Stephen Maguire

Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player who is the current World No. 12. He has been a professional snooker player since 1998, and has been ranked in the top 16 since 2005, reaching a career high ranking of two for two seasons. He has won eight major ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship in 2004, the Grand Prix in 2012 and the China Open in 2014, as well as the non-ranking yet prestigious Masters in 2008 and 2012. As a prolific break-builder, Maguire has compiled more than 300 century breaks, including three maximum breaks.

He also reached the 2008 World Championship final, losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan 12-18.

His rivalry with fellow player Shaun Murphy has been well documented. The pair first met in the 1996 World Amateur tournament, which Maguire won 6-3, but Murphy allegedly found Maguire's demeanour "intimidating." The pair first met professionally in 2000, with Maguire winning again 5-2, but the biggest incident came in a match at the 2004 Grand Prix. Murphy was involved in having one of Maguire's frames forfeited. As the match was about to begin, Maguire realised he had forgotten to bring his chalk with him. He asked referee Johan Oomen for permission to leave the arena. While he was away, Murphy spoke to the referee; the tournament director Mike Ganley was summoned and he docked Maguire a frame for not being ready to start at the scheduled time. Maguire later won the match 5–2. Later that year, whilst playing in the final of the UK Championship, David Gray forgot his chalk. However, Maguire let him get it without a frame being docked. After beating Murphy in the 2007 Welsh Open, Maguire said, "That put the icing on the cake, but we've always had a rivalry. I dislike him and I think he dislikes me. I try hard to beat everyone, but it would have hurt more if I'd lost to him." Maguire leads the head-to-head 13-10.