Matthew Couch

Matthew Couch
Born	30 June 1974 (age 50)
Sport country	England
Professional	1992–2004, 2005–2007, 2008–2012
Highest ranking	47 (1999/2000)
Best ranking finish	Quarter-final (x1)

Matthew Couch (born 30 June 1974) is an English former professional snooker player.

Career

During a professional career lasting from 1992 to 2012, Couch had little success in ranking events, although he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in 1998,^[1] and he made his highest break of 141 in 2002. He returned to the Main Tour for the 2008–09 season, and produced a fine run in the World Championship qualifiers, including a 10–3 victory over former world champion John Parrott.^[2] In October 2010, Couch had one of his best results to date, reaching the final of the Brugge Open, where he lost 2–4 against another former world champion Shaun Murphy.^[3] He dropped off the snooker tour at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Personal life

Couch is also an official World Snooker coach,^[4] and currently resides in Scunthorpe.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1992/ 93	1993/ 94		1994/ 95	1995/ 96	1996/ 97	1997/ 98	1998/ 99	1999/ 00	2000/ 01	2001/ 02	2002/ 03	2003/ 04	2004/ 05	2005/ 06	2006/ 07	2008/ 09	2009/ 10	2010/ 11	2011/ 12	2012/ 13	2013/ 14
Ranking^[5]^{[nb 1]}	^{[nb 2]}	347		135	76	83	94	78	47	57	77	79	79	^{[nb 3]}	^{[nb 2]}	70	^{[nb 2]}	69	67	70	^{[nb 2]}	^{[nb 2]}
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open^{[nb 4]}	Not Held			Non-Ranking		Tournament Not Held														LQ	A	A
Shanghai Masters	Tournament Not Held																LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A
UK Championship	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	QF	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A
German Masters^{[nb 5]}	Tournament Not Held				LQ	LQ	LQ	NR	Tournament Not Held										LQ	LQ	A	A
Welsh Open	LQ	LQ		1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A	A
World Open^{[nb 6]}	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	A	A	A
Players Tour Championship Grand Final	Tournament Not Held																		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
China Open^{[nb 7]}	Tournament Not Held						NR	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Not Held		A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A	A
World Championship	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters	LQ	A		LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	A	A	A
Shoot Out	Tournament Not Held																		1R	A	A	A
Former ranking tournaments
Asian Classic^{[nb 8]}	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix	Not Held			Non-Ranking Event					LQ	NR	Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters^{[nb 9]}	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	NR	Not Held			NR	Tournament Not Held
Scottish Open^{[nb 10]}	LQ	LQ		LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held							MR	NH
British Open	LQ	1R		LQ	1R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	A	Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters	Non-Ranking Event											LQ	LQ	A	NH	NR	Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup^{[nb 11]}	LQ	LQ		WR	LQ	LQ	NH	2R	Not Held		LQ	LQ	LQ	A	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy	Tournament Not Held														NR	1R	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship	Tournament Not Held																LQ	Tournament Not Held
Former non-ranking tournaments
Strachan Open	MR	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held

Performance table legend
LQ	lost in the qualifying draw	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)	QF	lost in the quarter-finals
SF	lost in the semi–finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament
DNQ	did not qualify for the tournament	A	did not participate in the tournament	WD	withdrew from the tournament

NH / Not Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

^ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
^ He was an amateur.
^ The event was called the Australian Open (1994/1995–1995/1996) and the Australian Masters (1995/1996)
^ The event was called the German Open (1995/1996-1997/1998)
^ The event was called the Grand Prix (1992/1993–2000/2001, 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
^ The event was called the China International (1997/1998-1998/1999)
^ The event was called the Dubai Classic (1992/1993-1994/1995) and the Thailand Classic (1995/1996)
^ The event was called the Asian Open (1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994-1996/1997)
^ The event was called the International Open (1992/1993-1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
^ The event was called the European Open (1992/1993-1996/1997 and 2001/2002-2003/2004) and the Irish Open (1998/1999)

Career finals

Minor-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	2010	EPTC Event 2	Shaun Murphy	2–4

