Rankings revisit - a trip through history

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.

Am I reading this right? If he's 38 in 1999, then he can't be a year younger than Hendry, as Hendry would only be about 30 in 1999?

Dan-cat wrote: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

Or maybe the 90s and 00s were the anomaly and we just don't know it yet? An unusual glut of very talented young players.

LDS wrote:

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.

Am I reading this right? If he's 38 in 1999, then he can't be a year younger than Hendry, as Hendry would only be about 30 in 1999?

I was of course testing you all. Congrats to LDS for picking up on the deliberate mistake.

Robidoux b. 1960
Parrott b. 1964
Hendry b. 1969

1999 Welsh Open - Cardiff International Arena
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Welsh_Open_(snooker)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff

The Welsh Open moved to Cardiff in 1999, and the first ranking event of the year resulted in a cracker of a final between Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry.
It went to a deciding frame, with the Welshman delighting the home crowd by overcoming Hendry's 52 break to win the frame on the black, 63-54. I don't know if it was a respotted one or the frame scores were level following the pink.

There was a big shock in the last 16, with a 22-year-old Stuart Bingham (take a pause to imagine that for a moment) knocking out world number 1 John Higgins.
Bingham fell in the next round to Swail, who had a return to form after sliding down the rankings in recent times.

QFs:
Mark Williams (6) 5-4 Steve Davis (26)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 5-2 James Wattana (39)
Stephen Hendry (3) 5-2 Anthony Hamilton (15)
Joe Swail (33) 5-1 Stuart Bingham (118)

SFs:
Williams (6) 6-1 O'Sullivan (5)
Hendry (3) 6-2 Swail (33)

Final:
Williams (6) 9-8 Hendry (3)

Following the 1999 Welsh Open...

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 21383
2 +1 Stephen Hendry 17060
3 +3 Mark Williams 15830
4 +1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 14920
5 -3 Ken Doherty 14386
6 -2 John Parrott 14144
7 = Matthew Stevens 12413
8 = Stephen Lee 11851
9 +1 Dave Harold 9481
10 -1 Paul Hunter 9198
11 = Peter Ebdon 8842
12 = Alan McManus 8681
13 +2 Anthony Hamilton 8565
14 = Quinten Hann 8485
15 -2 Jimmy White 8281
16 = Fergal O'Brien 7596

Top 32
In: Joe Swail; James Wattana; Gerard Greene
Out: Chris Small; Jamie Burnett; Graeme Dott (bad day for Scots)

Top 64
In: Patrick Wallace; Joe Johnson; Michael Holt; Leigh Griffin
Out: Stuart Pettman; Dene O'Kane; Tony Jones; Karl Broughton

Top 128
In: Nick Terry; Nigel Gilbert; Patrick Delsemme; Paul McPhillips; Craig Harrison; Mario Geudens; Joe Grech (good day for Belgians)
Out: Antony Bolsover; Philip Williams; Shaun Murphy; Jeff Cundy; Adrian Rosa; Andrew Higginson

chengdufan wrote:It went to a deciding frame, with the Welshman delighting the home crowd by overcoming Hendry's 52 break to win the frame on the black, 63-54. I don't know if it was a respotted one or the frame scores were level following the pink.

If it was a re-spotted black, the final difference in points will always be seven points not, as in this case, nine.

I don't konw, ChengduFan - this and the William Hardy reference - I think you need a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and a lie-down.

Come back and see us next year!

SnookerEd25 wrote:

chengdufan wrote:It went to a deciding frame, with the Welshman delighting the home crowd by overcoming Hendry's 52 break to win the frame on the black, 63-54. I don't know if it was a respotted one or the frame scores were level following the pink.

If it was a re-spotted black, the final difference in points will always be seven points not, as in this case, nine.

I don't konw, ChengduFan - this and the William Hardy reference - I think you need a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and a lie-down.

Come back and see us next year!

You're right. It's been a stressful day. Really pushed myself at work today and was mentally exhausted by the end. And it's been like that most of the year.

