Rankings revisit - a trip through history

chengdufan wrote:It's hard to see past Hendry winning the upcoming World Championship. He has almost double the points of O'Sullivan in 7th.

I can't see anyone beyond the top 8 in the rankings having a realistic chance...

LDS wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:People tend to forget Parrott's longevity, to still be as high as No.3 as late of this when the CO92 were all pretty much fully fledged.

To be fair, about 15 years is quite a common longevity for a top player. It probably seems longer for Parrott for you because Parrott's age straddled three distinct snooker eras, starting in the traditional 80s era, peaking in the Hendry era and then tailing off during the Co92 era.

The Co92 are the only people really that have had an exceptionally long golden era well over 15 years, and one of those three, MJW, has had long periods of downtime in that time.

You can count of one hand the people who've been genuine contenders for 20+ years. around 15 years is quite common though, relatively speaking.

You are dead right. Typically, a top player can do 10 - 15 years “in office” before they lose their hardness and powers of concentration. I often think the only reason Reardon was able to go on into his 50’s was because he didn’t turn pro until he was 37.

1997 World Championship 1st round

Stephen Hendry (1) 10-6 Andy Hicks (18)
Mark Williams (4) 10-9 Terry Griffiths (71) - good effort from the Griffter
Darren Morgan (24) 10-5 Gary Wilkinson (16)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 10-6 Mick Price (55) - heard there was a decent break in this match
Nigel Bond (6) 8-10 Stephen Lee (14) - tough first round draw
James Wattana (15) 10-9 Graeme Dott (26)
Jimmy White (21) 9-10 Anthony Hamilton (22)
John Parrott (5) 10-9 Bradley Jones (64) - this B Jones has had a good season. One to watch?
Peter Ebdon (3) 3-10 Stefan Mazrocis (57) - what the hell??? was Ebdon sick?
Alain Robidoux (11) 10-8 Brian Morgan (34)
Dave Harold (13) 7-10 Lee Walker (87) - hope the viewers got well settled for this one
Alan McManus (9) 10-9 Billy Snaddon (23)
Ken Doherty (8) 10-8 Mark Davis (43)
Steve Davis (12) 10-2 David McLellan (76)
Tony Drago (10) 9-10 Dominic Dale (38)
John Higgins (2) 10-6 Graham Horne (77)

1997 World Championship - Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Worl ... ampionship

D4P wrote:I can't see anyone beyond the top 8 in the rankings having a realistic chance...

D4P was spot on! Who knew that the player ranked 8, Ken Doherty, would win this year? I imagine it was quite unexpected for most snooker followers.

Interestingly, John Parrott was the only English player in the quarter-finals.

Alain Robidoux had his best championship, making the semis (though he did have a relatively easy route through).

And the big surprise, aside from Doherty winning, was Lee Walker making the quarters out of nowhere. He won 8 matches in the event in total, including knocking out former champs Joe Johnson and Dennis Taylor, before defeating Dave Harold and Alan McManus. The only player to take him to a decider in that run was the first of his eight oponents, Marc Farnsworth, who would go on to become an accomplished pool player.

L16
Hendry (1) 13-8 Williams (4)
Morgan (24)13-12 O'Sullivan (7)
Wattana (15) 13-7 Lee (14)
Parrott (5) 13-11 Hamilton (22)
Robidoux (11) 13-9 Mazrocis (57)
Walker (87)13-10 McManus (9)
Doherty (8) 13-3 Davis (12)
Higgins (2) 13-5 Dale (38)

QFs
Hendry (1) 13-10 Morgan (24)
Wattana (15) 13-10 Parrott (5)
Robidoux (11) 13-8 Walker (87)
Doherty (8) 13-9 Higgins (2)

SFs:
Hendry (1) 17-13 Wattana (15)
Doherty (8) 17-7 Robidoux (11)

Final:
Doherty (8) 18-12 Hendry (1)

