Dean Young (snooker player)
Scottish snooker player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dean Young (born 7 January 2002) is a Scottish former professional snooker player.
| |
| Born | 7 January 2002 |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  Scotland |
| Professional | 2021–2025 |
| Highest ranking | 87 (August 2024) |
| Best ranking finish | Last 16 (2022 Shoot Out) |
Early life
He is from Edinburgh, Scotland, and attended Firrhill High School. He began playing snooker at the age of seven years-old. He is based at the Locarno Snooker Club in Edinburgh.[1]
Career
He won the U-21 Scotland National Snooker Championship in 2018 and 2019 defeating Aaron Graham on both occasions.[2] In June 2021, Young came through event 3 of the 2021 Q School defeating Florian Nüßle and Mitchell Mann amongst others, before beating Haydon Pinhey 4–1 in the final round to earn a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour for the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 seasons.[3] He was the only rookie from that year's Q-School. He reached round four (round-of-16) at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out.[4]
After completing two years on the tour, he qualified for a two-year card again in June 2023, at Q School. He described the completion of his first two years as his “apprenticeship”.[5]
He started the 2023-24 season in July 2023 at the 2023 Championship League held at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. In the round-robin group stage he earned credible draws against top-50 ranked players Jak Jones and Jamie Jones.[6][7] In December 2023, he reached the third round of the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out with wins over David Grace and Hong Kong teenager Shaun Liu, before losing to two-time former World Championship runner-up Ali Carter.[8]
He reached the last-32 of the 2024 Scottish Open in December 2024, held in his home city of Edinburgh.[9] He was drawn against Polish teenager Michal Szubarczyk in the first round of qualifying for the 2025 World Snooker Championship in April 2025, winning 10-8 before facing Stan Moody.[10][11]
He dropped off the World Snooker Tour after the 2024-25 season. He reached the final round of Q School in May 2025 but was denied an immediate return after a defeat to Fergal Quinn.[12] After his performances at Q School he was ranked seventh in the 2025 Q School Order of Merit.[13]
Entered as a top-up player, Young was drawn in the round-robin stage of the 2025 Championship League against Pang Junxu, Jiang Jun and Oliver Lines, recording a 3-1 win over Jiang Jun.[14][15] Having entered Q School in May 2026, Young reached the final round of event one before losing 4–2 to fellow former-professional Liam Davies.[16]
Competing in the 2026 Championship League in June, Young topped his round-robin group, going undefeated against Reanne Evans, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Louis Heathcote.[17] In the second phase the following month, he again went unbeaten, drawing against Xu Si, Jackson Page and Elliot Slessor, with Slessor topping the group with two wins.[18]
Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 |
2023/ 24 |
2024/ 25 |
2025/ 26 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 88 | [nb 4] | 90 | [nb 2] | ||||||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||
| Championship League | NR | A | RR | A | RR | RR | RR | ||||||
| Saudi Arabia Masters | Tournament Not Held | 2R | A | ||||||||||
| Wuhan Open | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | A | |||||||||
| English Open | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | ||||||
| British Open | Not Held | 1R | 1R | LQ | LQ | A | |||||||
| Xi'an Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | 1R | A | ||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | A | A | LQ | LQ | 1R | LQ | A | ||||||
| International Championship | A | Not Held | LQ | 1R | A | ||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | ||||||
| Shoot Out | 3R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | ||||||
| Scottish Open | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | |||||||
| German Masters | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||
| World Grand Prix | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| Players Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | LQ | 1R | WD | LQ | |||||||
| World Open | A | Not Held | WD | LQ | |||||||||
| Tour Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| World Championship | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||
| WST Pro Series | NH | RR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||
| Turkish Masters | Not Held | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||
| Gibraltar Open | A | A | WD | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||
| WST Classic | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | ||||||||||
| European Masters | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | Not Held | |||||||
| Former non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||
| Six-red World Championship | A | Not Held | LQ | 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. | |||
Career finals
Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2019 | Challenge Tour – Event 7 |  Andrew Pagett |
3–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2026 | Scottish Amateur Championship | Rhys Clark |
3–7[19] |
