Early Career
He turned professional in 1990. His first season proved to be quite successful as he reached the Last 32 in the Dubai Classic, losing out 2-5 to former World Billiards Champion Rex Williams. He the followed this up with a run to the Quarter Finals of the Classic, losing 2-5 to Mike Hallett His best run in a ranking tournament was in 1996, when he reached the final of the International Open, beating World Champion Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the second round, but his run ended in the final where he lost 9–3 to John Higgins.
He also reached the final of the 1994 Benson and Hedges Championship, losing 5-9 to Mark Williams in the Final.
In 1995, Lawler reached the Semi-final of the Malta Masters, beating future UK Champion Matthew Stevens in the Quarter Final, however he lost in the Semi-final to the home favorite Tony Drago. He followed up this result by reaching the Last 16 of the Grand Prix, beating the aforementioned Tony Drago in the Last 32, before being whitewashed 5-0 by Stephen Hendry.
Lawler has qualified for the final stages of the World Championship on two occasions, the first being in 1995, where he beat a young Marcus Campbell in qualifying, before losing to Peter Ebdon in the Last 32 at the Crucible. He qualified again in 1996, beating former World Champion Dennis Taylor in the final qualifying round. At the Crucible he then beat 1991 World Champion John Parrott 10-6, before losing in the Last 16 to Dave Harold by 13 frames to 6, this was, to date, his best World Championship performance.
In 1997, Lawler reached the Semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Championship, losing a final frame decider against Andy Hicks.
His best result in the UK Championship came in 1998, where he beat Jamie Burnett and John Read, before losing to Matthew Stevens in the Last 16.
Lawler also reached the Quarter Finals of the 2003 Welsh Open, beating players such as Stephen Maguire, Jimmy White and Michael Holt before losing 2-5 to seven time World Champion Stephen Hendry
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