1996-97 End of season rankings

1 = Stephen Hendry 33937
2 = John Higgins 24444
3 +4 Ken Doherty 20220
4 -1 Peter Ebdon 19639
5 +4 Mark Williams 18392
6 -1 John Parrott 17534
7 -3 Ronnie O'Sullivan 16041
8 -2 Nigel Bond 14559
9 +12 Alain Robidoux 14165
10 -2 Alan McManus 13367
11 +5 James Wattana 12286
12 +13 Tony Drago 11410
13 +4 Stephen Lee 10320
14 -2 Steve Davis 9970
15 -4 Darren Morgan 9772
16 -6 Dave Harold 9312
17 +6 Anthony Hamilton 8994
18 +2 Gary Wilkinson 8288
19 +11 Terry Murphy 8228
20 +9 Mark King 8145
21 +5 Billy Snaddon 8088
22 +20 Graeme Dott 8083
23 -10 Andy Hicks 7693
24 +3 Fergal O'Brien 7636
25 -11 Rod Lawler 7493
26 +24 Paul Hunter 7414
27 +25 Karl Broughton 7016
28 -13 Jimmy White 6948
29 +3 Jamie Burnett 6873
30 +61 Dominic Dale 6838
31 -12 Chris Small 6727
32 +55 Brian Morgan 6679
33 -15 Joe Swail 6618
34 -10 Drew Henry 6340
35 +11 Euan Henderson 5901
36 +30 Michael Judge 5766
37 +20 Martin Clark 5765
38 +41 Stefan Mazrocis 5737
39 +14 Mark Davis 5653
40 +5 Joe Johnson 5380
41 +15 Matthew Stevens 5334
42 +9 Jimmy Michie 5316
43 -3 Paul Davies 5288
44 -6 Tony Chappel 5234
45 +158 Lee Walker 4964
46 +17 Jason Prince 4835
47 -6 Mark Bennett 4807
48 -13 David Roe 4784
49 +24 Jonathan Birch 4735
50 +43 Shokat Ali 4635
51 +4 Mick Price 4554
52 -30 Dave Finbow 4517
53 +25 Nick Pearce 4513
54 +167 Bradley Jones 4395
55 -8 Dene O'Kane 4372
56 -17 Steve James 4353
57 -20 Neal Foulds 4229
58 -10 Dennis Taylor 4194
59 -26 Jason Ferguson 4128
60 = Gerard Greene 3856
61 +60 Graham Horne 3827
62 -26 Terry Griffiths 3718
63 -2 Dean Reynolds 3680
64 = Chris Scanlon 3634
65 +10 Tony Jones 3633
66 +6 Nick Walker 3612
67 -8 Jamie Woodman 3586
68 -34 Willie Thorne 3531
69 -25 Wayne Jones 3486
70 -8 Barry Pinches 3403
71 +12 Ian McCulloch 3357
72 +31 Paul Wykes 3334
73 +21 David McLellan 3324
74 -46 Anthony Davies 3270
75 +79 Robert Milkins 3228
76 +10 Antony Bolsover 3207
77 +11 Paul McPhillips 3147
78 -29 Nick Terry 2974
79 NEW David Gray 2947
80 -49 Mark Johnston-Allen 2914
81 -38 Karl Payne 2898
82 -11 Marcus Campbell 2829
83 +39 Karl Burrows 2788
84 +17 Darren Clarke 2762
85 -31 Mark Flowerdew 2684
86 +76 Quinten Hann 2630
87 +52 Jason Weston 2630
88 +19 Peter Lines 2601
89 -22 Yasin Merchant 2567
90 -22 Gary Ponting 2564
91 +36 Noppadon Noppachorn 2533
92 +6 Wayne Brown 2451
93 +19 Lee Richardson 2414
94 -20 Stephen Murphy 2409
95 -14 Steve Newbury 2406
96 -19 Stuart Pettman 2399
97 +31 Sean Storey 2338
98 NEW Alan Burnett 2328
99 -10 Nick Dyson 2231
100 -18 Stephen O'Connor 2179
101 +9 Steve Judd 2175
102 -32 Ian Brumby 2167
103 -45 Mike Hallett 2072
104 +21 Tai Pichit 2031
105 +1 Oliver King 1968
106 +38 Robin Hull 1931
107 -27 Jason Wallace 1923
108 -39 John Read 1919
109 -44 Tony Knowles 1898
110 -25 Matthew Couch 1892
111 +91 Ian Sargeant 1706
112 inactive -36 Tony Meo 1689
113 +28 Chris Shade 1664
114 +4 Darryn Walker 1630
115 +80 Paul Sweeny 1626
116 -24 Mark Rowing 1616
117 +23 Dylan Leary 1616
118 -16 Andrew Cairns 1573
119 -29 Nigel Gilbert 1500
120 -3 Adrian Rosa 1475
121 +38 Joe Perry 1459
122 -26 Matt Wilson 1422
123 -39 Surinder Gill 1415
124 -19 Danny Fowler 1389
125 +69 Alfie Burden 1383
126 -12 Martin Dziewialtowski 1371
127 -3 John Giles 1367
128 +57 Paul Davison 1270

