]

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1987	Pontins Junior Championship	Ronnie O'Sullivan	3–0[10]
Winner	2.	1990	British Under-19 Championship	Lee Richardson	3–0[11]

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• Rod Lawler at Snooker.org

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