1997 World Snooker Championship

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Embassy World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates19 April – 5 May 1997
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£1,260,000
Winner's share£210,000
Highest breakEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan (147)
Final
ChampionRepublic of Ireland Ken Doherty
Runner-upScotland Stephen Hendry
Score18–12
← 1996
1998 →

The 1997 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1997 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Ken Doherty won his only World title by defeating defending champion Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the final. Doherty also became the first snooker player to win the World Championship at junior, amateur and professional level.[1] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary[]

  • The semi-final matches were best of 33 for the first time, having previously been best of 31.[2]
  • Ronnie O'Sullivan made the quickest maximum break in history with a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds,[3] and the fourth in the history of the tournament.[4]
  • Terry Griffiths' first round encounter against Mark Williams was his last ever professional match.[5] This match was also three time World Champion Williams' Crucible debut.
  • Other debutants this year were Bradley Jones (England); Graham Horne; David McLellan and future World Champion and twice runner-up Graeme Dott (all Scotland); Lee Walker and Dominic Dale (Wales). All these players lost in the first round except Dale and Walker, who reached the last-16 and quarter finals respectively. This meant that all three Welsh debutants won their first round matches.
  • Stephen Hendry's five-year run as World Champion came to an end after losing to Ken Doherty 12–18. It was Hendry's first defeat at the World Championship since 1991,[6] spanning 29 matches, a Crucible record.[7]
  • Doherty became only the second player from outside the United Kingdom to win the world title in the modern era, following Cliff Thorburn in 1980.[4][8]
  • refereed his first and only World Championship final. He was the first referee since in 1984 to officiate a debut final. All finals up to this year were officiated by either John Williams, Len Ganley or John Street. The next four years also had referees debuting the final: in 1998, Colin Brinded in 1999, in 2000 and Eirian Williams in 2001, before John Williams did his 10th final in 2002.[9]

Prize fund[]

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[10][11]

  • Winner: £210,000
  • Runner-up: £126,000
  • Semi-finalist: £63,000
  • Quarter-finalist: £31,500
  • Last 16: £16,800
  • Last 32: £9,450
  • Highest break: £18,000
  • Maximum break: £147,000
  • Total £1,260,000

Main draw[]

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).[10][12]

First round Second round Quarter-finals Semi-finals
Best of 19 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 33 frames
                           
19 April            
 Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)  10
25 & 26 April
 England Andy Hicks  6  
 Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)  13
19 & 20 April
   Wales Mark Williams (16)  8  
 Wales Mark Williams (16)  10
29 & 30 April
 Wales Terry Griffiths  9  
 Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)  13
20 & 21 April
   Wales Darren Morgan (9)  10  
 Wales Darren Morgan (9)  10
24, 25 & 26
 England Gary Wilkinson  5  
 Wales Darren Morgan (9)  13
20 & 21 April
   England Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)  12  
 England Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)  10
1, 2 & 3 May
 England Mick Price  6  
 Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)  17
22 April
   Thailand James Wattana (12)  13
 England Nigel Bond (5)  8
27 & 28 April
 England Stephen Lee  10  
 England Stephen Lee  7
23 & 24 April
   Thailand James Wattana (12)  13  
 Thailand James Wattana (12)  10
29 & 30 April
 Scotland Graeme Dott  9  
 Thailand James Wattana (12)  13
23 April
   England John Parrott (4)  10  
 England Jimmy White (13)  9
26, 27 & 28 April
 England Anthony Hamilton  10  
 England Anthony Hamilton  11
21 & 22 April
   England John Parrott (4)  13  
 England John Parrott (4)  10
 England Bradley Jones  9  
19 & 20 April            
 England Peter Ebdon (3)  3
25 & 26 April
 England Stefan Mazrocis  10  
 England Stefan Mazrocis  9
22 & 23 April
   Canada Alain Robidoux (14)  13  
 Canada Alain Robidoux (14)  10
29 & 30 April
 England Brian Morgan  8  
 Canada Alain Robidoux (14)  13
19 & 20 April
   Wales Lee Walker  8  
 England Dave Harold (11)  7
24 & 25 April
 Wales Lee Walker  10  
 Wales Lee Walker  13
21 & 22 April
   Scotland Alan McManus (6)  10  
 Scotland Alan McManus (6)  10
1 & 2 May
 Scotland Billy Snaddon  9  
 Canada Alain Robidoux (14)  7
19 & 20
   Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty (7)  17
 Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty (7)  10
26 & 27 April
 England Mark Davis  8  
 Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty (7)  13
21 April
   England Steve Davis (10)  3  
 England Steve Davis (10)  10
29 & 30 April
 Scotland David McLellan  2  
 Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty (7)  13
23 & 24 April
   Scotland John Higgins (2)  9  
 Malta Tony Drago (15)  9
27 & 28 April
 Wales Dominic Dale  10  
 Wales Dominic Dale  5
22 & 23 April
   Scotland John Higgins (2)  13  
 Scotland John Higgins (2)  10
 Scotland Graham Horne  6  
Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 4 & 5 May 1997. Referee: [9]
Stephen Hendry (1)
 Scotland 		12–18 Ken Doherty (7)
 Ireland
7–67, 117–5, 106–0, 13–77, 9–78, 51–75, 11–69, 122–0, 76–12, 32–89, 55–62, 43–57, 13–65, 50–85, 74–47, 28–60, 70–23, 24–71, 110–4, 0–86, 16–85, 45–59, 137–0, 75–12, 61–30, 114–0, 61–57, 23–82, 19–69, 49–71 Century breaks: 5 (Hendry 5)

