Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown.

[3] He made his first century break at the age of 10[4] and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where players such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and Ken Doherty have also played.

[6] Murphy won his first professional tournament at the 2000 Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Mark Davis 6–1 in the semi-final,[15] and Stuart Bingham 9–7 in the final, recovering from 2–5 down.

[18] Murphy first reached the final stages of a ranking event at the 2002 World Championship, hosted at the Crucible Theatre, where he lost 4–10 to Stephen Hendry in the first round.

[45] In the first three ranking events of the season—the Grand Prix, the UK Championship and the Malta Cup—Murphy reached the last 16, losing final-frame matches to Stuart Bingham,[46] Robertson,[47] and Graeme Dott,[48] respectively.

[51] At the Masters, Murphy lost 4–6 to John Higgins in the quarter-finals,[52] but reached his second ranking final in the Welsh Open, losing 4–9 to Stephen Lee.

[84] Despite the four consecutive first-round losses—which had been attributed to the split from his wife[85]—he claimed his third ranking title at the UK Championship, defeating Marco Fu 10–9 in a low-quality final, in which he fluked a pink in the deciding frame that was effectively match ball.

In the World Championship, there were concerns that Murphy's estranged wife would serve him divorce papers during play of his first-round match against Andrew Higginson.

[105] He progressed to the semi-finals of the Paul Hunter Classic, the first European event of the season's Players Tour Championship minor-ranking series, but lost 2–4 to eventual winner Judd Trump.

[108] Murphy finished first on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit,[109] but could not defend his Premier League Snooker title, as he lost 1–7 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final.

[126] He also participated at the Players Tour Championship, where his best results came at the Warsaw Classic and the Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy, where he reached the quarter-finals, but lost 3–4 against Neil Robertson and 2–4 against Matthew Stevens respectively.

[132] Murphy then reached the semi-finals of the next two ranking tournaments, but lost 0–6 against Stephen Maguire at the German Masters,[133] 2–6 against Ding Junhui at the Welsh Open.

[140] There he defeated James Wattana, Barry Hawkins, Dominic Dale and Judd Trump to reach the final, but lost 4–8 against Mark Davis.

[143] Murphy went one better in the next two ranking tournaments, as he reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters and the International Championship, but lost 3–6 against John Higgins and 5–9 against Neil Robertson respectively.

[163] In February 2014, while playing Jamie Jones in the last 16 of the minor-ranking Gdynia Open, Murphy made his second 147 break of the season and the third of his professional career.

[167] At the World Championship, Murphy defeated Jamie Cope 10–9 and Marco Fu 13–8 to reach the quarter-finals,[168] where he faced defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

[176] At the UK Championship, Murphy defeated Ashley Hugill, Zhou Yuelong and Ben Woollaston to reach the last 16, but then lost 4–6 to Marco Fu.

After defeating Kyren Wilson, Anthony McGill and Mark Williams, he met Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final for the third time this season; trailing 3–6 at the end of the afternoon session, he eventually lost the match 4–10.

[192][193] At the end of the season, Murphy suffered another shocking first-round exit at the World Snooker Championship, losing 9–10 to Jamie Jones.

[198] At the World Snooker Championship, Murphy whitewashed debutant Luo Honghao in the first round, winning 10–0, the joint biggest defeat in Crucible history.

[201] In August 2019, Murphy won against the likes of Yuan Sijun, Yan Bingtao, Neil Robertson, Graeme Dott and Mark Allen to face Judd Trump in the final of the International Championship.

[203] He defeated Williams in the final of the China Championship later that month and captured his first ranking title since winning the Gibraltar Open in March 2017.

[206] In January 2020, Murphy progressed to the semi-finals of the Masters for the first time since winning the title in 2015 after defeating Trump and Joe Perry,[207][208] but he eventually lost 3–6 to Ali Carter.

[212] Murphy reached the semi-finals of the European Masters in September, knocking out the defending champion Neil Robertson at the quarter-final stage, but was then himself defeated 3–6 by Mark Selby.

[214] Defending his title at the Welsh Open in February, Murphy was defeated in the quarter-finals by Stephen Maguire in a ninth-frame decider after taking an earlier 4–3 lead.

[215] Murphy met Mark Selby in the final of the World Championship in a repeat of the European Masters semi-final seven months earlier; he lost 18–15.

[221] Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Murphy revealed he had undergone gastric sleeve surgery after years of weight fluctuation and associated injuries, fat shaming on social media and a resurgence in over-eating after separating from his wife Elaine (although they later reconciled).

After they had shaken hands at the outset of the first frame, Maguire asked referee Johan Oomen for permission to leave the arena and retrieve his chalk, which he had forgotten.

[98][244] Murphy has also made collective criticisms of his fellow professionals for not attending events, and has branded other players' concerns over prize money as "a joke".

[41] Murphy's wife filed for divorce in 2009 on the grounds of infidelity after The People newspaper published an exposé revealing he had spent the night with an escort he had met at a religious youth group.