Rankings revisit - a trip through history

Changing of the guard happening

1998 World Championship - Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Worl ... ampionship

First round
Ken Doherty (4) 10-8 Lee Walker (30)
Stephen Lee (7) 10-4 Andy Hicks (29)
Alain Robidoux (20) 8-10 Matthew Stevens (12)
Nigel Bond (17) 5-10 Mark King (15)
Peter Ebdon (11) 10-3 Terry Murphy (37)
James Wattana (14) 9-10 Fergal O'Brien (25)
Steve Davis (23) 10-6 Simon Bedford (90)
Mark Williams (6) 10-9 Quinten Hann (28)
John Higgins (2) 10-8 Jason Ferguson (39)
Anthony Hamilton (10) 10-8 Dave Harold (24)
Tony Drago (16) 10-8 Alfie Burden (58)
John Parrott (5) 10-4 Peter Lines (49)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 10-5 Joe Swail (64)
Alan McManus (8) 10-8 David Gray (36)
Darren Morgan (26) 10-8 Jason Prince (34)
Stephen Hendry (1) 4-10 Jimmy White (19)

Two members of the top 16 failed to qualify, Paul Hunter and Dominic Dale. Hunter lost to Mark King, while Dale was beaten by Ian McCulloch.

L16
Doherty (4) 13-8 Lee (7)
King (15) 9-13 Stevens (12)
Ebdon (11) 13-5 O'Brien (25)
Williams (6) 13-6 Davis (23)
Higgins (2) 13-9 Hamilton (10)
Parrott (5) 13-7 Drago (16)
O'Sullivan (3) 13-4 McManus (8)
Morgan (26) 3-13 White (19)

QFs:
Doherty (4) 13-10 Stevens (12)
Williams (6) 13-11 Ebdon (11)
Higgins (2) 13-11 Parrott (5)
O'Sullivan (3) 13-7 White (19)

SFs:
Doherty (4) 17-14 Williams (6)
Higgins (2) 17-9 O'Sullivan (3)

Final:
Doherty (4) 12-18 Higgins (2)

It's interesting that only two matches in the championship were surprise results using these rankings, O'Brien and White's wins over Wattana and Hendry in the first round.

John Higgins won his first world title and moves up to number 1 in the rankings in the process! It's the first time we've had a new number one since October 1993. He beat defending champion Doherty in the final.

Ranking number 1s:

Ray Reardon 25/04/74-29/04/77 (3 yrs)
John Spencer 30/04/77-28/04/78 (1 yr)
Ray Reardon 29/04/78-27/04/79 (1 yr)
Terry Griffiths 28/04/79-04/05/80 (1 yr)
Alex Higgins 05/05/80-20/04/81 (1 yr)
Steve Davis 21/04/81-15/05/82 (1 yr)
Ray Reardon 16/05/82-01/05/83 (1 yr)
Tony Knowles 02/05/83-08/10/83 (5 mths)
Steve Davis 09/10/83-20/10/83 (11 days)
Tony Knowles 21/10/83-14/01/84 (3 mths)
Steve Davis 15/01/84-20/10/90 (6 yrs 9 mths)
Stephen Hendry 21/10/90-28/11/92 (2 yrs)
Jimmy White 29/11/92-09/10/93 (1 yr)
Stephen Hendry 10/10/93-03/05/98 (4.5 yrs)
John Higgins 04/05/98

To the end of the 97-98 season, 131 ranking events have been played. Here is the roll of honour:

Stephen Hendry 29 (1998 Thailand Masters)
Steve Davis 28
Jimmy White 9
John Parrott 9
John Higgins 9 (1997 German Open | 1998 British Open | 1998 World Championship)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 (1997 UK Championship | 1998 Scottish Open)
Ray Reardon 5
James Wattana 3
Mark Williams 3
Cliff Thorburn 2
Tony Knowles 2
Dennis Taylor 2
Doug Mountjoy 2
Alan McManus 2
Peter Ebdon 2
Ken Doherty 2
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, Dominic Dale (1997 Grand Prix), Paul Hunter (1998 Welsh Open): 1 each

