1997 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	19 April–5 May 1997
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,260,000
Winner's share	£210,000
Highest break	Ronnie O'Sullivan (147)
Final
Champion	Ken Doherty
Runner-up	Stephen Hendry
Score	18–12
← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 World Snooker Championship (akso 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 – 5 May 1997 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Ken Doherty won his first 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 20 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]
• 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]
• Alan Chamberlain would referee 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 would also have 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

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 33 frames

19 April

Stephen Hendry (1)

10

25 & 26 April

Andy Hicks

6

Stephen Hendry (1)

13

19 & 20 April

Mark Williams (16)

8

Mark Williams (16)

10

29 & 30 April

Terry Griffiths

9

Stephen Hendry (1)

13

20 & 21 April

Darren Morgan (9)

10

Darren Morgan (9)

10

24, 25 & 26

Gary Wilkinson

5

Darren Morgan (9)

13

20 & 21 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)

12

Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)

10

1, 2 & 3 May

Mick Price

6

Stephen Hendry (1)

17

22 April

James Wattana (12)

13

Nigel Bond (5)

8

27 & 28 April

Stephen Lee

10

Stephen Lee

7

23 & 24 April

James Wattana (12)

13

James Wattana (12)

10

29 & 30 April

Graeme Dott

9

James Wattana (12)

13

23 April

John Parrott (4)

10

Jimmy White (13)

9

26, 27 & 28 April

Anthony Hamilton

10

Anthony Hamilton

11

21 & 22 April

John Parrott (4)

13

John Parrott (4)

10

Bradley Jones

9

19 & 20 April

Peter Ebdon (3)

3

25 & 26 April

Stefan Mazrocis

10

Stefan Mazrocis

9

22 & 23 April

Alain Robidoux (14)

13

Alain Robidoux (14)

10

29 & 30 April

Brian Morgan

8

Alain Robidoux (14)

13

19 & 20 April

Lee Walker

8

Dave Harold (11)

7

24 & 25 April

Lee Walker

10

Lee Walker

13

21 & 22 April

Alan McManus (6)

10

Alan McManus (6)

10

1 & 2 May

Billy Snaddon

9

Alain Robidoux (14)

7

19 & 20

Ken Doherty (7)

17

Ken Doherty (7)

10

26 & 27 April

Mark Davis

8

Ken Doherty (7)

13

21 April

Steve Davis (10)

3

Steve Davis (10)

10

29 & 30 April

David McLellan

2

Ken Doherty (7)

13

23 & 24 April

John Higgins (2)

9

Tony Drago (15)

9

27 & 28 April

Dominic Dale

10

Dominic Dale

5

22 & 23 April

John Higgins (2)

13

John Higgins (2)

10

Graham Horne

6

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 4 & 5 May 1997. Referee: Alan Chamberlain[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
Ken Doherty wins the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

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

References