Fraser Patrick heads to Q School next week hoping to regain his tour card but is doing so after months of an injury nightmare that saw him questioning whether he could continue to play snooker at all.
The 37-year-old has withdrawn from a string of events since January when he first started struggling with a debilitating neck problem.
The Scot says it came out of nowhere but was immediately devastating to his snooker as he couldn’t get down on shots and it has been anywhere from a struggle to impossible ever since.
Speaking to Patrick this week he had just been to a hospital appointment, one of many ways he has tried to solve the neck injury and save his snooker career.
Explaining how it came about, Patrick told Metro.co.uk: ‘I played in the 6 Reds qualifiers, lost in the last 16, went home, woke up on the Monday, turned to speak to my wife and felt something go in my neck.
‘I was sore for the rest of the week, I never tried to play because it was sore, but I played on the Friday and spent 25 minutes trying to break-off. I couldn’t get any force through the cue.
‘When I was standing up straight I could bend down and touch my toes, but as soon as my arms tried to go in the snooker position something stopped them and I couldn’t move. I left it till the next week and went to the club, again 15-20 minutes I couldn’t get down on the shot.’
Suddenly not being able to do what you do for a living is seriously scary stuff and Patrick has obviously sought help, which has made things a bit better but far from perfect.
‘I went to a chiropractor and did maybe 20 sessions from mid-January to start of April and I still couldn’t get down on the shot,’ he said. ‘I missed four events in that time.
‘I got all different diagnoses. The chiropractor told me I had over-curvature of the spine, through snooker, through driving, I was curving the wrong way. She was cracking my neck in two places, the top of my shoulders and all down my back. I was going to her Monday, Weds, Friday for 7-8 weeks getting cracked in these places.
‘It was sore. I went one time and I was in agony, I was getting headaches from the tension in my neck. That day she couldn’t get it to crack anything. She was trying to crack my head but couldn’t and that made it worse, it was like a whiplash effect, it was brutal.
‘I stopped going to the chiropractor. I started seeing a physio and he was telling me not to try and play. I was getting shooting pains through my neck. But I needed to try and play because that’s what I do, but that made it worse, so I was scared to go and try.’
Through treatment and just getting used to the situation, Patrick has managed to compete a bit, losing 10-6 to Barry Pinches in World Championship qualifying, which he didn’t think he’d be able to play in at one stage.
‘I can actually play now,’ he said. ‘At one point I thought I’d have to turn up at the Worlds, break-off and concede, just to get paid.
‘On the Wednesday before the Worlds I thought I’d got to try to play. I managed about 40 minutes. I tried to build it up from there but at least I could get down and play, anything from there was a bonus.
‘I went to play [Stephen] Maguire that weekend, a few days before the Worlds. The third frame I was bridging over the pack and my neck went again and that was it. He noticed it, he said, “have you hurt yourself?” and I had, my neck had gone. Then that was me, I couldn’t hit a ball again until the Wednesday and I was playing on the Thursday.
‘Considering that, I didn’t play too bad. Some stuff was terrible, my safety, but I was scoring alright when I got in. It may be daft but I still half expected to win, but realistically you’re playing another guy in the top 80-odd in the world and you’ve barely played for four or five months.
‘It went again during that match. At that point I thought I’d have to chuck it. I sat with a massage gun on my neck for about 90 minutes between sessions, but that’s not great because I have to sit with my eyes shut because it vibrates so much it makes me feel sick, it’s horrible.’
Concerningly the current report from the doctors is that the problem is simply down to wear and tear, which might be possible to manage, but very difficult to fix.
‘I had X-rays three or four weeks ago and there’s damage to vertebrae, I think it’s C3,4,5,6,7, there was damage on all of them,’ Patrick explained. ‘They wanted to get more imaging done, and blood tests as well. That’s where I am now with it, waiting for results on that.
‘I think it’s the worst kind of result I could have given me, the wear and tear, because I don’t think they’ll want to do anything with that. If they’d have said it was a fractured bone or something they could have done something, but I don’t know what the plan is. They’re going to send me to a spinal specialist, see these blood results and second set of X-rays and see what’s next.’
What is, or what isn’t next, is a big worry, with Patrick admitting that he thought his career could be over, which was obvious to others as well.
‘When I wasn’t able to play I went to where John [Higgins] and Maguire play because it’s closer to my house just to see if I can get down on a shot,’ he said. ‘Last time I went in to play Maguire I said I thought I was finished, that I wouldn’t be able to play again. He said that him and John were talking and they thought the same, that it didn’t look good.
‘I was entering events with the intention of playing, hoping something would change but it wasn’t happening, so pulled out. I entered Q School after losing the Worlds and thought maybe having a month off without even trying to play it could correct itself a bit. I’ve started trying to play again and it’s not any better.
‘I feel like I’m on a long shot I can’t see the ball, I can’t get my head up. I can see there’s a red ball there, but I can’t focus on the ball. I played my mate recently and I missed six or seven reds hanging over the bag, I was cracking up because I just couldn’t see them.’
As ever there are things going on away from snooker that make these kind of situations even more difficult, as Patrick explains: ‘In the December I booked Florida for me and my wife for June, then two weeks later this happened. I’d done all my dough and I couldn’t earn!’
After pulling out of the Welsh Open, Shoot Out and WST Classic, Patrick’s defeat at the World Championship saw him drop off tour, but his injury was so bad recently that he even tried to pull out of Q School.
However, having already paid £600 to enter and no refunds available, he is giving it a crack, and even using the fact that he couldn’t be reimbursed as motivation to succeed.
‘I emailed World Snooker to pull out of Q School but they wouldn’t give me the refund, so I said I’m not giving you £600 for nothing, I’ll play,’ he said.
‘Normally I’d be going to Q School thinking I’ll get through because I always do get through it. I’ve qualified three times before.
‘I still half expect I’ll get through. I just think I’m better at that level than the other players, that’s just how I feel, but I can’t expect a whole lot because I’ve not been playing all that much.
‘I’ve only been playing two or three hours and there’s certain shots I can’t actually play. Bridging over the pack, that’s where the problems come. There’s certain things I just cannot do, so I’m not in a great position to get through.
‘I tried to withdraw but when they said I’m not getting a refund it kind of gave me a boost. I’ve been playing every day since then, it’s gave me motivation that I’m going to get through because this has happened. I might not be in a great position but I feel like I’ll get through and that will be a big part of it.
‘It’s in my head that I want to get through so I can do the interview and say I tried to withdraw and you didn’t let me, that’s why I’m here.
‘You need to find motivation from somewhere. I’m good enough to get through, I’ve done it before, I’m good enough to be on the tour, it’s only because of the injury that I’m not on the tour. I’ve found the motivation and I hope I prove it when I get down there, but we’ll see.’
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