Rankings at the end of the 1997-98 season:

1 +1 John Higgins 28508
2 -1 Stephen Hendry 26333
3 = Ken Doherty 22204
4 +3 Ronnie O'Sullivan 21573
5 +1 John Parrott 18138
6 -1 Mark Williams 15386
7 -3 Peter Ebdon 12360
8 +33 Matthew Stevens 11753
9 +4 Stephen Lee 11677
10 +7 Anthony Hamilton 11362
11 -1 Alan McManus 11109
12 +16 Jimmy White 10089
13 +7 Mark King 9775
14 +12 Paul Hunter 9674
15 -4 James Wattana 9299
16 -4 Tony Drago 9162
17 +13 Dominic Dale 8815
18 -10 Nigel Bond 8401
19 -10 Alain Robidoux 7753
20 -6 Steve Davis 7613
21 -3 Gary Wilkinson 7601
22 +2 Fergal O'Brien 7371
23 +6 Jamie Burnett 7151
24 -8 Dave Harold 7070
25 -10 Darren Morgan 7019
26 -4 Graeme Dott 6875
27 +59 Quinten Hann 6558
28 +17 Lee Walker 6393
29 +25 Bradley Jones 6062
30 -7 Andy Hicks 6060
31 +48 David Gray 5984
32 +27 Jason Ferguson 5874
33 +13 Jason Prince 5860
34 -15 Terry Murphy 5459
35 +55 Gary Ponting 5374
36 -5 Chris Small 5272
37 = Martin Clark 5184
38 -17 Billy Snaddon 5130
39 -7 Brian Morgan 4937
40 -5 Euan Henderson 4811
41 +47 Peter Lines 4748
42 +8 Shokat Ali 4734
43 +17 Gerard Greene 4716
44 +38 Marcus Campbell 4681
45 -7 Stefan Mazrocis 4601
46 +25 Ian McCulloch 4600
47 +74 Joe Perry 4578
48 +9 Neal Foulds 4480
49 -15 Drew Henry 4350
50 -1 Jonathan Birch 4273
51 +74 Alfie Burden 4123
52 +11 Dean Reynolds 4079
53 -20 Joe Swail 4037
54 +43 Sean Storey 4021
55 -19 Michael Judge 3884
56 +8 Chris Scanlon 3860
57 -30 Karl Broughton 3857
58 -15 Paul Davies 3837
59 -8 Mick Price 3812
60 -12 David Roe 3693
61 +11 Paul Wykes 3603
62 -23 Mark Davis 3488
63 +2 Tony Jones 3437
64 -20 Tony Chappel 3406
65 -25 Joe Johnson 3374
66 = Nick Walker 3343
67 -14 Nick Pearce 3338
68 +40 John Read 3312
69 +57 Martin Dziewialtowski 3271
70 +26 Stuart Pettman 3265
71 -16 Dene O'Kane 3197
72 +38 Matthew Couch 3034
73 -48 Rod Lawler 3033
74 +9 Karl Burrows 3028
75 -28 Mark Bennett 3002
76 +25 Steve Judd 2834
77 -9 Willie Thorne 2735
78 -20 Dennis Taylor 2722
79 -23 Steve James 2580
80 +12 Wayne Brown 2569
81 +19 Stephen O'Connor 2461
82 +192 Simon Bedford 2350
83 +10 Lee Richardson 2344
84 -15 Wayne Jones 2238
85 -43 Jimmy Michie 2155
86 +54 Leigh Griffin 2129
87 +60 Joe Delaney 2127
88 -21 Jamie Woodman 2031
89 -37 Dave Finbow 1960
90 -29 Graham Horne 1951
91 +54 Troy Shaw 1926
92 -8 Darren Clarke 1852
93 -12 Karl Payne 1844
94 +54 Mark Gray 1816
95 -21 Anthony Davies 1586
96 +6 Ian Brumby 1507
97 -27 Barry Pinches 1496
98 -23 Robert Milkins 1465
99 -37 Terry Griffiths 1375
100 +143 Andrew Higginson 1362
101 +36 John Lardner 1336
102 -29 David McLellan 1254
103 +64 Peter McCullagh 1210
104 -27 Paul McPhillips 1123
105 -19 Jason Weston 1099
106 -30 Antony Bolsover 1087
107 +13 Adrian Rosa 995
108 -10 Alan Burnett 964
109 +2 Ian Sargeant 962
110 -6 Tai Pichit 891
111 +38 Craig MacGillivray 875
112 +90 Bjorn Haneveer 848
113 NEW Marco Fu 840
114 -23 Noppadon Noppachorn 828
115 -37 Nick Terry 824
116 +16 Brian Rowswell 786
117 -2 Paul Sweeny 766
118 +28 Leo Fernandez 701
119 -12 Jason Wallace 694
120 -40 Mark Johnston-Allen 668
121 -26 Steve Newbury 646
122 -16 Robin Hull 631
123 -38 Mark Flowerdew 592
124 -25 Nick Dyson 581
125 -36 Yasin Merchant 579
126 -10 Dylan Leary 568
127 -14 Chris Shade 556
128 -34 Stephen Murphy 551

