Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight and his .
Born in Harlow, Essex, and raised in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, Murphy turned professional in 1998. His 2005 victory at the World Championship was considered a major surprise as he was only the third qualifier to win the title after Alex Higgins and Terry Griffiths. Since then, he has been runner-up at the World Championship four times, in 2009, 2015, 2021 and 2026. He has earned thirteen ranking titles, including the UK Championship in 2008, which places him tenth on the all-time list of ranking tournament victories. He has also won twelve non-ranking tournaments, including the 2015 Masters (which completed his career Triple Crown) and the 2025 Masters.
Murphy has earned over £4 million in prize money and has compiled more than 700 century breaks, including ten maximum breaks. His highest world ranking was number three, which he maintained for three seasons following the 2007–08 season.
Early life Murphy was born on 10 August 1982 in Harlow, England. Murphy began playing snooker at the age of eight after his parents bought him a snooker table for Christmas. He made his first century break at the age of 10 and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where players such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and Ken Doherty have also played. At the age of 13, he secured a five-year £5,000-a-year sponsorship deal with the Doc Martens shoe company and stated his ambitions of winning the World Championship and becoming world number one. For the interview, see "Interview: Thirteen-year-old Shaun Murphy on his aspirations for his career in snooker". He turned professional in 1998 at the age of 15.
Murphy was coached by Steve Prest until the 2006–07 season. He also received guidance from Willie Thorne and Ray Reardon, and when he was 15 he was given Reardon's old cue by his father.
Snooker career 1998–2001 Murphy began his career on the UK Tour in 1998 (renamed the Challenge Tour in 2000), at the time the second-level professional tour. He was runner-up in the fourth event on the UK tour for the 1997–98 season and, for the 2000–01 season, won the third and fourth events on the Challenge Tour, topping the Order of Merit rankings.
In 2000, he received the World Snooker Newcomer of the Year award and one of six Young Player of Distinction of the Year awards from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. In 2000, he won the English Open Championship.
Murphy won his first professional tournament at the 2000 Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Mark Davis 6–1 in the semi-final, and Stuart Bingham 9–7 in the final, recovering from 2–5 down. Although he was not yet on the first-level main tour, this victory brought qualification for the Masters—a prestigious non-ranking invitation tournament with places for members of the top 16, the winner of the qualifying tournament and a limited number of wildcards. In the 2001 tournament, he showed promise in his first televised match, defeating world number 15, Marco Fu, and building a 4–1 lead over seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, before losing the match. He made his first maximum break in the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship.
2002–2004 Murphy first reached the final stages of a ranking event at the 2002 World Championship, hosted at the Crucible Theatre, where he lost 4–10 to Stephen Hendry in the first round. In the 2002–03 season, he reached the final stages of the Scottish Open, where he was defeated 3–5 by Drew Henry in the first round, and the World Championship, where he lost 9–10 against Ken Doherty on the final black in the first round.
For the 2003–04 season, Murphy was ranked number 64 and qualified for the final stages of three ranking tournaments. In the LG Cup, he defeated Steve Davis 5–4 in the second round, before losing 2–5 to John Higgins in the third. After the victory over Davis, Murphy said "This is one of the greatest days in my snooker career." In the British Open, he defeated Dave Harold 5–1 in the first round, before losing to Paul Hunter 2–5 in the second round.
In the Players Championship—the new name of the Scottish Open—he lost 3–5 to eventual champion Jimmy White in the second round. He failed to reach the World Championship, losing a qualifying match 7–10 against Stuart Pettman, in which Pettman was docked a frame for arriving late.
2004–05 season: World Champion Murphy was ranked number 48 for the 2004–05 season and reached the final stages of four ranking events. In the Grand Prix—the new name of the LG Cup—he lost 2–5 to Stephen Maguire in the first round. This was followed by his first ranking semi-final, at the British Open, where he was whitewashed 0–6 by John Higgins. In the Malta Cup, he lost 2–5 to Matthew Stevens in the first round.
Murphy won two qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the 2005 World Championship and then defeated former world champions Higgins 13–8, Steve Davis 13–4 and Peter Ebdon 17–12 to reach the final where he faced Stevens, the world number six. After trailing 6–10 at the end of the first day (the World Championship final is played over two days), he made a comeback to level the score at 16–16. He then made two frame-winning breaks to lift the title. His 11 century breaks were the most in that year's tournament.
Murphy's victory was considered a major surprise. His pre-tournament odds were 150–1 and before his win he was considered an underachiever. He became only the third qualifier to win the World Championship (or to reach the final) after Alex Higgins in 1972 and Terry Griffiths in 1979. Aged 22, Murphy was the second-youngest player to win the World Championship, following Stephen Hendry who first lifted the title when he was 21. No previous world champion had played as many matches (seven) to lift the title, and he was the lowest-ranked player, at number 48, to win the tournament. No player had won the World Championship as his first ranking event win since Joe Johnson in 1986. Murphy's run in the tournament earned him the nickname "The Magician" and the tournament doubled his previous career prize money, with which he purchased a house and a Mercedes-Benz. After his win, in July 2005, he married his fiancée Clare.
