Snooker's Surprise Champions: When Dominic Dale showed his colours to land shock Grand Prix win

Winner of the Welsh Amateur Snooker Championship in 1991, Dale turned professional the following year at the same time as the fabled ‘Class of 92’ triumvirate consisting of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, and Mark Williams.

With the professional ranks having been thrown open to allcomers, Dale began at the bottom of the ladder alongside hundreds and hundreds of fellow cueists. While many of those hopefuls had little chance of making an impact in the sport, Dale showed potential during his rookie season, wading through the various qualification gauntlets to reach the last 64 of two ranking events - one being the 1993 World Championship where he was only stopped by O’Sullivan.

During his second term, the Welshman broke new personal ground in making the last 32 of the 1994 British Open. Later in the same year, he went a step further to feature in the last 16 of the Dubai Classic.

A couple of seasons on, Dale won five matches to qualify for the main draw of the 1997 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible where he ousted Tony Drago 10-9 in the opening round on debut. His run ended at the hands of John Higgins, 13-5, in the last 16.

Just a few months’ later at the next BBC-televised event, though, and Dale would be celebrating his first professional title.

Despite his promising finish to the previous season, Dale - ranked 54th in the world at the time - began the new campaign with back-to-back qualifying defeats in the German Open and Thailand Masters.

At a time where there were only eight ranking tournaments throughout the season - and already out of two of them - Dale would have been very eager to register some positive results at the 1997 Grand Prix, for which he was a 100/1 title long shot with bookmakers before a ball was struck at the Bournemouth International Centre.

‘The Spaceman’, as he is affectionally known, scored his first wins of the new campaign by defeating Karl Burrows (5-1) and Andy Hicks (5-3) in rounds one and two respectively.

The 25-year-old then claimed the biggest scalp of his career at the time when eliminating six-time world champion and then-reigning Masters champion Steve Davis, 5-2, in the last 32.

Into the last 16 of a ranking event for the fourth time, it looked like Dale’s party was over when he trailed Dave Harold 4-3 and needed two snookers with just brown to black remaining.

However, a clumsy in-off from Harold was followed by a successfully laid snooker from Dale which his opponent failed to escape from. Dale went on to pinch the frame and force a decider which he ousted to make it into the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time.

Scotland’s Chris Small was dispatched 5-2 in the last eight to set up a meeting with a rejuvenated Jimmy White in the semis.

Usually the plucky underdog would be cheered on by the snooker public, but that wasn’t the case for Dale against one of the sport’s biggest sweethearts who was aiming to win his first ranking crown in nearly five years. But Dale silenced the crowd early on by taking a 4-0 mid-session interval lead before converting for a 6-2 win.

Dale’s opponent in the final was the same one that stopped him in Sheffield earlier that year - Higgins. Starting the showpiece as a heavy underdog against the world number two, Dale once again got off to a dream start, taking all four frames in the opening mini-session for a 4-0 advantage.

On resumption, Higgins opened his account and began to claw back, ending the afternoon session only two behind at 5-3 before starting the evening with a break of 104 to put the pressure on and go just one behind.

But Dale kept his cool and his lead, taking two of the next three frames to go into the final break 7-5 up. Higgins narrowed the gap once again, but Dale finished with a flourish, compiling a run of 120 to reach the hill, before a crucial effort of 71 in frame 15 essentially secured him a 9-6 victory to become one of professional snooker’s unlikeliest ranking event champions.

Higgins saluted his opponent’s win, reportedly saying ‘you were Superman in the last two frames’ to Dale when they shook hands.

Collecting £60,000 - nearly quadruple his previous highest payday when making the last 16 at the Crucible - at the time Dale was the lowest ranked winner of a ranking title since O’Sullivan’s second season successes at the 1993 UK Championship and 1994 British Open when rated 57th in the global standings.

Remember, Dale - who wore different coloured shirts in front of the television cameras throughout his memorable run - had never been past the last 16 of a ranking competition before his trip to Bournemouth.

Dale would enjoy a long and fruitful career on snooker’s top flight, one that the vast majority of professionals would be very envious of.

He won his second ranking crown at the inaugural edition of the Shanghai Masters in 2007, and also claimed a minor-ranked PTC event in 2010. In 2014, he emerged from a chaotic few days of baize festivities to win the invitational Snooker Shoot Out. Dale was also part of the triumphant Welsh team at the 1999 Nations Cup, lifting the silverware alongside compatriots Darren Morgan, Mark Williams, and Matthew Stevens.

One of snooker’s most effervescent characters, Dale retired on his own terms in 2025 after an unbroken 33-year stint on the top-flight, although he continues to play on the seniors circuit and has carved out an esteemed media/commentary career.