Numbers wise Jason Ferguson have Higgins his hardest match!

chengdufan wrote:L16
Doherty (4) 13-8 Lee (7)
King (15) 9-13 Stevens (12)
Ebdon (11) 13-5 O'Brien (25)
Williams (6) 13-6 Davis (23)
Higgins (2) 13-9 Hamilton (10)
Parrott (5) 13-7 Drago (16)
O'Sullivan (3) 13-4 McManus (8)
Morgan (26) 3-13 White (19)

QFs:
Doherty (4) 13-10 Stevens (12)
Williams (6) 13-11 Ebdon (11)
Higgins (2) 13-11 Parrott (5)
O'Sullivan (3) 13-7 White (19)

SFs:
Doherty (4) 17-14 Williams (6)
Higgins (2) 17-9 O'Sullivan (3)

Final:
Doherty (4) 12-18 Higgins (2)

It's interesting that only two matches in the championship were surprise results using these rankings, O'Brien and White's wins over Wattana and Hendry in the first round.

John Higgins won his first world title and moves up to number 1 in the rankings in the process! It's the first time we've had a new number one since October 1993. He beat defending champion Doherty in the final.

I remember the Higgins v Parrott quarter final - it was a great match. 4-4 after 1 session, 8-8 after 2. Higgins made three consecutive centuries - 102, 143 and 139 to lead 10-8, then Parrott won three in a row to lead 11-10 before Higgins again played some fantastic snooker to win the last three for the match.

LC wrote:Numbers wise Jason Ferguson have Higgins his hardest match!

Williams vs Hann was a cracker as well.

LDS wrote:

LC wrote:Numbers wise Jason Ferguson have Higgins his hardest match!

Williams vs Hann was a cracker as well.

Yea, didn’t Williams do an Ebdon at the end and start shouting?

We have a new format again for ranking events in the 98-99 season. For UK-based events, qualifying involves 166 players, with 32 seeded through to the venue.

R1 (Last 198)
64 players

R2 (Last 166)
64 players (32 R1 winners + 32 players seeded through)

R3 (Last 134)
64 players (32 R2 winners + 32 players seeded through)

Extra round
12 players (6 R3 winners + 6 international players:
Marco Fu (HK)
Mario Geudens (Bel)
Richard Somauroo (Mau)
Phaitoon Phonbun (Thai)
Shawn Budd (Aus)
Tom Finstad (Can))

R4 (Last 96)
64 players (26 R3 winners + 6 Extra round winners + 32 players seeded through)

The 32 winners of R4 play the 32 who were seeded through to the venue.

