Marcus Willoughby Owen (4 April 1935 – December 1987) was a Welsh professional snooker player.
Career Before turning professional, Owen won the English Under-16 Championship in 1949, and reached the final in 1950. Owen also won the English Amateur Championship on four occasions, in 1958, 1959, 1967 and 1973.
His elder brother Gary was a professional snooker player, and Marcus followed him into the professional game in 1973, entering the 1974 World Championship. There, he beat Dennis Taylor (8-1) and Maurice Parkin (8-5) to set up a last-16 meeting with Gary. Gary held Marcus to 5–5 at one point, but could not prevent him from pulling away to reach the quarter-final with a 15–8 victory. Facing defending champion Ray Reardon, Marcus recovered from 3–9 to 7–9 but was eventually defeated 11–15.
Owen next played a quarter-final at the 1982 Welsh Professional Championship, which was itself an eight-man event. He lost his first match 0–6 to Cliff Wilson.
Owen had no further success in professional snooker, his last match being a 0–6 loss to Tony Chappel in the first round of the 1985 edition of the Welsh Professional Championship; having held 17th place in the inaugural world rankings in 1976, he had not occupied a position on the list since 1980.
He resigned as a professional player in 1987.
Personal life Owen died in hospital in December 1987, under 'tragic circumstances'.
Performance and rankings timeline Tournament 1973/74 1974/75 1975/76 1976/77 1977/78 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 1984/85 RankingNo ranking system1723URURURUR Ranking tournaments Professional Players TournamentTournament Not HeldLQAA International OpenTournament Not HeldNRLQAA World ChampionshipQFALQAAALQAA Non-ranking tournaments Not HeldANHQFQFQF1R Former non-ranking tournaments Norwich Union Open1R1RNot Held Watney OpenNHWDNot Held International OpenTournament Not HeldLQRanking UK ChampionshipTournament Not HeldAALQAR
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.
Career finals Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1. 1958 English Amateur Championship Jack Fitzmaurice 11–8Winner 2. 1959 English Amateur Championship (2) Allan Barnett 11–5Runner-up 1. 1966 English Amateur Championship John Spencer 5–11Winner 3. 1967 English Amateur Championship (3) Sid Hood 11–4Winner 4. 1973 English Amateur Championship (4) Ray Edmonds 11–6
References