1998 World Snooker Championship

Tournament summary

• Stephen Hendry lost in the first round 4–10 to Jimmy White. It was the first time since his debut in 1986 that he lost in the last 32 and it was also the first quarter-final stage not to feature Hendry since 1988.
• Simon Bedford, David Gray, Quinten Hann, Matthew Stevens, Terry Murphy, Alfie Burden, Peter Lines and Jason Prince made their Crucible debuts this year. Only Stevens could advance to the second round by defeating Alain Robidoux 10–8.
• Stephen Hendry's eight-year run as the world number one ended and he was replaced by John Higgins.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

• Winner: £220,000
• Runner-up: £132,000
• Semi-final: £66,000
• Quarter-final: £33,000
• Last 16: £17,750
• Last 32: £12,000
• Highest break £19,000
• Maximum break £147,000
• Total £1,323,000

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).

Best of 19 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 33 frames Best of 35 frames |18 April|Ireland Ken Doherty (1)|10|Wales Lee Walker|8 |22 April|England Stephen Lee (16)|10|England Andy Hicks|4 |22 & 23 April|Canada Alain Robidoux (9)|8|Wales Matthew Stevens|10 |20 & 21 April|England Nigel Bond (8)|5|England Mark King|10 |21 April|England Peter Ebdon (5)|10|Northern Ireland Terry Murphy|3 |18 & 19 April|Thailand James Wattana (12)|9|Ireland Fergal O'Brien|10 |19 & 20 April|England Steve Davis (13)|10|England Simon Bedford|6 |19 & 20 April|Wales Mark Williams (4)|10|Australia Quinten Hann|9 |18 & 19 April|Scotland John Higgins (3)|10|England Jason Ferguson|8 |18 & 19 April|England Anthony Hamilton (14)|10|England Dave Harold|8 |18 & 19 April|Malta Tony Drago (11)|10|England Alfie Burden|8 |20 & 21 April|England John Parrott (6)|10|England Peter Lines|4 |21 & 22 April|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)|10|Northern Ireland Joe Swail|5 |20 April|Scotland Alan McManus (10)|10|England David Gray|8 |21 & 22 April|Wales Darren Morgan (15)|10|Northern Ireland Jason Prince|8 |22 & 23 April|Scotland Stephen Hendry (2)|4|England Jimmy White|10 |24 & 25 April|Ireland Ken Doherty (1)|13|England Stephen Lee (16)|8 |26 & 27 April|Wales Matthew Stevens|13|England Mark King|9 |25, 26 & 27|England Peter Ebdon (5)|13|Ireland Fergal O'Brien|5 |23, 24 & 25 April|England Steve Davis (13)|6|Wales Mark Williams (4)|13 |23 & 24 April|Scotland John Higgins (3)|13|England Anthony Hamilton (14)|9 |24 & 25 April|Malta Tony Drago (11)|7|England John Parrott (6)|13 |26 & 27 April|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)|13|Scotland Alan McManus (10)|4 |25 & 26 April|Wales Darren Morgan (15)|3|England Jimmy White|13 |28 & 29 April|Ireland Ken Doherty (1)|13|Wales Matthew Stevens|10 |28 & 29 April|England Peter Ebdon (5)|11|Wales Mark Williams (4)|13 |28 & 29 April|Scotland John Higgins (3)|13|England John Parrott (6)|11 |28 & 29 April|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)|13|England Jimmy White|7 |30 April 1 & 2 May|Ireland Ken Doherty (1)|17|Wales Mark Williams (4)|14 |30 April 1 & 2 May|Scotland John Higgins (3)|17|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)|9 |3 & 4 May|Ireland Ken Doherty (1)|12|Scotland John Higgins (3)|18

|(Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 3 & 4 May 1998. Referee: Lawrie Annandale |Ken Doherty (1)

|12–18 |John Higgins (3)

|73–34, 20–80, 7–86, 1–71, 0–113, 52–73, 0–130, 89–0, 112–0, 66–7, 97–18, 2–66, 4–103, 5–86, 0–138, 82–70, 90–39, 0–89, 61–6, 0–130, 90–0, 99–1, 48–58, 82–44, 14–60, 0–128, 58–71, 78–41, 16–66, 8–119 |Century breaks: 6 (Doherty 1, Higgins 5)

Highest break by Doherty: 112

Highest break by Higgins: 130 |73–34, 20–80, 7–86, 1–71, 0–113, 52–73, 0–130, 89–0, 112–0, 66–7, 97–18, 2–66, 4–103, 5–86, 0–138, 82–70, 90–39, 0–89, 61–6, 0–130, 90–0, 99–1, 48–58, 82–44, 14–60, 0–128, 58–71, 78–41, 16–66, 8–119 |Scotland John Higgins wins the 1998 Embassy World Snooker Championship |Best of 19 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 33 frames

Century breaks

There were 59 century breaks in the championship, a new record which would last until 2002. John Higgins' 14 centuries in the tournament was a new record, beating the 12 made by Stephen Hendry in 1995.

• 143, 139, 131, 130, 130, 128, 119, 118, 114, 111, 109, 104, 103, 102 John Higgins
• 143, 138, 118, 106 Jimmy White
• 141, 134, 118, 104, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan
• 141 Peter Lines
• 140, 107 David Gray
• 137, 134, 131, 112 Ken Doherty
• 137 Dave Harold
• 137 James Wattana
• 133, 109 Stephen Lee
• 127, 100 Matthew Stevens
• 124, 117, 109, 108, 108, 104 Peter Ebdon
• 120, 108, 104, 102 John Parrott
• 115, 108, 102, 100 Anthony Hamilton
• 115, 105 Alfie Burden
• 112 Darren Morgan
• 111 Alan McManus
• 105, 100 Fergal O'Brien
• 103, 100 Mark King
• 102 Mark Williams

Qualifying

The qualifying matches were held between 2 January and March 1998 at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales.

Rounds 10–11

Results for the 10th and 11th qualifying rounds are shown below.

Round 11-12

Results for the 11th and 12th rounds of qualifying are shown below.

Round 13

Results for the 13th qualifying round are shown below.

Rounds 14–15

Results for the last two rounds of qualifying (14th and 15th) are shown below.

References

Books

References

1. "Stephen Hendry profile". [[Betfred]].
2. "Simon Bedford at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
3. "David Gray at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
4. "Quinten Hann at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
5. "Matthew Stevens at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
6. "Terry Murphy at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
7. "Alfie Burden at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
8. "Peter Lines at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
9. "Jason Prince at the World Championship". Snooker Database.
10. "Ranking History". snooker.org.
11. "Embassy World Championship 1998". Snooker.org.
12. "World Championship 1998". Global Snooker.
13. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
14. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene.
15. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
16. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
17. "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org.
18. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
19. Eric, Hayton. (2004). "The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History". Rose Villa Publications.