Rod Lawler
| Name | Date of Birth | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Rod Lawler | 12-07-1971 | England |
Career
He turned professional in 1990. His first season proved to be quite successful as he reached the last 32 in the Dubai Classic, losing out 2–5 to former World Billiards Champion Rex Williams. He then followed this up with a run to the Quarter Finals of the Classic, beating John Virgo 5–3 to qualify, as well as Joe Johnson 5–3 in the second round, before losing 2–5 to Mike Hallett. His best run in a ranking tournament was in 1996, when he reached the final of the International Open, beating World Champion Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the second round, but his run ended in the final where he lost 9–3 to John Higgins.
Rod qualified for the first ranking tournament of the season, the Wuxi Classic, beating Vinnie Calabrese 5-3. He faced Shaun Murphy in the first round proper and was defeated 5-1. Rod failed to qualify for both the Shanghai Masters and the Australian Goldfields Open but then reached the a semi-final in the second Euro Tour (PTC) event, eventually losing 4-3 to Mark Allen in a deciding frame. A solid run of results followed, reaching a quarter-final in PTC4 where he eventually lost 4-3 to Robert Milkins, and also reaching the fourth round in the UK Championship where he got his revenge on Mark Allen by beating him 6-4 in the third round, eventually losing 6-3 to Judd Trump. Rod failed to achieve another deep run in a tournament in the rest of the season, but was consistent in the 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.