Need a rest. Kettle's on

Enjoy!

chengdufan wrote:Following the 1999 Welsh Open...

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 21383
2 +1 Stephen Hendry 17060
3 +3 Mark Williams 15830
4 +1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 14920
5 -3 Ken Doherty 14386
6 -2 John Parrott 14144
7 = Matthew Stevens 12413
8 = Stephen Lee 11851
9 +1 Dave Harold 9481
10 -1 Paul Hunter 9198
11 = Peter Ebdon 8842
12 = Alan McManus 8681
13 +2 Anthony Hamilton 8565
14 = Quinten Hann 8485
15 -2 Jimmy White 8281
16 = Fergal O'Brien 7596

Top 32
In: Joe Swail; James Wattana; Gerard Greene
Out: Chris Small; Jamie Burnett; Graeme Dott (bad day for Scots)

Top 64
In: Patrick Wallace; Joe Johnson; Michael Holt; Leigh Griffin
Out: Stuart Pettman; Dene O'Kane; Tony Jones; Karl Broughton

Top 128
In: Nick Terry; Nigel Gilbert; Patrick Delsemme; Paul McPhillips; Craig Harrison; Mario Geudens; Joe Grech (good day for Belgians)
Out: Antony Bolsover; Philip Williams; Shaun Murphy; Jeff Cundy; Adrian Rosa; Andrew Higginson

joe grech is from malta another deliberate mistake mr dufan.

csprince wrote:

chengdufan wrote:Following the 1999 Welsh Open...

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 21383
2 +1 Stephen Hendry 17060
3 +3 Mark Williams 15830
4 +1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 14920
5 -3 Ken Doherty 14386
6 -2 John Parrott 14144
7 = Matthew Stevens 12413
8 = Stephen Lee 11851
9 +1 Dave Harold 9481
10 -1 Paul Hunter 9198
11 = Peter Ebdon 8842
12 = Alan McManus 8681
13 +2 Anthony Hamilton 8565
14 = Quinten Hann 8485
15 -2 Jimmy White 8281
16 = Fergal O'Brien 7596

Top 32
In: Joe Swail; James Wattana; Gerard Greene
Out: Chris Small; Jamie Burnett; Graeme Dott (bad day for Scots)

Top 64
In: Patrick Wallace; Joe Johnson; Michael Holt; Leigh Griffin
Out: Stuart Pettman; Dene O'Kane; Tony Jones; Karl Broughton

Top 128
In: Nick Terry; Nigel Gilbert; Patrick Delsemme; Paul McPhillips; Craig Harrison; Mario Geudens; Joe Grech (good day for Belgians)
Out: Antony Bolsover; Philip Williams; Shaun Murphy; Jeff Cundy; Adrian Rosa; Andrew Higginson

joe grech is from malta another deliberate mistake mr dufan.

Well, I was referring to Mario Geudens and Patrick Delsemme joining Bjorn Haneveer in the top 128, but with Grech re-entering too, you're right that declaring it a good day for European players may be more appropriate

Joe Grech always sounded like a mafia boss

1999 Scottish Open - Aberdeen Exhibition Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Scot ... n_(snooker)

The Scottish players generally performed strongly this year, with two making the final. Number 1 Higgins wasn't involved though, being beaten by compatriot Stephen Hendry in the semi-final. Hendry faced off against first time finalist Graeme Dott, who had beaten 4 top-16 players to reach that stage, Hann, Parrott, Hunter and Doherty.
The final was to be one step too far though for 21-year-old Dott, who lost the first 8 frames in a low-scoring match, and eventually lost 9-1.

4 of the quarter-finalists, and 6 of the last 16 were Scottish.

QFs:
Graeme Dott (46) 5-4 Paul Hunter (10)
Ken Doherty (5) 5-0 Mark Williams (3)
Stephen Hendry (2) 5-1 Alan McManus (12)
John Higgins (1) 5-4 Stephen Lee (8)

SFs:
Dott (46) 6-5 Doherty (5)
Hendry (2) 6-5 Higgins (1)

Final:
Hendry (2) 9-1 Dott (46)

Following the 1999 Scottish Open...

