Wykes turned professional in 1991 and achieved a career highest ranking of 56 in 1999, twice reaching the final qualifying round of the
World Championship. He enjoyed victories over top players such as
Paul Hunter,
Joe Johnson,
Neal Foulds and
Willie Thorne, and in 1999 reached the last 16 of the
UK Championship in his home town, Bournemouth, where
Stephen Hendry made a
147 on the way to beating him 9–3. In the 2000s, snooker took second place to his business interests and family, mostly due to the various financial cutbacks afflicting the game at the time. After winning just two matches during the
2006–07 season, Wykes fell to 95th place on the
world rankings and decided to retire from snooker. "I thought I was off the tour last year and decided to carry on this season when I found out I was safe," he said. "Looking back, that was probably the wrong decision because I’ve just been going through the motions really." and was thus eligible to enter the preliminary qualifying for the
World Championship. He returned to action in
2010, defeating
David Taylor and Les Dodd to get through to the first qualifying round, where he lost 6–10 to
James Wattana. Wykes came back in
2013, the last year when non-tour professionals could enter the World Championship, following a victory in the local Dorset Open tournament and a family discussion: "It has always been a dream of mine to play at the
Crucible. I know it is a long shot but I am going to give it my best." ==References==