Highest break by Hendry: 137
Highest break by Doherty: 85

7–67, 117–5, 106–0, 13–77, 9–78, 51–75, 11–69, 122–0, 76–12, 32–89, 55–62, 43–57, 13–65, 50–85, 74–47, 28–60, 70–23, 24–71, 110–4, 0–86, 16–85, 45–59, 137–0, 75–12, 61–30, 114–0, 61–57, 23–82, 19–69, 49–71
Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty wins the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks[]

There were 39 century breaks in this year's championship.[10][13][14]

Qualifying[]

The qualifying matches were held between 2 January and March 1997 at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales. The last round was played at , Telford on 24 and 25 March 1997.

Round 2–3[]

Round 2
(Best of 19 frames) 		Round 3
(Best of 19 frames)
Wales Matthew Stevens 10–7 Northern Ireland Jason Prince England Andy Hicks 10–7 Wales Matthew Stevens
England Alfie Burden 10–6 England Barry Pinches Wales Terry Griffiths 10–4 England Alfie Burden
Republic of Ireland Michael Judge 10–5 Wales Anthony Davies England Gary Wilkinson 10–9 Republic of Ireland Michael Judge
England Jimmy Michie 10–9 Wales Paul Davies England Mick Price 10–9 England Jimmy Michie
Scotland Drew Henry 10–3 Scotland Alan Burnett England Stephen Lee 10–5 Scotland Drew Henry
Scotland Graeme Dott 10–7 Scotland Geoff Dunn Scotland Graeme Dott 10–8 Northern Ireland Joe Swail
England Karl Broughton 10–5 Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien England Anthony Hamilton 10–5 England Karl Broughton
England Bradley Jones 10–9 Scotland Jamie Burnett England Bradley Jones 10–4 England David Finbow
England Stefan Mazrocis 10–9 England Jason Weston England Stefan Mazrocis 10–4 Scotland Chris Small
England Brian Morgan 10–7 England Nick Pearce England Brian Morgan 10–6 New Zealand Dene O'Kane
Wales Lee Walker 10–8 Scotland Euan Henderson Wales Lee Walker 10–7 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor
Scotland Billy Snaddon 10–3 England Paul Davison Scotland Billy Snaddon 10–7 England Rod Lawler
England Mark Davis 10–6 Northern Ireland Terry Murphy England Mark Davis 10–5 England Jason Ferguson
Scotland David McLellan 10–6 England Nick Dyson Scotland David McLellan 10–9 England Neal Foulds
Wales Dominic Dale 10–3 England Jonathan Birch Wales Dominic Dale 10–6 England Willie Thorne
Scotland Graham Horne 10–6 England Mark King Scotland Graham Horne 10–7 England Steve James

References[]

  1. ^ "Ken Doherty". Riley England. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  2. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 76.
  3. ^ "Various Snooker Records". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Chris Turner. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "World Professional Championship". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Chris Turner. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Terry Griffiths profile". Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Stephen Hendry at the World Championships". Snooker Database. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  7. ^ Everton, Clive. "Snooker: Doherty ready to fulfil rich promise". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2012 – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required)
  8. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 125.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Embassy World Championship 1997". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  11. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
  12. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 44–45.
  13. ^ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  14. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 149.
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