- Karen Corr
Infobox Snooker player
Name = Karen Corr
Caption =
Born = Birth date and age|1969|11|10|df=y
Birthplace =Ballymoney
Nationality = Northern Irish (British)
Nickname = The Irish Invader
Professional = 1990–
World champ = 1990–1991, 1995–1996Karen Corr (born
10 November 1969 , inBallymoney ,Northern Ireland ) is a professional pool (and former prosnooker ) player. Nicknamed "the Irish Invader", Karen is currentlyClarifyme|date=March 2008 ranked the number 2 woman pool player in the world by theWomen's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA).She began her career in snooker at the age of 14 and won her first Ladies Snooker Championship in
England , when she was 15 years old. She moved to US in 1998, winning her firstWPBA Classic Tour title in 2000. By the end of 2001, she was ranked as the number 1 player.Early life
Born in Ballymoney, Karen was raised near
Maghera ,County Londonderry . At the age of 8, her parents moved toEngland where she eventually joined a snooker club and began her career in the sport at the age of 14.Karen was 15 when she entered her first women's amateur event in
Leicester, England . On the day after her 21st birthday, in 1990, she won her firstWomen's World Snooker Championship . Karen continued on to win additional World titles in '91, '95, and '97.Professional career
The ladies' snooker prize funds were never large enough for Karen to support herself financially. She was forced to work various jobs, including bartending, to enable herself to continue to play professionally. In 1997, she was invited to play in an exhibition tour throughout Australia and New Zealand with her friend, and fellow pro,
Julie Kelly . While on that tour, Julie told her about the tour in the US, and that she was going to play. Karen then decided to go also, but only during the snooker off-season.In June 1998, Karen moved to the United States and began playing pool. She was curious to see how she would do at pool. After winning 10 qualifying events in a row, she was able to enter WPBA pro events.
While in America, Corr and Kelly lived with Kelly's sisters in New Jersey, and then in Boston for a time, before finally settling in northeast
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .Karen won her first
WPBA Classic Tour title at the 2000 Cuetec Cues Players Championship, inValley Forge, Pennsylvania . She completed that year with two more Classic Tour titles. She also won the All Japan Open Championship held inOsaka, Japan . She placed second in theWPA Women's World Championship and in the UCC World Ladies Championship held inTokyo, Japan .By the end of 1998, Karen was ranked #24. At the end of 1999, she soared through the rankings, all the way to #4. By the end of 2000, she was ranked 2nd in the world. But, 2002 proved to be her most successful year to date.
Karen became the first person to win all six Classic Tour events in one year. She won the Silver Medal at the
World Games and placed 2nd at the World Championships.Nonspecific|date=July 2007 Before 2001 ended, Karen found herself at the top, the #1 ranked female player in the world, and remained there for 2 years.
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