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 23022
2 = Stephen Hendry 19415
3 = Mark Williams 16296
4 +1 Ken Doherty 16142
5 -1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 15016
6 = John Parrott 14507
7 = Matthew Stevens 13309
8 = Stephen Lee 13140
9 +1 Paul Hunter 10634
10 -1 Dave Harold 9865
11 +1 Alan McManus 9631
12 -1 Peter Ebdon 9290
13 = Anthony Hamilton 8957
14 = Quinten Hann 8809
15 = Jimmy White 8723
16 = Fergal O'Brien 8029

Top 32
In: Graeme Dott; Chris Small; Jamie Burnett (good day for Scots)
Out: Mark King; James Wattana; Gerard Greene

Top 64
In: Karl Broughton; Stuart Pettman
Out: Dean Reynolds; Jason Prince

Top 128 - no change

1999 Thailand Masters - Ambassador Hotel, Bangkok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Thailand_Masters

It seems surprising to me that every Thai ranking event is held in Bangkok. It's a big country.
Anyway

Mark Williams retained his title. The final between him and Alan McManus looks to have been a classic, with 50+ breaks in 9 of the first 10 frames taking Williams into a 7-3 lead. He won the next, and looked comfy at 8-3 and with only one more frame needed for the title. McManus came back though, winning the next four frames, before eventually the Welshman got over the line to win 9-7.

The two finalists beat the number 1 and 2 ranked players in the quarter-finals.
Ronnie lost his first round match to Darren Morgan.

QFs:
Mark Williams (3) 5-2 Stephen Hendry (2)
John Parrott (6) 5-3 Ken Doherty (4)
Darren Morgan (44) 5-3 Steve Davis (20)
Alan McManus (11) 5-4 John Higgins (1)

SFs:
Williams (3) 6-2 Parrott (6)
McManus (11) 6-1 Morgan (44)

Final:
Williams (3) 9-7 McManus (11)

Following the 1999 Thailand Masters...

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 22140
2 = Stephen Hendry 19019
3 = Mark Williams 18934
4 = Ken Doherty 16197
5 +1 John Parrott 14979
6 -1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 14152
7 = Matthew Stevens 13343
8 = Stephen Lee 12842
9 +2 Alan McManus 11874
10 -1 Paul Hunter 10345
11 -1 Dave Harold 9688
12 +1 Anthony Hamilton 8951
13 -1 Peter Ebdon 8843
14 = Quinten Hann 7954
15 = Jimmy White 7790
16 +4 Steve Davis 7664

In: Steve Davis
Out: Fergal O'Brien

Top 32
In: Mark King; Darren Morgan; James Wattana
Out: Euan Henderson; Jamie Burnett; Chris Small

Top 64
In: Alain Robidoux; Jason Prince
Out: Shokat Ali; Paul Wykes

Top 128
In: David McLellan
Out: Joe Grech

1999 China International - JC Mandarin Hotel, Shanghai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_China_International
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai

A pair of Scots made the final again. This time it was Billy Snaddon who faced off against John Higgins. As expected, Higgins came out on top.
This would be Snaddon's only ranking event final.
They both reached the final by beating a Scot in the semis.

QFs:
John Higgins (1) 5-2 Paul Davies (27)
Alan McManus (9) 5-4 Ken Doherty (4)
Billy Snaddon (46) 5-3 Stephen Lee (8)
Stephen Hendry (2) 5-2 John Parrott (5)

SFs:
Higgins (1) 6-4 McManus (9)
Snaddon (46) 6-2 Hendry (2)

Final:
Higgins (1) 9-3 Snaddon (46)

