1. Shaun Peter Murphy was born on 10 August 1982 and is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown.
50 Facts About Shaun Murphy
1. 2.
Shaun Murphy has earned twelve ranking titles, including the UK Championship in 2009, which places him tenth on the all time list of ranking tournament victories.
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Shaun Murphy has won twelve non-ranking tournaments, including the 2015 Masters and the 2025 Masters.
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Shaun Peter Murphy was born on 10 August 1982 in Harlow, England.
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Shaun Murphy began playing snooker at the age of eight after his parents bought him a snooker table for Christmas.
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Shaun Murphy made his first century break at the age of 10 and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where players such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and Ken Doherty have played.
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Shaun Murphy turned professional in 1998 at the age of 15.
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Shaun Murphy received guidance from Willie Thorne and Ray Reardon, and when he was 15 he was given Reardon's old cue by his father.
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Shaun Murphy began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour.
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Shaun Murphy then made two frame-winning breaks to lift the title.
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Shaun Murphy became only the third qualifier to win the World Championship after Alex Higgins in 1972 and Terry Griffiths in 1979.
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Aged 22, Shaun Murphy was the second-youngest player to win the World Championship, following Stephen Hendry who first lifted the title when he was 21.
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Shaun Murphy's run in the tournament earned him the nickname "The Magician" and the tournament doubled his previous career prize money, with which he purchased a house and a Mercedes-Benz.
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Shaun Murphy was invited to play in the Premier League Snooker, a non-ranking tournament with a 25-a-second shot clock, but he went out in the round-robin stage.
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Shaun Murphy was awarded Sportsman of the Year at the BBC East Midlands Sports Awards in December 2005.
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Shaun Murphy reached the final of the 2007 Pot Black tournament, where he was defeated by Ken Doherty.
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The victory meant that Shaun Murphy joined Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths, John Parrott, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Peter Ebdon as one of only ten players to have won both the World title and the UK title.
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Shaun Murphy participated at the Premier League and ended the league stage with two wins and four losses.
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Shaun Murphy finished number 37 on the Order of Merit, and could not qualify to the Finals to defend his title.
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Shaun Murphy than reached the final of the 2012 UK Championship courtesy of two tight victories.
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Shaun Murphy finished number 29 on the Order of Merit, and couldn't qualify to the Finals.
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Between August 2013 and January 2014, Shaun Murphy lost 3 stones in weight, due to a new diet and fitness regime.
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Shaun Murphy stated that one of his health and fitness goals was to improve his stamina and concentration at the table.
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In February 2014, while playing Jamie Jones in the last 16 of the minor-ranking Gdynia Open, Shaun Murphy made his second 147 break of the season and the third of his professional career.
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In 2014, Shaun Murphy became the first player to make three maximums in a calendar year.
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In December 2018, Shaun Murphy was defeated by world number 124 Chen Feilong in the first round of the UK Championship.
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Shaun Murphy bounced back later that month and reached the final of the Scottish Open after winning against the likes of Michael Holt, Kyren Wilson and Judd Trump to face Mark Allen in the final.
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Shaun Murphy defeated Williams in the final of the China Championship later that month and captured his first ranking title since winning the Gibraltar Open in March 2017.
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In February 2020, Shaun Murphy claimed his ninth ranking title after thrashing Kyren Wilson in the final of the Welsh Open.
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Shaun Murphy made five centuries during the final including a highest break of 145 to seal his first ranking title since the 2020 Welsh Open.
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At the 2025 Masters, Shaun Murphy hit a 147 break in his semi-final win over Mark Allen.
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Shaun Murphy is noted for his straight, which Steve Davis once called "the best cue action I've ever seen", as well as his and breakbuilding.
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Phil Yates wrote in 2008 in The Times that Shaun Murphy has improved his tactical game since his World Championship victory.
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Shaun Murphy has compiled more than 700 century breaks and has completed ten maximum breaks.
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Shaun Murphy has clashed with Stephen Maguire, another of the 2000 Young Players of Distinction, on several occasions.
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Shaun Murphy refutes that the docking of the frame was down to him speaking to the referee.
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Shaun Murphy has been outspoken about several other of his rivals, criticising them for having too many toilet breaks and complaining about table conditions among other issues.
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Shaun Murphy has made collective criticisms of his fellow professionals for not attending events, and has branded other players' concerns over prize money as "a joke".
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Shaun Murphy was born in Harlow and grew up in Irthlingborough.
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Shaun Murphy was home-schooled from age 13 after being bullied at school, and his parents split up when he was 14.
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Shaun Murphy lived with his father Tony, a former professional golfer, and did not see his mother again until he was 19.
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Shaun Murphy said that they had not spoken in over a year, but that he would willingly speak to his father again if the other called him.
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Shaun Murphy moved to Rotherham during the 2004 season to be with his fiancee, Clare, whom he married in July 2005.
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Shaun Murphy's wife filed for divorce in 2009 on the grounds of infidelity after The People newspaper published an expose revealing he had spent the night with an escort he had met at a religious youth group.
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Shaun Murphy dated Claire Chorlton, who was first introduced to the viewing public backstage during the final of the 2012 UK Championship.
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Shaun Murphy became engaged to his girlfriend Elaine and the couple married in June 2016.
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The couple split up in May 2023, with Shaun Murphy calling the divorce "amicable" and saying "our whole lives now become about raising our children".
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Shaun Murphy became a christian at the age of 15, after meeting a religious family on holiday.
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Shaun Murphy became well known for his charitable nature, having spent some of the summer of 2006 doing aid work in Zimbabwe with his then wife, Clare.
50.
Shaun Murphy has claimed to be the only person to have achieved a maximum break in snooker, a nine-dart finish in darts and a hole in one in golf.