To the end of the 96-97 season, 123 ranking events have been played. Here is the roll of honour:

Steve Davis 28
Stephen Hendry 28 ('96 UK Championship | '97 Welsh Open | '97 International Open)
Jimmy White 9
John Parrott 9
John Higgins 6 ('97 European Open)
Ray Reardon 5
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 ('96 Asian Classic | '96 German Open)
James Wattana 3
Mark Williams 3 ('96 Grand Prix | '97 British Open)
Cliff Thorburn 2
Tony Knowles 2
Dennis Taylor 2
Doug Mountjoy 2
Alan McManus 2
Peter Ebdon 2 ('97 Thailand Open)
Ken Doherty 2 ('97 World Championship)
John Spencer, Terry Griffiths, Alex Higgins, Willie Thorne, Silvino Francisco, Joe Johnson, Neal Foulds, Tony Meo, Mike Hallett, Steve James, Bob Chaperon, Tony Jones, Dave Harold, Nigel Bond : 1 each

1997 world final was a dark day in Snooker :( 2002 world final was a lot worse though to be fair.

Juddernaut88 wrote:1997 world final was a dark day in Snooker :( 2002 world final was a lot worse though to be fair.

Ken Doherty beating Hendry?

Great to see Alain Robidoux high in the rankings. Hopefully he can keep up the good form.

As we move into the 1997-98 season, the tour structure has changed quite significantly.
We move from having around 400 players in each tournament to having 96.
I can't help feeling that at the lower end of the rankings, ending up in this elite 96 was more luck than judgement.
I have players who made the cut such as Craig MacGillivray and Peter McCullagh down at 149 and 167 in these rankings, while players like Graham Horne (who recently qualified for the Crucible), Barry Pinches and Rob Milkins at 61, 70 and 75 miss out.

1997 Grand Prix - Bournemouth International Centre

Out of the blue, Dominic Dale produced stunning form to win his first ranking title.
He had a tough route to the final, having to beat Hicks, Davis, Harold, Small, and a resurgent Jimmy White. And once there, he dispatched John Higgins 9-6. After taking a 4-0 lead, he stayed ahead throughout the match, despite runs of 71, 98 and 104 from Higgins to pull the score back from 5-1 to 5-4. Dale closed out the match impressively from 7-6 up, with breaks of 120 and 71.

Stephen Hendry was beaten in the last 64 by Jamie Burnett. The world champ, Doherty, exited at the same stage, losing to Willie Thorne.
O'Sullivan won one match, before being thumped 5-2 by John Read in the last 32.
It was a good tournament for 28-year-old Read, who reached only his second quarter-final, and first since 1992. As well as beating O'Sullivan, he had good wins against Rod Lawler and Tony Drago.

Matthew Stevens reached his first semi-final, a few weeks after his 20th birthday.