For overseas events, the venue only hosts matches from the last 32 stage, and so only 16 players are seeded through and can avoid qualifying.

R1 (Last 198)
64 players

R2 (Last 166)
64 players (32 R1 winners + 32 players seeded through)

R3 (Last 134)
64 players (32 R2 winners + 32 players seeded through)

Extra round
12 players (6 R3 winners + 6 international players:
Marco Fu (HK)
Mario Geudens (Bel)
Richard Somauroo (Mau)
Phaitoon Phonbun (Thai)
Shawn Budd (Aus)
Tom Finstad (Can))

R4 (Last 96)
64 players (26 R3 winners + 6 Extra round winners + 32 players seeded through)

R5 (Last 64)
32 players (32 R4 winners)

R6 (Last 48)
32 players (16 R5 winners + 16 players seeded through)

1998 Grand Prix - Guild Hall, Preston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Grand_Prix_(snooker)

As has often been the case with early season events, there were a lot of surprises in this one. Stephen Lee won his first ranking event, contesting a final for the first time. His opponent in the final, Marco Fu, was playing in only his third ever ranking event.
Most pleasingly for me, the two players' family names combine for only 5 letters! There's a strange sense of satisfaction in typing the results

New number 1, John Higgins, lost to Quinten Hann in the last 64.
Hendry was beaten by Dave Harold in the quarters.
Fu beat O'Sullivan in the last 16.
The last 32 saw Doherty fall to Shokat Ali, Williams beaten by Darren Morgan, and Parrott defeated by Chris Small.

QFs:
Chris Small (36) 5-3 Jamie Burnett (23)
Marco Fu (113) 5-3 Peter Ebdon (7)
Dave Harold (24) 5-4 Stephen Hendry (2)
Stephen Lee (9) 5-0 Quinten Hann (27)

SFs:
Fu (113) 6-1 Small (36)
Lee (9) 6-4 Harold (24)

Final:
Lee (9) 9-2 Fu (113)

There were qualifying matches for six tournaments over the summer. These, combined with the 1998 Grand Prix, mean there have been a lot of changes in the rankings, particularly att he lower end.

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 21462
2 = Stephen Hendry 17312
3 = Ken Doherty 16940
4 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 15691
5 = John Parrott 13744
6 = Mark Williams 11924
7 +2 Stephen Lee 11431
8 = Matthew Stevens 9929
9 +1 Anthony Hamilton 8805
10 -3 Peter Ebdon 8708
11 +1 Jimmy White 8397
12 +15 Quinten Hann 8310
13 -2 Alan McManus 7848
14 = Paul Hunter 7579
15 -2 Mark King 7211
16 +1 Dominic Dale 7101

In: Quinten Hann; Dominic Dale
Out: James Wattana; Tony Drago

Top 32
In: Joe Perry; Chris Small; Gary Ponting; Euan Henderson; Marco Fu
Out: Steve Davis; Alain Robidoux; Andy Hicks; Graeme Dott

Top 64
In: Matthew Couch; Dave Finbow; John Read; Stuart Pettman; Martin Dziewialtowski
Out: Stefan Mazrocis; Michael Judge; Sean Storey; Chris Scanlon; Mark Davis; Tony Chappel

Top 128
In (take a deep breath): Patrick Wallace; Kristjan Helgason; Michael Holt; Adrian Gunnell; Tony Knowles; Phaitoon Phonbun; David McDonnell; Darryn Walker; Mark Fenton; Stuart Bingham; Hugh Abernethy; Jeff Cundy; Colm Gilcreest; Barry Mapstone; Shaun Murphy; Oliver King

Out: Antony Bolsover; Ian Sargeant; Mark Johnston-Allen; Terry Griffiths; David McLellan; Chris Shade; Tai Pichit; Brian Rowswell; Jason Wallace; Steve Newbury; Noppadon Noppachorn; Yasin Merchant; Nick Dyson; Dylan Leary; Stephen Murphy; Mark Flowerdew

1998 UK Championship - Bournemouth International Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_UK_Championship

Curiously, the Grand Prix was played at the Guild Hall, while the UK was at the BIC this year.

