Sport country Wales Century breaks 4 Career winnings £4,866 | Highest ranking N/A Nickname The Welsh Whirlwind Name Jamie Clarke | |
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Born 5 October 1994 (age 29)
Llanelli, Carmarthenshire ( 1994-10-05 ) Highest break 111 (2013 Antwerp Open) | ||
Jamie Rhys Clarke (born 5 October 1994 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire) is an amateur Welsh snooker player, widely considered one of the most promising upcoming snooker talents.
Career
Jamie Rhys Clarke drew attention in 2014 when he defeated former world number 8 Darren Morgan in 6–0 whitewash in the semi-finals of the Welsh Amateur Championship before going on to defeat Lee Walker to capture the highest ranking and most prestigious amateur event in Wales. In 2015 Clarke entered several events in an attempt to qualify for the World Snooker Tour and narrowly missed out by losing in the final of tournaments on 3 occasions. In April, Clarke lost 4–3 in a final-frame decider to Martin O'Donnell in the final round of the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Off. Clarke would go on to enter Q School in May 2015, but would be unable to advance further than the third round. In June 2015, Clarke qualified for the knockout stage of EBSA European Snooker Championship as the 19th seed where he lost 7–4 to Michael Wild in the final. The following month at the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship Clarke once again reached the tournament final before losing 8–7 in the deciding frame to Boonyarit Keattikun. In February 2016, Clarke once again reached the final of the EBSA European Snooker Championship as the number 1 seed, however he was once again defeated 7–4 losing to fellow countryman Jak Jones. Two months later Clarke again lost a final-frame decider 4–3 to Elliot Slessor in the final round of the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Off. This was Clarke's fifth defeat in the final round of a world tour qualifying tournament in 12 months. Following his repeated bad fortune in the finals of qualifying tournaments Clarke started being referred to as the "Welsh Jimmy White" or the "Welsh Whirlwind", the latter of which has since been adopted as his permanent nickname on the tour events.