STUART BINGHAM was born in Basildon Hospital on May 21, 1976. He is the youngest son of Eddie and Maureen and has a brother called Lee.
He started his school days at Swan Mead Junior in Basildon and finished them at Barstable School.
The player nicknamed Ball Run joined the amateur ranks of the snooker world in 1990 and made his mark by winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship in New Zealand in 1996 with an 11-5 win against Stan Gorski in the final.
After breaking into the top 32 in 2006, Stuart continued to progress by entering snooker’s heralded top 16 for the first time in 2011.
That came after he had claimed his first ranking title at the Australian Goldfields Open in 2011 with a 9-8 win over Mark Williams.
That success in Bendigo proved a seminal win and sparked an incredible late flourish in the career of a player often dubbed a ‘Journeyman’ pro.
Stuart soon became one of the most consistent players on Tour and claimed the Shanghai Masters trophy in 2014 by beating Mark Allen 10-3 in the final.
But his crowning glory (to date!) would come a year later when the Essex boy claimed one of sport’s greatest prizes by becoming world champion following a thrilling 18-15 win over Shaun Murphy at the Crucible.
Stuart picked up his fourth full ranking title in February 2017 when he beat Judd Trump 9-8 to win the Welsh Open.
Ball Run has also been runner-up in the 2012 Wuxi Classic, 2013 and 2019 Welsh Open, 2016 World Grand Prix and the 2017 Shanghai Masters.
And he has won the non-ranking 2012 Premier League Snooker as well as the 2015 Championship League.
A maximum in a Gibraltar Open encounter with Gerard Greene in March 2022 took him onto nine career 147s and left Stuart clear in fourth place on the all-time list of maximum makers, behind Ronnie O’Sullivan (15), Stephen Hendry (11) and John Higgins (12) [Statistics correct as at 28.03.22].
When he claimed the English Open title with a 9-7 win over Mark Davis in October 2018, Stuart became only one of 18 players to have won five or more ranking events.
Ball Run’s sixth ranking event win came after a 4-1 victory over defending champion Ryan Day at the 2019 Gibraltar Open.
His latest magical night on the baize came in January 2020 when, at the age of 43, Bingham became the oldest Masters champion by defeating fellow Essex pro Ali Carter 10-8 in a thrilling and fluctuating final at Alexandra Palace. That left him with two out of the three Triple Crown events to his name.
Stuart is coached by Gary Filtness and has worked closely with Essex-based businessman and friend Gary Purkiss throughout his career.
Away from the table, Ball Run is a handy golfer and a supporter of charities including the Motor Neurone Disease Association, which gave great support to his late father-in-law Terry Shabi.
Stuart married Michelle in the summer of 2013. They have three children, Tegan, Shae and Marnie, and are proud to be part of the Basildon community.