Following the 1999 China International

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 25036
2 = Stephen Hendry 20331
3 = Mark Williams 19366
4 = Ken Doherty 17205
5 = John Parrott 15867
6 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 14656
7 +1 Stephen Lee 13762
8 -1 Matthew Stevens 13631
9 = Alan McManus 13502
10 = Paul Hunter 10345
11 = Dave Harold 9688
12 = Anthony Hamilton 9539
13 = Peter Ebdon 9383
14 +2 Steve Davis 8476
15 -1 Quinten Hann 8022
16 -1 Jimmy White 7790

Top 32
In: Billy Snaddon; Jamie Burnett
Out: James Wattana; Lee Walker

Top 64 - no change
Top 128 - no change

I always expected Snaddon to do better, but he seemed to disappear rather quickly. Does anyone know the reason for his decline?

Robidoux coming back.

1998-99 Season British Open - Plymouth Pavilions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Brit ... (1998/1999)

In the final ranking event before the 99 World Championship, there were a few surprises.
Fergal O'Brien and Anthony Hamilton both contested a ranking final for the first time, with O'Brien coming out on top. Hamilton had started superbly, with centuries in each of the opening two frames, and the standard remained high throughout, with 12 breaks over 50 in 16 frames, including 4 centuries in total.

Jimmy Michie produced a blinding spell of form to reach the semi-finals. He beat Drago, Campbell, O'Sullivan and Parrott along the way.

QFs:
John Higgins (1) 5-0 Brian Morgan (43)
Fergal O'Brien (17) 5-4 Peter Ebdon (13)
Jimmy Michie (55) 5-4 John Parrott (5)
Anthony Hamilton (12) 5-4 Stephen Hendry (2)

SFs:
O'Brien (17) 6-5 Higgins (1)
Hamilton (12) 6-1 Michie (55)

Final:
O'Brien (17) 9-7 Hamilton (12)

Following the 1998-99 season British Open

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 26744
2 = Stephen Hendry 19835
3 = Mark Williams 19079
4 = Ken Doherty 17071
5 = John Parrott 16346
6 = Ronnie O'Sullivan 14933
7 +1 Matthew Stevens 14099
8 -1 Stephen Lee 13941
9 = Alan McManus 13302
10 +2 Anthony Hamilton 12074
11 -1 Paul Hunter 11224
12 +5 Fergal O'Brien 10536
13 -2 Dave Harold 9658
14 -1 Peter Ebdon 9404
15 -1 Steve Davis 8682
16 = Jimmy White 8602

In: Fergal O'Brien
Out: Quinten Hann

Top 32
In: Chris Small
Out: Tony Drago

Top 64
In: Nick Walker; Dean Reynolds; Michael Judge; John Lardner; Steve James; Chris Scanlon; Leo Fernandez
Out: David Roe; Andy Hicks; Alain Robidoux; Martin Clark; Jason Prince; Karl Broughton; Stuart Pettman

Top 128
In: Joe Grech
Out: Paul McPhillips

1999 World Championship First round

Dave Harold was the only top 16 player who failed to qualify. He lost to Joe Perry in the final qualifying round.

John Higgins (1) 10-2 Gerard Greene (37)
Mark King (19) 10-8 Darren Morgan (29)
Stephen Lee (8) 10-7 John Lardner (55)
Alan McManus (9) 10-7 Jimmy White (16)
Mark Williams (3) 10-4 Ian McCulloch (39)
Alain Robidoux (68) 6-10 Nick Walker (44)
Nigel Bond (47) 10-6 Dominic Dale (26)
Ken Doherty (4) 10-3 Steve James (61)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) 10-3 Leo Fernandez (63)
Steve Davis (15) 9-10 Joe Perry (21)
Anthony Hamilton (10) 9-10 Chris Small (30)
John Parrott (5) 10-8 Terry Murphy (48)
Peter Ebdon (14) 7-10 Matthew Stevens (7)
Tony Drago (36) 10-4 Fergal O'Brien (12)
James Wattana (40) 10-8 Marco Fu (18)
Stephen Hendry (2) 10-8 Paul Hunter (11)

1999 World Championship - Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Worl ... ampionship

Stephen Hendry won his seventh and final (barring miracles) World title.
Mark Williams firmly announced his presence as one of the top contenders by beating John Higgins 17-10 in the semi-finals.