QFs:
Matthew Stevens (41) 5-4 John Parrott (6)
John Higgins (2) 5-0 John Read (108)
Dominic Dale (30) 5-2 Chris Small (31)
Jimmy White (28) 5-0 Mick Price (51)

SFs:
Higgins (2) 6-5 Stevens (41)
Dale (30) 6-2 White (28)

Final:
Dale (30) 9-6 Higgins (2)

Following the 1997 Grand Prix...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 25683
2 = John Higgins 20200
3 = Ken Doherty 16273
4 +1 Mark Williams 13962
5 +1 John Parrott 13819
6 -2 Peter Ebdon 13071
7 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 11854
8 +1 Alain Robidoux 11142
9 +2 James Wattana 10490
10 -2 Nigel Bond 10114
11 -1 Alan McManus 10091
12 = Tony Drago 9275
13 +17 Dominic Dale 8546
14 +1 Darren Morgan 7865
15 -1 Steve Davis 7828
16 = Dave Harold 7751

In: Dominic Dale
Out: Stephen Lee

Top 32
In: Matthew Stevens; Euan Henderson
Out: Brian Morgan; Rod Lawler

Top 64
In: Quinten Hann; Paul Wykes; Ian McCulloch; Tony Jones; Willie Thorne; David Gray; Jamie Woodman
Out: Neal Foulds; Chris Scanlon; Dennis Taylor; Gerard Greene; Dean Reynolds; Dave Finbow; Terry Griffiths

Top 128
In: Troy Shaw; Mark Gray; John Lardner; Leigh Griffin
Out: Tony Meo; Danny Fowler; Matt Wilson; Surinder Gill

1997 UK Championship - Guild Hall, Preston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_UK_Championship

Although the tournament was peppered with surprise results, the final was contested between two greats of the game. Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Stephen Hendry 10-6, though neither player made a century break in the match.
It was Matthew Stevens who compiled the most century breaks in the event, making 5, including the high break of 143. He reached his second consecutive ranking event semi-final, beating Drago 9-8 and Williams 9-1 along the way.

There were two surprise quarter-finalists, Martin Dziewialtowski and Gerard Greene. The Scotsman didn't face any of the top players to get to that stage, Quinten Hann perhaps being his toughest opponent. Similarly, the Northern Irishman didn't have as hard a route as it could have been, though he deserves credit for his wins over Steve Davis and Andy Hicks.

The biggest shocks of the championship were the defeats of John Higgins and Ken Doherty, to Gary Ponting and Neal Foulds respectively.

L16
Stephen Hendry (1) 9-8 Anthony Hamilton (21)
Alan McManus (11) 9-5 Jason Prince (51)
Martin Dziewialtowski (118) 9-7 Dean Reynolds (71)
Matthew Stevens (27) 9-1 Mark Williams (4)
Gerard Greene (70) 9-6 Gary Ponting (101)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 9-4 Gary Wilkinson (22)
Mark King (24) 9-5 Darren Morgan (14)
Stephen Lee (17) 9-2 Neal Foulds (66)

QFs:
Hendry (1) 9-5 McManus (11)
Stevens (27) 9-1 Dziewialtowski (118)
O'Sullivan (7) 9-6 Greene (70)
Lee (17) 9-2 King (24)

SFs:
Hendry (1) 9-5 Stevens (27)
O'Sullivan (7) 9-4 Lee (17)

Final:
O'Sullivan (7) 10-6 Hendry (1)

Following the 1997 UK Championship...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 25644
2 = John Higgins 18181
3 +4 Ronnie O'Sullivan 14789
4 -1 Ken Doherty 14675
5 -1 Mark Williams 13758
6 -1 John Parrott 13461
7 -1 Peter Ebdon 12010
8 +3 Alan McManus 11068
9 +8 Stephen Lee 10032
10 -2 Alain Robidoux 9810
11 -2 James Wattana 9547
12 = Tony Drago 9378
13 -3 Nigel Bond 9244
14 +13 Matthew Stevens 9160
15 -2 Dominic Dale 8565
16 +8 Mark King 8150

