1997 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship
Tournament information
Dates19 April – 5 May 1997 (1997-04-19 – 1997-05-05)
VenueCrucible Theatre
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£1,260,000
Winner's share£210,000
Highest break Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (147)
Final
Champion Ken Doherty (IRL)
Runner-up Stephen Hendry (SCO)
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. Staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Ken Doherty won the only world title of his professional career by defeating the defending champion Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the final. The first player to win world championships at junior, amateur, and professional level,[1] Doherty became the second player from outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the modern era, following Cliff Thorburn in 1980. Doherty remains the only world champion from the Republic of Ireland. Hendry's defeat in the final was his first loss in the World Championship since 1991, which ended his record 29 consecutive Crucible victories.

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 fastest 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 and meant that he retired having played 999 frames at The Crucible.[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.
  • Alain Robidoux had his best run at the World Championship, reaching the semi-finals. The Canadian player lost 7–17 to Ken Doherty.
  • James Wattana reached the semi-finals for the second time (after 1993) but the Thai player lost 13–17 to defending champion Stephen Hendry.
  • Hendry's five-year run as World Champion came to an end after losing to 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]
  • Alan Chamberlain refereed his first and only World Championship final. He was the first referee since Jim Thorpe 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: Lawrie Annandale in 1998, Colin Brinded in 1999, John Newton 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
Best of 19 frames		Second round
Best of 25 frames		Quarter-finals
Best of 25 frames		Semi-finals
Best of 33 frames		Final
Best of 35 frames
19 April
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 10
24 & 25 April
 Andy Hicks (ENG) 6
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 13
19 & 20 April
 Mark Williams (WAL) (16) 8
 Mark Williams (WAL) (16) 10
28 & 29 April
 Terry Griffiths (WAL) 9
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 13
20 & 21 April
 Darren Morgan (WAL) (9) 10
 Darren Morgan (WAL) (9) 10
26 & 27 April
 Gary Wilkinson (ENG) 5
 Darren Morgan (WAL) (9) 13
20 & 21 April
 Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (8) 12
 Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (8) 10
30 April, 1 & 2 May
 Mick Price (ENG) 6
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 17
22 April
 James Wattana (THA) (12) 13
 Nigel Bond (ENG) (5) 8
25, 26 & 27 April
 Stephen Lee (ENG) 10
 Stephen Lee (ENG) 7
23 & 24 April
 James Wattana (THA) (12) 13
 James Wattana (THA) (12) 10
28 & 29 April
 Graeme Dott (SCO) 9
 James Wattana (THA) (12) 13
23 April
 John Parrott (ENG) (4) 10
 Jimmy White (ENG) (13) 9
23, 24 & 25 April
 Anthony Hamilton (ENG) 10
 Anthony Hamilton (ENG) 11
21 & 22 April
 John Parrott (ENG) (4) 13
 John Parrott (ENG) (4) 10
3 & 4 May
 Bradley Jones (ENG) 9
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 12
19 & 20 April
 Ken Doherty (IRL) (7) 18
 Peter Ebdon (ENG) (3) 3
23 & 24 April
 Stefan Mazrocis (ENG) 10
 Stefan Mazrocis (ENG) 9
22 & 23 April
 Alain Robidoux (CAN) (14) 13
 Alain Robidoux (CAN) (14) 10
28 & 29 April
 Brian Morgan (ENG) 8
 Alain Robidoux (CAN) (14) 13
19 & 20 April
 Lee Walker (WAL) 8
 Dave Harold (ENG) (11) 7
24 & 25 April
 Lee Walker (WAL) 10
 Lee Walker (WAL) 13
21 & 22 April
 Alan McManus (SCO) (6) 10
 Alan McManus (SCO) (6) 10
30 April, 1 & 2 May
 Billy Snaddon (SCO) 9
 Alain Robidoux (CAN) (14) 7
19 & 20 April
 Ken Doherty (IRL) (7) 17
 Ken Doherty (IRL) (7) 10
26 & 27 April
 Mark Davis (ENG) 8
 Ken Doherty (IRL) (7) 13
21 April
 Steve Davis (ENG) (10) 3
 Steve Davis (ENG) (10) 10
28 & 29 April
 David McLellan (SCO) 2
 Ken Doherty (IRL) (7) 13
23 & 24 April
 John Higgins (SCO) (2) 9
 Tony Drago (MLT) (15) 9
25 & 26 April
 Dominic Dale (WAL) 10
 Dominic Dale (WAL) 5
22 & 23 April
 John Higgins (SCO) (2) 13
 John Higgins (SCO) (2) 10
 Graham Horne (SCO) 6
Final: (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 4 & 5 May 1997
Referee: Alan Chamberlain[13]
 Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) 12–18  Ken Doherty (IRL) (7)
Session 1: 3–5
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Hendry 7 117† (117) 106† (106) 13 9 51 11 122† (122) N/A N/A
Doherty 67† 5 0 77† 78† (69) 75† 69† 0 N/A N/A
Session 2: 2–6 (5–11)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Hendry 76† 32 55 43 13 50 (50) 74† 28 N/A N/A
Doherty 12 89† 62† 57† 65† 85† (85) 47 60† (52) N/A N/A
Session 3: 4–4 (9–15)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Hendry 70† (58) 24 110† (92) 0 16 45 137† (137) 75† N/A N/A
Doherty 23 71† (70) 4 86† 85† (52) 59† 0 12 N/A N/A
Session 4: 3–3 (12–18)
Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Hendry 61† (51) 114† (110) 61† 23 19 49 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Doherty 30 0 57 82† (61) 69† (50) 71† N/A N/A N/A N/A
137 Highest break 85
5 Century breaks 0
9 50+ breaks 7
Ken Doherty wins the 1997 World Snooker Championship
Breaks over 50 are shown in parentheses.

