Gary Wilson (born 11 August 1985) is an English professional snooker player from Wallsend in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear.
After showing promise from a young age, Wilson turned professional in 2004. He dropped off the tour in 2006 however, and did not regain his professional status until 2013. During his time as an amateur, Wilson spent time working as a taxi driver, bar man and in a frozen food factory.
Noted for his cue ball control and break building ability, Wilson has won one ranking title, the 2022 Scottish Open, and has finished as runner up at the 2015 China Open and the 2021 British Open. He also reached the semi-final at the 2019 World Championship as a qualifier.
Career
Early career
Wilson started playing snooker aged three and soon started showing promise. At the age of 8 he had already been put into a team performing in the local league, despite some clubs refusing to allow a child to play. Aged 9, he made his first century, and appeared for the first time at the BBC1's snooker game show series Junior Big Break: Stars of the Future (he would make two more appearances at the show). He played exhibition matches with John Parrott and Willie Thorne, and defeated Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan in level matches. Wilson went on to win a number of national titles, including the UK Under-18 championship twice, and was widely regarded as one of the most promising junior players in the country.
In 2003, Wilson made his international debut at the European U-19's Championship in Latvia. The same year he started his professional career by playing Challenge Tour, the second-level professional tour at the time, and won the fourth event in 2004 to finish fourth in the rankings and secure his place on the main tour for 2004–05 season. Wilson's biggest achievement that year, however, was the victory at the World Under-21 Snooker Championship in Ireland. Having won all seven of his round robin matches while dropping only two frames, he went all the way to the final, defeating the likes of Pankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta and Liang Wenbo. In the final Wilson saw off Kobkit Palajin with breaks of 142 and 135 to win 11–5.
In his debut season Wilson reached the last 48 of the Irish Masters and last 64 of the China Open. These results were just enough to ensure that he would remain on tour for another year. The next season, Wilson reached the last 64 stage twice, but the rest of his performances were unsuccessful, and following defeat to James Tatton in the World Championship qualifying, he fell off the tour. In 2013 Wilson commented: "At the end of it, when you looked at the rankings it was only by one match and I was gutted. The thing is, at the time, and this is not an excuse, the game was nowhere near as popular as now. It was going through a really bad patch and there were only six tournaments in all compared to now when there are 20–25 tournaments per season. It meant if you had two bad tournaments and you were not doing too well you did not have much time to recover. It is so different now."
Amateur years and return to main tour
Wilson was to spend the next four years attempting to regain his tour place via the PIOS tour, having come close to finishing inside the top 8 on several occasions. He was forced to start working as a taxi driver at the time to make a living.
Following the introduction of the Q School, Wilson again came close to winning a tour card, reaching the fourth round twice in 2011 and once in 2012. He also took part in the 2012 IBSF World Championship in Bulgaria, having finished top of the English amateur rankings. He reached the final but lost 8–10 to Muhammad Asif. During the 2011–12 season Wilson entered a number of PTC events, defeating the likes of Peter Ebdon and Marco Fu, and reaching the last 32 twice. The next season was even better, as he performed consistently and reached the last 16 of Scottish Open; as a result he finished third among the amateur players on the Order of Merit, and finally regained his tour place after seven years. Wilson said, "I knew if I went quite far in that last event I would be able to turn professional off that, so losing the world amateur final did not end my dreams".