In: Stephen Lee; Matthew Stevens; Mark King
Out: Darren Morgan; Dave Harold; Steve Davis (who drops 12 places to 27th, below Jimmy White in 25th)

Top 32
In: Jason Prince; Shokat Ali
Out: Fergal O'Brien; Euan Henderson

Top 64
In: Gerard Greene; Dean Reynolds; Neal Foulds; Gary Ponting; Dennis Taylor; Sean Storey
Out: Jimmy Michie; Mark Bennett; Steve James; Jamie Woodman; Nick Pearce; Graham Horne

Top 128 - no change

1997 German Open - Atlantis Rheinhotel, Bingen am Rhein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_German_Open_(snooker)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingen_am_Rhein

The final event of 1997 took place in the small town of Bingen am Rhein.
As the competition was played in Europe, John Parrott produced some of his best form. He beat Stephens Lee and Hendry, as well as Ken Doherty on his way to the final. He met is match there though in John Higgins, who claimed a 9-4 victory.

QFs:
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 5-4 Tony Drago (12)
John Higgins (2) 5-4 Anthony Hamilton (17)
John Parrott (6) 5-3 Stephen Hendry (1)
Ken Doherty (4) 5-4 Jamie Burnett (26)

SFs:
Higgins (2) 6-4 O'Sullivan (3)
Parrott (6) 6-4 Doherty (4)

Final:
Higgins (2) 9-4 Parrott (6)

Following the 1997 German Open, we have the rankings at the end of the 1997 calendar year.

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 23504
2 = John Higgins 18263
3 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 14721
4 +2 John Parrott 14463
5 -1 Ken Doherty 13915
6 -1 Mark Williams 12399
7 = Peter Ebdon 10612
8 = Alan McManus 9589
9 = Stephen Lee 9426
10 +2 Tony Drago 9110
11 = James Wattana 9057
12 -2 Alain Robidoux 9040
13 +1 Matthew Stevens 8360
14 -1 Nigel Bond 8222
15 +2 Anthony Hamilton 7929
16 -1 Dominic Dale 7860

In: Anthony Hamilton
Out: Mark King

Top 32
In: Quinten Hann; Bradley Jones
Out: Andy Hicks; Karl Broughton

Top 64
In: Jimmy Michie; Chris Scanlon
Out: David Roe; Dennis Taylor

Top 128 - no change

1998 Welsh Open - Newport Leisure Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Welsh_Open_(snooker)

This was a big event in the history of snooker as a 19-year-old Paul Hunter won his first ranking title. He knocked in three centuries in the final and came back from 4-2 and 5-4 down to beat John Higgins 9-5.

Hunter had thrashed Ebdon 6-1 in the semis, and beaten Neal Foulds, Steve Davis, Nigel Bond and Alan McManus to reach the final.

Stephen Hendry lost to Jamie Burnett in the last 64, and Ronnie O'Sullivan was beaten by Anthony Hamilton in the last 16.
It was an impressive result for Hamilton, for although he had recently entered the top 16, he had not had many good results against players ranked in that elite bracket.

QFs:
Paul Hunter (26) 5-3 Alan McManus (8)
Peter Ebdon (7) 5-2 Jamie Burnett (18)
John Higgins (2) 5-4 John Parrott (4)
Mark King (17) 5-3 Anthony Hamilton (16)

SFs:
Hunter (26) 6-1 Ebdon (7)
Higgins (2) 6-5 King (17)

Final:
Hunter (26) 9-5 Higgins (2)

Following the 1998 World Championship Qualifiers and Welsh Open...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 23615
2 = John Higgins 20472
3 +1 John Parrott 15783
4 -1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 15459
5 = Ken Doherty 14223
6 = Mark Williams 12408
7 = Peter Ebdon 12236
8 = Alan McManus 11003
9 +17 Paul Hunter 10482
10 -1 Stephen Lee 10245
11 +2 Matthew Stevens 10055
12 +5 Mark King 10001
13 +3 Anthony Hamilton 9530
14 -4 Tony Drago 9338
15 -3 James Wattana 9307
16 -2 Dominic Dale 9001