† = Winner of frame

Century breaks

There were 39 century breaks in this year's championship.[10][14][15]

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 International Centre, Telford on 24 and 25 March 1997.

Rounds 8–9

Results for the last two qualifying rounds are shown below.[16]

Round 8
Best of 19 frames		Round 9
Best of 19 frames
Wales Matthew Stevens10England Andy Hicks10
Northern Ireland Jason Prince7Wales Matthew Stevens7
England Alfie Burden10Wales Terry Griffiths10
England Barry Pinches6England Alfie Burden4
Republic of Ireland Michael Judge10England Gary Wilkinson10
Wales Anthony Davies5Republic of Ireland Michael Judge9
England Jimmy Michie10England Mick Price10
Wales Paul Davies9England Jimmy Michie9
Scotland Drew Henry10England Stephen Lee10
Scotland Alan Burnett3Scotland Drew Henry5
Scotland Graeme Dott10Scotland Graeme Dott10
Scotland Geoff Dunn7Northern Ireland Joe Swail8
England Karl Broughton10England Anthony Hamilton10
Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien5England Karl Broughton5
England Bradley Jones10England Bradley Jones10
Scotland Jamie Burnett9England David Finbow4
England Stefan Mazrocis10England Stefan Mazrocis10
England Jason Weston9Scotland Chris Small4
England Brian Morgan10England Brian Morgan10
England Nick Pearce7New Zealand Dene O'Kane6
Wales Lee Walker10Wales Lee Walker10
Scotland Euan Henderson8Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor7
Scotland Billy Snaddon10Scotland Billy Snaddon10
England Paul Davison3England Rod Lawler7
England Mark Davis10England Mark Davis10
Northern Ireland Terry Murphy6England Jason Ferguson5
Scotland David McLellan10Scotland David McLellan10
England Nick Dyson6England Neal Foulds9
Wales Dominic Dale10Wales Dominic Dale10
England Jonathan Birch3England Willie Thorne6
Scotland Graham Horne10Scotland Graham Horne10
England Mark King6England Steve James7

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. ^ "Fastest 147 break in snooker". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
  4. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Stephen Hendry at the World Championships". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  7. ^ Everton, Clive. "Snooker: Doherty ready to fulfil rich promise". The Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) (Partial story rendition from HighBeam Research archive.)
  8. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 125.
  9. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  10. ^ 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. ^ Downer 2026, p. 189.
  14. ^ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  15. ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 149.
  16. ^ Downer 2019, pp. 214–215.

Books

  • Downer, Chris (2019). Crucible Almanac. Bournemouth.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Downer, Chris (2026). Crucible Almanac. 2025 edition. Bournemouth.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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