23-year-old John Higgins surpassed Jimmy White and John Parrott's hauls of 9 ranking titles by winning his tenth. In beating Matthew Stevens in the final, he moves into third place on the list of all-time ranking event winners.

Stephen Hendry lost 9-0 to Marcus Campbell in the first round
Ronnie O'Sullivan didn't play, having a rest due to 'physical and nervous exhaustion'.

L16
Matthew Stevens (8) 9-5 Rod Lawler (74)
Matthew Couch (52) 9-5 Michael Holt (104)
Dave Harold (17) 9-4 Mark Williams (6)
Fergal O'Brien (25) 9-7 Ken Doherty (3)
Steve Davis (34) 9-7 Marcus Campbell (45)
Paul Hunter (14) 9-2 Jimmy White (11)
John Parrott (5) 9-6 Gary Ponting (28)
John Higgins (1) 9-3 Terry Murphy (48)

QFs
Stevens (8) 9-5 Couch (52)
Harold (17)9-4 O'Brien (25)
Hunter (14) 9-4 Davis (34)
Higgins (1) 9-6 Parrott (5)

SFs
Stevens (8) 9-7 Harold (17)
Higgins (1) 9-4 Hunter (14)

Final
Higgins (1) 10-6 Stevens (8)

Following the 1998 UK Championship

1 = John Higgins 22872
2 +2 Ronnie O'Sullivan 15675
3 -1 Stephen Hendry 15646
4 -1 Ken Doherty 14851
5 = John Parrott 14131
6 +2 Matthew Stevens 12964
7 = Stephen Lee 11418
8 -2 Mark Williams 10927
9 +5 Paul Hunter 10170
10 +7 Dave Harold 9669
11 -2 Anthony Hamilton 8627
12 = Quinten Hann 8554
13 -2 Jimmy White 8202
14 -4 Peter Ebdon 8146
15 +10 Fergal O'Brien 7434
16 -3 Alan McManus 7402

In: Dave Harold; Fergal O'Brien
Out: Mark King; Dominic Dale

Top 32
In: Marcus Campbell; Matthew Couch; Steve Davis; Terry Murphy; Paul Davies
Out: Euan Henderson; Darren Morgan; Lee Walker; Jason Ferguson; James Wattana

Top 64
In: Rod Lawler; Dene O'Kane
Out: Stuart Pettman; Mick Price

Top 128
In: John Whitty; Antony Bolsover
Out: Paul McPhillips; Oliver King

1998 Irish Open - National Basketball Arena, Dublin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Irish_Open
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin

This was the first ever ranking event to be held in Ireland.

Mark Williams picked up his fourth ranking title, beating Alan McManus comfortably in the final. Williams raced into a 6-0 lead. Although Angles was able to win the next three to pull it back to 6-3, it was too little too late, with the Welshman eventually going on to win 9-4.

Stephen Lee picked up the scalp of John Higgins in the last 16.
On his return to action, O'Sullivan lost to Jimmy Michie in the first round.

QFs:
John Parrott (5) 5-2 Stephen Lee (7)
Mark Williams (8) 5-1 Ken Doherty (4)
Alan McManus (16) 5-3 Billy Snaddon (57)
Tony Drago (27) 5-4 Stephen Hendry (3)

SFs:
Williams (8) 6-1 Parrott (5)
McManus (16) 6-3 Drago (27)

Final:
Williams (8) 9-4 McManus (16)

Following the 1998 Irish Open...