In: Paul Hunter; Mark King
Out: Nigel Bond; Alain Robidoux

Top 32
In: Andy Hicks; Fergal O'Brien
Out: Steve Davis; Shokat Ali

Top 64
In: Peter Lines; David Roe; Nick Walker; Joe Perry
Out: Dene O'Kane; Chris Scanlon; Willie Thorne; Jimmy Michie

Top 128
In: Joe Delaney; Simon Bedford; Andrew Higginson; Brian Rowswell; Leo Fernandez; Craig MacGillivray
Out: Nigel Gilbert; Tony Knowles; John Giles; Andrew Cairns; Darryn Walker; Paul Davison

Yes Paul Hunter

1998 Scottish Open - Aberdeen Exhibition Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Scot ... n_(snooker)

Ronnie O'Sullivan overtook Ray Reardon in ranking title victories after beating John Higgins in the final of the 98 Scottish Open to take his 6th ranking title.

Of the five ranking events so far this season, Higgins has appeared in 4 finals, winning 1 and losing 3. He is now very close to overtaking Stephen Hendry in the rankings.

This was a big event for Marcus Campbell, who beat Alan McManus, Andy Hicks and Stephen Hendry to make the quarter finals.
The relatively unknown Chris Scanlon also made the quarters and deserves a mention, though his path was a little easier. He beat Joe Swail, Peter Lines and Mark Bennett.

QFs:
Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) 5-1 Marcus Campbell (65)
Stephen Lee (10) 5-0 Chris Scanlon (69)
John Higgins (2) 5-4 Euan Henderson (45)
Fergal O'Brien (32) 5-4 Ken Doherty (5)

SFs:
O'Sullivan (4) 6-2 Lee (10)
Higgins (2) 6-2 O'Brien (32)

Final:
O'Sullivan (4) 9-5 Higgins (2)

Following the 1998 Scottish Open...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 23460
2 = John Higgins 22567
3 +1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 18287
4 +1 Ken Doherty 15140
5 -2 John Parrott 15054
6 +1 Peter Ebdon 12558
7 +3 Stephen Lee 11102
8 = Alan McManus 10970
9 -3 Mark Williams 10883
10 -1 Paul Hunter 10851
11 = Matthew Stevens 9949
12 +1 Anthony Hamilton 9437
13 +5 Nigel Bond 9300
14 = Tony Drago 9250
15 = James Wattana 9235
16 = Dominic Dale 9212

In: Nigel Bond
Out: Mark King

Top 32
In: Steve Davis; Euan Henderson
Out: Billy Snaddon; Chris Small

Top 64
In: Marcus Campbell; Chris Scanlon; Nick Pearce
Out: Mark Davis; Nick Walker; Rod Lawler

Top 128
In: Peter McCullagh; Bjorn Haneveer; Tony Knowles
Out: Craig MacGillivray; Mike Hallett; Mark Rowing

Interesting it took this long for Joe Perry to reach the top 64. Prior to this point calling him a journeyman would have been flattering

SteveJJ wrote:Interesting it took this long for Joe Perry to reach the top 64. Prior to this point calling him a journeyman would have been flattering

I've been surprised by his slow rise too. After turning pro in 92, he has only really started to get some decent results this season, when we are down to 96 pros. And frankly, he was lucky to make the cut. I'm not sure how he did.

He is still only 23 though to be fair.

1998 Thailand Masters - Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Thailand_Masters

For a second time, just as it looked like Higgins was going to catch Hendry, the maestro pulled out a tournament win and The Wizard fell early.
Higgins lost to Fergal O'Brien in the last 32, while Hendry beat White, Drago, Williams, Doherty and Parrott to claim another title. As this was his 29th ranking event win, he now surpasses Steve Davis on the all-time list.

John Parrott is still up there, and again he made the final of an overseas event. I wonder what it was about playing abroad that suited him so well?