Non-ranking finals: 4 (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1995	WPBSA Minor Tour – Event 4	Colin Morton	5–6
Runner-up	1999	UK Tour - Event 3	Stuart Bingham	1–6
Winner	2002	WPBSA Open Tour - Event 4	Munraj Pal	5–3
Runner-up	2005	Challenge Tour - Event 4	Jamie Cope	0–6

Pro-am finals: 14 (7 titles)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1996	Marseille International Open	Graeme Dott	5–4^[6]
Winner	1996	Pontins Autumn Open	Gary Ponting	5–4
Runner-up	1997	Austrian Open	Graeme Dott	6–7
Runner-up	1997	Pontins Autumn Open	James McGouran	3–5
Winner	1998	Pontins Autumn Open (2)	Brian Salmon	5–1
Winner	1999	Hannover International Masters	Shaun Murphy	6–5^[7]
Runner-up	2000	Austrian Open (2)	Robin Hull	1–5
Winner	2006	Austrian Open	Patrick Einsle	6–2
Winner	2006	Swiss Open	Dave Harold	4–3^[8]
Winner	2007	Paul Hunter English Open	Neil Robertson	6–5^[9]
Runner-up	2009	Pontins Spring Open	Stuart Bingham	1–5
Runner-up	2009	Dutch Open	Bjorn Haneveer	3–6
Runner-up	2010	3 Kings Open	Dominic Dale	1–5
Runner-up	2012	Austrian Open (3)	Mark Williams	5–6

Team finals: 1

Outcome	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	2006	World Mixed Doubles Championship	Sonia Chapman	Mark Allen Reanne Evans	0–3^[10]

References

^ "Finn fights back to win on black". The Independent. 7 January 1999. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
^ "Couch ends Parrott's Crucible bid". BBC News. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
^ "Glory for Murphy in Belgium". Yahoo! Sports. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
^ "WWW Snooker: China International 1999 (March)". Retrieved 3 February 2010.
^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
^ "Matt takes Marseille title". Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. 3 June 1996. p. 28.
^ "Karl and Sean Open accounts". Grimsby Daily Telegraph. 9 September 1999. p. 36.
^ "BUSY MONTH". snookerscene.blogspot.com. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
^ "Other Non-Ranking and Invitation Events". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ "Hard labour for Evans to retain title". Snooker Scene. No. May 2006. Everton's News Agency. p. 5.

External links

Matthew Couch at Worldsnooker.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 31 July 2008)
Matthew Couch at Pro Snooker Blog

[6] From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.

[UR-7] New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.

[AMA-8] He was an amateur.

[9] The event was called the Australian Open (1994/1995–1995/1996) and the Australian Masters (1995/1996)

[10] The event was called the German Open (1995/1996-1997/1998)

[11] The event was called the Grand Prix (1992/1993–2000/2001, 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)

[12] The event was called the China International (1997/1998-1998/1999)

[13] The event was called the Dubai Classic (1992/1993-1994/1995) and the Thailand Classic (1995/1996)

[14] The event was called the Asian Open (1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994-1996/1997)

[15] The event was called the International Open (1992/1993-1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)

[16] The event was called the European Open (1992/1993-1996/1997 and 2001/2002-2003/2004) and the Irish Open (1998/1999)

[1] "Finn fights back to win on black". The Independent. 7 January 1999. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2010.

[2] "Couch ends Parrott's Crucible bid". BBC News. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2010.

[3] "Glory for Murphy in Belgium". Yahoo! Sports. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.

[4] "WWW Snooker: China International 1999 (March)". Retrieved 3 February 2010.

[Ranking_history-5] "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

[17] "Matt takes Marseille title". Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. 3 June 1996. p. 28.

[18] "Karl and Sean Open accounts". Grimsby Daily Telegraph. 9 September 1999. p. 36.

[19] "BUSY MONTH". snookerscene.blogspot.com. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2019.

[20] "Other Non-Ranking and Invitation Events". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[21] "Hard labour for Evans to retain title". Snooker Scene. No. May 2006. Everton's News Agency. p. 5.

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Born	(1974-06-30) 30 June 1974 (age 50)
Sport country	England
Professional	1992–2004, 2005–2007, 2008–2012
Highest ranking	47 (1999/2000)
Best ranking finish	Quarter-final (x1)