2005–06 season For the new season, Murphy improved his ranking to number 21, which would not usually guarantee qualification for ranking events. However, as world champion he qualified automatically for every tournament in the season as the number two seed (and number one seed for the 2006 World Championship). He was invited to play in the Premier League Snooker, a non-ranking tournament with a 25 second shot clock, but he went out in the round-robin stage.
He reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural, non-ranking Northern Ireland Trophy before being defeated 4–5 by Neil Robertson. In the first three ranking events of the season—the Grand Prix, the UK Championship and the Malta Cup—Murphy reached the last 16, losing final-frame matches to Stuart Bingham, Robertson, and Graeme Dott, respectively. After his loss to Bingham, he complained about having to play his match on an outside table, given his world champion status. In the revival of Pot Black, a single-frame knockout tournament not staged since 1991, he was defeated in the final by Matthew Stevens. Murphy was awarded Sportsman of the Year at the BBC East Midlands Sports Awards in December 2005.
At the Masters, Murphy lost 4–6 to John Higgins in the quarter-finals, but reached his second ranking final in the Welsh Open, losing 4–9 to Stephen Lee. In the World Championship, he reached the quarter-finals, but fell victim to the so-called "Crucible curse", where no first-time champion has successfully defended the title at the Crucible Theatre, when he was defeated 7–13 by Peter Ebdon.
2006–07 season For the next season, Murphy moved to number five in the world rankings, entering the elite top 16 for the first time and thereby automatically qualifying for the final stages of ranking tournaments and receiving an automatic invitation to the Masters.
In the Northern Ireland Trophy (a ranking event in this season), he lost 4–5 to Stephen Lee in the quarter-finals, and in the UK Championship, he lost 3–9 to Alan McManus in the second round. A 3–6 defeat by Stephen Hendry in the quarter-finals of the Masters was followed by his second ranking title, when he defeated Ryan Day 9–4 in the final of the Malta Cup. After the victory, he said it was a relief to get rid of the one-hit wonder label. In his next match, a victory over Jamie Cope in the Welsh Open, he scored centuries in four consecutive frames, becoming only the second player to do so (after John Higgins in the 2005 Grand Prix final) and the only person to achieve this in a best-of-nine-frames match. He went on to lose 3–5 to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. In the World Championship, Murphy defeated Matthew Stevens 13–12 in the quarter-finals—recovering from 5–11 down and knocking Stevens out of the top 16—before losing 16–17 against Mark Selby in the semi-finals.
2007–08 season For the 2007–08 season, Murphy was ranked number three, his highest-ever ranking, and reached at least the semi-finals of five ranking events but without winning any.
In the inaugural Shanghai Masters, he was defeated 2–5 by Ian McCulloch in the first round. He reached the final of the 2007 Pot Black tournament, where he was defeated by Ken Doherty. In the Grand Prix, he reached the semi-finals, where he lost 5–6 against Ronnie O'Sullivan, despite an earlier 5–2 lead. Further semi-finals followed at the Northern Ireland Trophy and the UK Championship, where he was defeated on both occasions by Stephen Maguire, 5–6 and 5–9, respectively, making it three consecutive semi-final losses. Before the UK Championship, Murphy was provisionally ranked world number one. He successfully defended his Malta Cup title (that year the tournament was not a ranking event) with a 9–3 victory over Doherty in the final. In the China Open, he defeated Mark Selby 6–3 in the semi-finals—his sixth semi-final appearance in the past seven ranking events—but lost 9–10 to Maguire in the final.
Before the World Championship, Murphy was again provisional world number one. As one of the favourites for the championship, he reached the second round where he lost 4–13 to Ali Carter. After his loss, Murphy criticised the state of the tables.
2008–09 season: UK Champion
Murphy maintained his number three ranking for the 2008–09 season. He won the non-ranking Paul Hunter Classic, defeating Mark Selby 4–0 in the final, but lost in the first round of the first four ranking tournaments, including a 4–5 defeat by world number 47 Mike Dunn in the Bahrain Championship. Murphy and his wife separated in October, after three years of marriage.
Despite the four consecutive first-round losses—which had been attributed to the split from his wife—he claimed his third ranking title at the UK Championship, defeating Marco Fu 10–9 in a low-quality final, in which he fluked a pink in the deciding frame that was effectively match ball. The victory meant that Murphy joined Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths, John Parrott, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Peter Ebdon as one of only ten players to have won both the World title and the UK title.