In his first professional match, Ross was whitewashed 0–11 by Cliff Thorburn in a qualifying round match for the 1977 World Snooker Championship. In the 1977–78 snooker season, he defeated Jack Karnehm 5–4 in the first qualifying round for the 1977 UK Championship before losing 1–5 to Graham Miles in the second qualifying round. The only other tournament he played in was the 1978 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 1–9 to Pat Houlihan. He did not record any match wins in the following two seasons; He also played in the 1980 UK Professional English billiards championship, losing 933–1,093 to Bernard Bennett.