Drew Henry is a Scottish former professional snooker player, who spent five seasons of his career in the top 32 of the rankings, peaking at No. 18.
Early career
Henry was one a number of talented Scottish players to emerge from the 1980s. Henry was a strong amateur and was Scottish Amateur Champion in 1988. Despite this, he did not turn professional until 1991 when the game was opened to nearly 500 players. Henry rose up through hundreds of players, winning 46 of his first 57 career matches to end his first season ranked 87 in the world. The following season Henry secured his place in the world's top 64 players and enjoyed victories over Gary Wilkinson and Ronnie O'Sullivan in a run to the last 16 of the 1993 International Open Series. The following season Henry reached the last 16 of the UK Championship and made his debut at the Crucible Theatre where he performed very well, also hitting two century breaks but narrowly lost 9–10 to John Parrott. Henry had a solid 94–95 season and closed in on place in the world's top 32, ending the season ranked 35. In 1995/96 Henry reached the quarter-final of the Welsh Open but lost to Paul Hunter and qualified for the World Snooker Championship for the second time, again suffering a narrow defeat, this time Darren Morgan. Henry reached the final of the 1996 Benson & Hedges Championship losing 8–9 to Brian Morgan as result narrowly out on a place in the prestigious Masters. In the following few seasons, Henry's progress stalled and he hovered around the 40 mark in the World Ranking's.
Top 32
Henry hit some excellent form around 1999/2000 and climbed from 45 to 29 in the rankings. The following season was to be even better for Henry, enjoying his most consistent ever season Henry reached the quarter-final of the UK Championship where he lost 6–9 to John Higgins. He then had a run to the semi-finals of the (China Open where he whitewashed Matthew Stevens in the quarter-finals, but suffered an agonising deciding frame defeat to Mark Williams in the last four. Henry then reached the semi-finals of the 2001 Scottish Open defeating players such as John Higgins, Fergal O'Brien and Matthew Stevens but again narrowly missed out on his first ranking final losing a close match to Peter Ebdon. Henry's excellent season left him in line for his first-ever season in the prestigious world's top 16, but again came so close to the big-time only to just miss out after losing in the final qualifying round of the World Championships to Marcus Campbell. He finished the season ranked 18. Henry remained in the world's top 32 for a further 4 seasons and enjoyed his most prestigious ranking event run at the UK Championship where he defeated reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–6 in the quarter-final before losing out 5–9 to Ken Doherty.
Later career
Henry dropped out of the world's top 32 at the end of the 04/05 season after a deciding frame Crucible defeat to old sparring partner Alan McManus in the first round of the World Snooker Championship. The following season was to solid but unspectacular from Henry and in it he made his last ever appearance on TV at the 2006 China Open where lost 2–5 to Mark Williams, hitting a top break of 115. Henry suffered a very disappointing 06/07 season which left him with a lot of work to do to retain his place in the games top 64 players the following season. Henry could not remain within the 64 players dropping out after a defeat to Ian McCulloch in the 2008 Welsh Open.
Other achievements
Henry was one of Scotland's top players from turning pro in 1991 until his retirement in 2008, spending 5 seasons in the World's top 32 ranked players, including 1 in the top 20 and a further 13 consecutive seasons in the games top 48. Henry reached the top 64 after just two seasons in 1993 and remained there every year until the end of his career in 2008. He enjoyed particular success in the UK Championship reaching the semi-finals in 2002, quarter-final in 2000, last 16 in 1993 and 1999 and the last 32 on 4 further occasions. Henry performed well in all of his Crucible appearances and lost a number of close matches to top players such as John Parrott, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams. He reached the last 16 at the Crucible in 2000 and 2003 both times beating Mark King, who stated his retirement after a 10–5 loss to Henry at the 2003 World Championships, the first match to be refereed by a womanMichaela Tabb.
