After working for ten years he reached the Main Tour professional ranks for the 2001/2002 season. McLeod has reached the last 16 of eight ranking tournaments. The first of these was the 2005
Grand Prix although this victory against a noticeably ill
Paul Hunter was bittersweet. His best results of 2004/2005 were 2 last-48 runs, the
Welsh Open run including a victory over
Shaun Murphy. He narrowly missed out on a place in the last 16 of the 2007
Grand Prix, losing on frame difference in his group to
Barry Hawkins. He qualified for the
2008 UK Championship by beating
Jimmy White and
Dave Harold where he played
Ronnie O'Sullivan. He slipped 6–0 down before launching a comeback by winning five consecutive frames (including three successive centuries), but ultimately lost 9–6. Later in the season he defeated
Ian McCulloch to qualify for the World Championship for the first time in
2009, becoming the first black player to have done so. He faced
Mark King in the first round but despite putting in a resilient performance lost 10–6. However, his performances throughout the season saw him rise to his highest ranking yet of 39. In 2009 he won the
Masters Qualifying Event, beating
Andrew Higginson 6–1 in the final, to earn a place at the final stages of the
2010 Masters where he lost 6–3 to
Mark Williams. He followed this up by qualifying for the
UK Championship, being knocked out in the first round by
Neil Robertson. McLeod qualified for the
World Snooker Championship for the second time in
2011, and was drawn against seeded player
Ricky Walden in the first round. McLeod won the match 10–6 to set up a second-round match with world No. 1
John Higgins. Walden was more responsible for the pace of the match. McLeod was ultimately defeated by the eventual champion
John Higgins 13–7 in the second round.
2011/2012 season McLeod qualified for the
2011 Australian Goldfields Open, and beat
Peter Ebdon in the first round 5 frames to 3, before going out to
Shaun Murphy in the second round. McLeod qualified for the
2011 UK Championship by beating
Barry Hawkins 6–2. He was drawn against three-time
UK winner
John Higgins and led 4–2 before the scoreline became 5–5. In the deciding frame Higgins "" two balls, one when escaping and McLeod would ultimately lose the match 6–5. McLeod also reached the
China Open where he played Higgins in the first round again and lost 1–5. He finished the season ranked world number 38.
2012/2013 season McLeod qualified for the
Australian Goldfields Open and the
China Open during the
2012–13 season. In Australia he lost 4–5 in the first round to
Stephen Lee and in China he had his best run of the season, beating Hu Hao 5–1 in the wildcard round,
Matthew Stevens 5–2 in the first round, before losing 3–5 to
Shaun Murphy in the last 16. McLeod played in all 10 of the minor-ranking
Players Tour Championship events, with his best finish coming at the fifth
European Tour Event, where he lost 0–4 by
John Higgins in the quarter-finals. McLeod ended the season by losing 9–10 to
Sam Baird in the third round of
World Championship Qualifying, to be placed at number 45 in the world rankings.
2013/2014 season McLeod lost 5–3 to
Mark King in the first round of the
2013 Wuxi Classic and 5–2 to
Robert Milkins in the second round of the
Australian Goldfields Open to start the
2013–14 season. He qualified for three other Chinese ranking events during the year, losing in the first round of the
International Championship and
China Open.
2014/2015 season McLeod was beaten 5–4 by
Michael Holt after having been 4–2 ahead in the first round of the
2014 Wuxi Classic. He defeated
Lee Walker,
Andrew Pagett and
Ken Doherty on his way to qualifying for the
Australian Goldfields Open and lost 5–2 to
Judd Trump in the opening round. McLeod failed to qualify for the next two ranking events, before knocking out
Ian Burns 6–2 and
Zhang Anda 6–5 at the
UK Championship. His second last 32 match of the season went into the early hours and it was
Matthew Selt who ended McLeod's tournament with a 6–4 win. McLeod met
Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the
Welsh Open after seeing off
Andrew Pagett 4–2. He led 2–0, before O'Sullivan won four unanswered frames. The final ranking event McLeod could qualify for this year was the
Indian Open where he lost 4–1 to
Ricky Walden in the first round. There was some controversy during the Welsh Open due to his Isis Business Solutions sponsorship badge. The logo worn by McLeod since 2001 consisted of the word `ISIS' in large letters and a small-print URL underneath. Some viewers thought he was sponsored by, or demonstrating support for,
the Islamic State.
2015/2016 season McLeod began
2015–16 by playing in the
Australian Goldfields Open, where he beat
Nigel Bond 5–2 before losing 5–4 to
Jack Lisowski in the last 64. He progressed to the last 16 at the next event, the
Riga Open, overcoming German amateur Roman Dietzel 4–1, Irishman
Fergal O'Brien 4–0 and
Hammad Miah 4–2, but lost at this stage 4–2 to eventual finalist
Tom Ford. He reached the last 48 at the Shanghai Masters, losing to
Alan McManus, and was eliminated in the first round of the International Championship, 6–1 by
Daniel Wells. However, at the
Ruhr Open, McLeod defeated
Craig Steadman,
Jamie Jones,
Mark King,
Ben Woollaston,
Mark Davis and the resurgent
Mike Dunn to reach the final of a ranking event for the first time in his career, 24 years after making his professional debut. There, he faced China's
Tian Pengfei, whom he defeated 4–2 to win his second professional title. The
€25,000 winner's prize is the highest amount he has earned from a single tournament in his career. It also gained him entry to the
Champion of Champions for the first time, but lost 4–0 by
Neil Robertson in the opening round after returning from burying his mum in Jamaica . After McLeod lost 6–5 to
Jamie Cope in the
UK Championship first round he said that he had not felt like the same person since his tournament win. Another first round deciding frame defeat came in the
German Masters to
Kyren Wilson and McLeod also lost in the second round of the
Welsh Open 4–1 to
Judd Trump. His debut appearance at the
PTC Finals ended at the first hurdle as Dunn beat him 4–1. McLeod did reach the third round of the
China Open by knocking out
Mitchell Mann 5–0 and Dunn 5–2, but lost 5–1 to
Alfie Burden. A pair of 10–7 victories over
Darryl Hill and
Sydney Wilson moved McLeod one win away from qualifying for the
World Championship and he took the first seven frames against
Hammad Miah. Miah then rallied to be 7–6 down, but McLeod would win 10–7. At the Crucible he drew
Judd Trump, a man who went into the tournament proclaiming that "I honestly believe I can play to a standard which is very rare nowadays," and that he was "the best" in the world. He won the first four frames, but McLeod, at 46 the oldest player in the event, responded brilliantly to take a 5–4 lead. McLeod went on to claim a famous 10–8 victory against a player ranked 52 places above him in the rankings and said it was the biggest win of his career. He lost 13–3 to
Stephen Maguire in the second round with a session to spare and said the hype from his win over Trump had distracted him.
2018/2019 season At the UK Championship in December 2018, an impressive stun shot won McLeod the BBC Shot of the Championship. After being on tour for 18 consecutive years, he dropped off the tour after failing to qualify through Q-School.
2020/2021 season In August 2020 he returned to the pro tour after qualifying through Q-School.
2023/2024 season At the
2023 Northern Ireland Open, McLeod was chosen to replace Ronnie O'Sullivan, as O'Sullivan had withdrawn for health issues. He defeated
Ahmed Aly Elsayed in the qualifying rounds 4-0 and went on to beat
Ross Muir and
Jak Jones both 4-3, before losing to
David Gilbert 4-0 in the last-16. ==Personal life==