Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player.
Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 snooker seasons. He reached his first ranking event semi-final at the 2017 Welsh Open. His first professional tournament win came at the non-ranking 2019–20 Championship League.
Career Debut season Donaldson did not participate in the 2012 Wuxi Classic or the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open which both were held before the EBSA European Snooker Championships. His first match as a professional was a 4–2 win over Liam Highfield in the minor-ranking PTC Event 1. The tournament formed part of the Players Tour Championship events, of which Donaldson played all ten tournaments. His best result came in European Tour Event 1, where he beat Ricky Norris and Chris Norbury, before losing 3–4 to Michael Wild in the last 32. He was placed 70th on the Order of Merit.
His best run of results in a ranking event came at the Shanghai Masters Qualifying where he defeated Chen Zhe and Yu Delu, but then lost 1–5 to Nigel Bond. Donaldson's season ended when he was beaten 6–10 by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the first round of World Championship Qualifying. He finished his first year on tour ranked world number 89.
2013/2014 season In his opening match, Donaldson defeated Tom Ford 5–1 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China. In his first appearance in the first round of a ranking event he defeated Gareth Green 5–3 and then beat Jimmy Robertson 5–4, before losing 5–1 to Robert Milkins in the last 16. He was knocked out by Barry Hawkins in the quarter-finals of the minor-ranking Bulgarian Open and in the semi-finals of the Asian Tour event, the Yixing Open. He did not have to qualify for the UK Championship or the Welsh Open as all players on the tour began the events at the venue stage this season and Donaldson took advantage. In the UK he saw off Matthew Selt 6–4 and then secured what he called the best victory of his career to date by taking the last two frames against world number 13 Mark Davis in a 6–5 win. He lost a high quality encounter 6–3 to Joe Perry in the last 32. At the Welsh Donaldson saw off a trio of established players in Robert Milkins, David Gilbert and Andrew Higginson to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time this season, where he was whitewashed 4–0 by Ding Junhui.
Donaldson's play in Asian Tour events this year helped him to finish eighth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals for the first time. He met reigning world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and was comfortably defeated 4–0. Donaldson's campaign ended with him at 65th in the world rankings, agonosingly short of reaching the top 64 who stay on tour. However, his standing of 38th on the European Order of Merit earned him the third of eight spots on offer to non-qualified players to earn a two-year main tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.
2014/2015 season Donaldson began the season by qualifying for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, where he was beaten 5–3 by Chen Zifan in the wildcard round. He won four matches to qualify for the Australian Goldfields Open, which concluded with a 5–2 success over Kurt Maflin, before being whitewashed 5–0 by Stuart Bingham in the first round. At the minor-ranking Yixing Open, Donaldson won four matches to reach the quarter-finals, but lost 4–1 against Robert Milkins. However, after a 6–4 loss to Marcus Campbell in the first round of the UK Championship, Donaldson lost a further eight matches in a row to end the season.
2015/2016 season At the Paul Hunter Classic, Donaldson beat Ashley Hugill 4–1, 2014 world champion Mark Selby 4–2 and Martin Gould 4–2 to reach the last 16 where he lost 4–1 to Mark Williams. He came close to qualifying for the International Championship by winning two successive frames to force a decider against Mark Allen, but lost it. Donaldson finished 59th on the European Order of Merit which was high enough to earn him a new two-year card for the snooker tour.
2016/2017 season Donaldson won four matches to meet Ding Junhui in the opening round of the Shanghai Masters and had leads of 3–1 and 4–3, before Ding forced a deciding frame. Donaldson had a chance to pull off the shock, but missed a simple black and Ding won through. Donaldson reached the last 16 of both the European Masters and Northern Ireland Open, losing 4–3 to Anthony McGill and 4–2 to Hossein Vafaei respectively. At the Welsh Open he beat Jack Lisowski 4–1, Mark King 4–2, Jimmy Robertson 4–0 and Mark Davis 4–3 to reach the quarter-finals. He faced Zhou Yuelong, who was also appearing at this stage of a ranking event for the first time and Donaldson thrashed him 5–0. Donaldson pulled back from 4–1 down against Judd Trump in the semi-finals to 4–3, but lost 6–3. He won £20,000 for reaching the final four and was placed 65th in the world at the end of the season, the third highest of all the players who began the year on zero ranking points.