An interesting stat from the final is that there were 5 century breaks (including 3 130+ers), but only 2 other breaks over 50.

Marco Fu, who has just turned 20, played for the first time this season and was involved in two ranking events. He was a wildcard in this event, beating Jason Ferguson before losing to Parrott in the first round. The other event he could play in was the World Championship.

QFs:
John Parrott (5) 5-0 Peter Ebdon (6)
Anthony Hamilton (12) 5-2 Nigel Bond (13)
Stephen Hendry (1) 5-4 Mark Williams (9)
Ken Doherty (4) 5-3 Alan McManus (8)

SFs:
Parrott (5) 5-4 Hamilton (12)
Hendry (1) 5-4 Doherty (4)

Final:
Hendry (1) 9-6 Parrott (5)

Following the 1998 Thailand Masters...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 24916
2 = John Higgins 20705
3 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 18237
4 = Ken Doherty 15980
5 = John Parrott 15752
6 = Peter Ebdon 11841
7 +2 Mark Williams 11529
8 = Alan McManus 11359
9 -2 Stephen Lee 10430
10 +2 Anthony Hamilton 10390
11 -1 Paul Hunter 10058
12 +1 Nigel Bond 9713
13 +2 James Wattana 9338
14 -3 Matthew Stevens 9321
15 +1 Dominic Dale 8681
16 -2 Tony Drago 8581

Top 32
In: Martin Clark
Out: Jason Prince

Top 64
In: Alfie Burden; Stuart Pettman
Out: Nick Pearce; Joe Johnson

Top 128
In: Marco Fu; Craig MacGillivray
Out: Chris Shade; Tony Knowles

1998 British Open - Plymouth Pavilions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_British_Open

I can't recall the last time the top 2 ranked players met in a ranking event final. It happened here though, and the audience was in for a treat.
Hendry took a 3-1 lead, but Higgins pulled it back to 3-3, and from that point it was nip and tuck all the way. Only in 4 of the 17 frames did the pair fail to produce a 50+ break, and from 8-7 down, Higgins compiled a 102 and then an 85 break to claim victory.

QFs:
Mark Williams (7) 5-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)
John Higgins (2) 5-4 Gary Ponting (59)
Stephen Hendry (1) 5-1 John Parrott (5)
Ken Doherty (4) 5-1 Neal Foulds (52)

SFs:
Higgins (2) 6-4 Williams (7)
Hendry (1) 6-4 Doherty (4)

Final:
Higgins (2) 9-8 Hendry (1)

Following the 1998 British Open...

Top 16
1 = Stephen Hendry 26158
2 = John Higgins 22747
3 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 17855
4 = Ken Doherty 16386
5 = John Parrott 16008
6 +1 Mark Williams 12135
7 +2 Stephen Lee 10514
8 = Alan McManus 10303
9 +2 Paul Hunter 9991
10 = Anthony Hamilton 9968
11 -5 Peter Ebdon 9940
12 +2 Matthew Stevens 9938
13 +2 Dominic Dale 9648
14 -1 James Wattana 9158
15 +2 Mark King 8876
16 = Tony Drago 8437

In: Mark King
Out: Nigel Bond

Top 32
In: Lee Walker; Chris Small
Out: Terry Murphy; Martin Clark

Top 64
In: John Read; Nick Pearce
Out: Tony Chappel; Stuart Pettman

Top 128
In: Chris Shade
Out: Stephen Murphy

Chendu-ey, you deserve a SI medal for this thread. So brilliant.

Seeing as Dominic Dale has made your top 16, it will be interesting to see who will be the best player never to have made it in to your top 16 when you get up to date.

chengdufan wrote:1997 Grand Prix - Bournemouth International Centre

Out of the blue, Dominic Dale produced stunning form to win his first ranking title.
He had a tough route to the final, having to beat Hicks, Davis, Harold, Small, and a resurgent Jimmy White.

Dale needed 2 snookers against Harold on the brown to avoid losing 5-3. Quite a narrow window of opportunity he found.