Name                                    :                               Joel Walker

Highest Break                       :                               129 (2011 Q School Event-2)

Century Breaks                     :                               20

Joel Walker (born 16 March 1994) is an English former professional snooker player. In 2010 he won the Rileys Future Stars competition and turned professional in 2012 through Q School.

Career

In 2010 Walker won Rileys Future Stars competition, and won £5,000 and coaching sessions with Ronnie O'Sullivan. The same year he was invited to compete in the World Open. He defeated Julian Logue 3–1 in the first qualifying round, but lost 1–3 againstTony Drago in the next round. Walker also competed at the Players Tour Championship, with his best result coming at the fourth event in Sheffield, where he reached the last 64 and lost 0–4 against Robert Milkins. He finished 137th on the Order of Merit. He tried unsuccessfully to turn professional through the Q School, with his best result coming in the second tournament, where he reached the last 16, but lost 1–4 against Simon Bedford.

Walker competed at the Players Tour Championship also in the 2011/2012 season. His best result came at the second and third UK event, where he reached the last 128, but lost 1–4 against Stephen Lee and 0–4 against Ding Junhui respectively. He finished 531st on the Order of Merit. Walker turned professional in 2012 after coming through Event 3 of the Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 snooker seasons. He won five consecutive matches in the event, culminating in a 4–0 victory against Justin Astley.

Walker's first match as a professional was a 5–4 win over Cao Yupeng, who had reached the last 16 of the World Championship two months earlier. Walker lost to Peter Lines by the same score line in the next round. He did not win a qualifying match for a ranking event during the rest of the season. Walker fared better in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events as he played in all ten tournaments, with his best result coming in the Scottish Open, where he beat Andrew Pagett and Stuart Bingham, before losing 2–4 to Liang Wenbo in the last 32. He was placed 76th on the PTC Order of Merit, and finished his first year on tour ranked world number 90.

The first ranking event Walker could qualify for during the 2014/2015 season was the International Championship thanks to a 6–4 win over Ken Doherty. Walker drew Martin Gouldin the first round and made a century and two further breaks above 50 to level at 4–4 after being 4–1 down, but then lost two frames in a row to exit the tournament. He eliminated Alan McManus 6–1 and Tom Ford 6–3 at the UK Championship and then led world number 11 Stuart Bingham 3–0, but went on to lose in a deciding frame. Walker was knocked out of the first round of the Welsh Open and Indian Open 4–2 by Mark Joyce and 4–0 by Matthew Selt. Before the start of the World Championship, Walker stated his desire to become the first player from Sheffield to play in the event, but he lost 10–6 to Stuart Carrington in the first qualifying round.

Walker made his debut in the Australian Goldfields Open thanks to beating Jamie Cope 5–2, Adam Duffy 5–3 and Gary Wilson 5–3 in the qualifiers, but was thrashed 5–0 by Stephen Maguire in the first round. He was whitewashed in the opening round of two other ranking events, 6–0 by Joe Swail at the UK Championship and 4–0 by Marco Fu at the Welsh Open. Walker entered Q School as he dropped off the tour at the end of the season by being placed 80th in the world rankings. He only won one match during the two events to confirm his relegation