2017/2018 season Donaldson defeated the defending UK champion Mark Selby, 6–3, in the last 64 at the 2017 UK Championship, but was knocked out in the next round by Li Hang. Three months later, he reached the semi-final stage of a ranking event for only the second time in his career, at the 2018 Gibraltar Open; he won five matches before a 3–4 semi-final defeat against eventual champion Ryan Day.
Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27RankingIt shows the ranking at the beginning of the season He was an amateurNew players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking89Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points9365583523344652515555Ranking tournamentsChampionship LeagueNon-Ranking Event2RRRRRRR3RRR2RChina OpenALQLQLQLQ1R1RSFTournament Not HeldLQWuhan OpenTournament Not Held1RLQ2RLQBritish OpenTournament Not Held2RLQ3RLQ1RLQEnglish OpenTournament Not Held2R1R1R1R1R1R2R1RLQ1RLQShenzhen OpenThe event was called the Xi'an Grand Prix (2024/2025–2025/2026)Tournament Not HeldWDWD2RNorthern Ireland OpenTournament Not Held4R1R3R3RQFLQ1RLQ1R1RInternational ChampionshipNHLQLQLQLQLQLQLQ2RNot Held1RLQ3RLQUK ChampionshipALQ3R1R1R2R3R2R2R1R1RLQLQLQ2RShoot OutNon-Ranking Event2R2R1R1R1R1RAAAAScottish OpenNHMRNot Held2R2R2RQF1R3R2R1R1RLQGerman MastersALQLQLQLQLQLQLQ2RLQLQLQ1RLQ1RWelsh OpenALQ4R1R1RSF2RQF2R3R3RLQLQ1RLQWorld Grand PrixNot HeldNRDNQDNQDNQDNQ2RDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQPlayers ChampionshipThe event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2011/2012–2015/2016)DNQDNQ1RDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQWorld OpenALQ1RNot HeldLQLQ1RLQNot HeldLQ1RLQTour ChampionshipTournament Not HeldDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQWorld ChampionshipALQLQLQLQLQLQ1RLQLQ1RLQLQLQLQNon-ranking tournamentsChampion of ChampionsNot HeldAAAAAAA1RAAAAAChampionship LeagueAAAAAAAAWRR2RAAAAFormer ranking tournamentsWuxi ClassicNRA3RWRTournament Not HeldAustralian Goldfields OpenAALQ1RLQTournament Not HeldShanghai MastersALQLQLQLQ1RLQNon-RankingNot HeldNon-Ranking EventPaul Hunter ClassicMinor-Ranking Event2R1RSFNRTournament Not HeldIndian OpenNot HeldLQLQNHLQLQQFTournament Not HeldRiga MastersThe event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)Not HeldMinor-RankingLQLQ2R1RTournament Not HeldChina ChampionshipTournament Not HeldNRLQ3R1RTournament Not HeldWST Pro SeriesTournament Not HeldRRTournament Not HeldTurkish MastersTournament Not Held1RTournament Not HeldGibraltar OpenTournament Not HeldMR1RSF3R3R2R1RTournament Not HeldEuropean MastersTournament Not Held2RLQ1RQF2RLQ2R1RNot HeldSaudi Arabia MastersTournament Not Held6R2RNHFormer non-ranking tournamentsSix-red World ChampionshipNHAAAAAAAANot HeldLQTournament Not Held
Performance Table LegendLQ 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-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD 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 Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. Championship League (March) Graeme Dott 3–0
Amateur finals: 1 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship Brendan O'Donoghue 7–3
References
External links