1 = John Higgins 21250
2 +2 Ken Doherty 14336
3 = Stephen Hendry 14148
4 +1 John Parrott 14044
5 -3 Ronnie O'Sullivan 13640
6 +2 Mark Williams 12816
7 -1 Matthew Stevens 12089
8 -1 Stephen Lee 11547
9 = Paul Hunter 10075
10 = Dave Harold 9569
11 +3 Peter Ebdon 8484
12 +4 Alan McManus 8467
13 = Jimmy White 8189
14 -2 Quinten Hann 8166
15 -4 Anthony Hamilton 7925
16 -1 Fergal O'Brien 7414

Top 32
In: Lee Walker; Graeme Dott; Euan Henderson
Out: Nigel Bond; Terry Murphy; Gary Wilkinson

Top 64
In: Jimmy Michie; Stuart Pettman
Out: Martin Dziewialtowski; Alain Robidoux

Robidoux, who is in the top 16 in the official rankings, falls out of the top 64 after only the third event of the 98-99 season.

Top 128
In: Philip Williams
Out: Nick Terry

The Irish Open was an odd one. It seemed thrown together with only a few weeks notice. It had no TV coverage although I remember it getting a lot of attention from newspapers and Radio.

Robidoux's decline was rather swift

Dan-cat wrote:Robidoux's decline was rather swift

Didn't his (ex-)manager smash his cue up in a fit of rage?

It was the original cue-maker; Alain sent it back to him for repair, & he took exception to a sponsor’s logo that had beenapplied, smashed it into pieces & returned it in bits.

Think Robidoux sued him, but the damage had been done & his career went downhill.

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Robidoux's decline was rather swift

Didn't his (ex-)manager smash his cue up in a fit of rage?

This is a new one for me!

I googled it and most reports suggest it was a cue maker, who was annoyed that the cue had a Riley badge on? You can't make it up.

'Unlucky Alain suffered a terrible 1997/98 season after his cue doctor smashed his cue when he saw a Riley sticker on it.'

Ha! Snap, Ed.

However, surely he could have got on with another cue eventually?! That's mental.

Well, he still plays on the Canadian (amateur) circuit, has been Canadian champion 4 times in the 21st century so he must have got some form together with a new cue. I guess it must have taken him a while to get used to a new one (& get over the shock of what happened to his original) & by that time he’d gone so far down the rankings it probably didn’t seem worth it.

Canada's last link to top level Snooker soon to be gone.

I suppose the problem was, in the time it took to get used to a new cue he was losing matches and it sapped his confidence. All that hard work to get established in the top 16 had been wiped out by a freakish incident. Pretty hard to come to terms with, particularly when you’re far from home. Nice guy, Alain, and a sad way for his career to fizzle out.

Looking at Robidoux's 97-98 season he ran O'Sullivan to a deciding frame at the Masters and Matthew Stevens to 10-8 at the World Championship but he was getting hammered by Paul Davies and Skokat Ali.

Worth noting that Robidoux became a pro relatively late, at the age of 29. He is 38 at this point in the rankings history.
For the sake of comparison, he is 1 year younger than Hendry, and 5 years younger than Parrott.
The 1999 Welsh Open is the next event, and he did quite well, winning two matches to reach the last 16. It isn't enough to get him back into the top 64 though.

chengdufan wrote:Worth noting that Robidoux became a pro relatively late, at the age of 29. He is 38 at this point in the rankings history.
For the sake of comparison, he is 1 year younger than Hendry, and 5 years younger than Parrott.
The 1999 Welsh Open is the next event, and he did quite well, winning two matches to reach the last 16. It isn't enough to get him back into the top 64 though.

Excellent point. He would have prob been in a bit of decline then anyway and his cue incident hastened his demise.

Aside from Ray Reardon, and the renaissance of my beloved Doug Mountjoy, the trend of 40+ players doing so well is a relatively recent thing