L16:
Higgins (1) 13-4 King (19)
McManus (9) 7-13 Lee (8)
Williams (3) 13-7 Walker (44)
Doherty (4) 13-11 Bond (47)
O'Sullivan (6) 13-8 Perry (21)
Parrott (5) 13-12 Small (30)
Drago (36) 8-13 Stevens (7)
Hendry (2) 13-7 Wattana (40)

QFs (Quite cool I think that the 8 quarter finalists are the top 8 ranked players in these rankings):
Higgins (1) 13-6 Lee (8)
Doherty (4) 9-13 Williams (3)
O'Sullivan (6) 13-9 Parrott (5)
Hendry (2) 13-5 Stevens (7)

SFs:
Higgins (1) 10-17 Williams (3)
Hendry (2) 17-13 O'Sullivan (6)

Final:
Hendry (2) 18-11 Williams (3)

To the end of the 98-99 season, 140 ranking events have been played. Here is the roll of honour:

Stephen Hendry 31 (99 Scottish Open | 99 World Championship)
Steve Davis 28
John Higgins 11 (98 UK Championship | 99 China International)
Jimmy White 9
John Parrott 9
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6
Mark Williams 6 (98 Irish Open | 99 Welsh Open | 99 Thailand Masters)
Ray Reardon 5
James Wattana 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, Paul Hunter, Stephen Lee (98 Grand Prix), Fergal O'Brien (99 British Open): 1 each

Here are the final rankings at the end of the 98-99 season, with the +- indicating the rise or fall since the start of the season.

1 = John Higgins 29008
2 = Stephen Hendry 25506
3 +3 Mark Williams 24524
4 -1 Ken Doherty 18905
5 -1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 18531
6 -1 John Parrott 17993
7 +1 Matthew Stevens 15566
8 +1 Stephen Lee 15173
9 +2 Alan McManus 14204
10 = Anthony Hamilton 12283
11 +3 Paul Hunter 11782
12 +10 Fergal O'Brien 10641
13 -6 Peter Ebdon 9612
14 +6 Steve Davis 8913
15 +9 Dave Harold 8734
16 -4 Jimmy White 8618
17 +30 Joe Perry 8231
18 -5 Mark King 8109
19 +94 Marco Fu 7773
20 +7 Quinten Hann 7633
21 +15 Chris Small 7155
22 +36 Paul Davies 7136
23 +30 Joe Swail 6861
24 +5 Bradley Jones 6798
25 -9 Tony Drago 6729
26= +9 Gary Ponting 6540
26= -11 James Wattana 6540
28 -3 Darren Morgan 6500
29 +43 Matthew Couch 6489
30 +14 Marcus Campbell 6399
31 +7 Billy Snaddon 6297
32 -14 Nigel Bond 6131
33 -7 Graeme Dott 6078
34 +32 Nick Walker 6039
35 -18 Dominic Dale 5886
36 +7 Gerard Greene 5742
37 +9 Ian McCulloch 5695
38 -10 Lee Walker 5656
39 +50 Dave Finbow 5606
40 = Euan Henderson 5594
41 -18 Jamie Burnett 5434
42 -8 Terry Murphy 5218
43 -4 Brian Morgan 5170
44 +41 Jimmy Michie 4954
45 -24 Gary Wilkinson 4665
46 -5 Peter Lines 4661
47 +4 Alfie Burden 4637
48 +1 Drew Henry 4442
49 +52 John Lardner 4353
50 = Jonathan Birch 4198
51 +35 Leigh Griffin 4158
52 +96 Michael Holt 4146
53 -1 Dean Reynolds 4126
54 +19 Rod Lawler 4109
55 +24 Steve James 3965
56 +62 Leo Fernandez 3931
57 -38 Alain Robidoux 3830
58 +118 Patrick Wallace 3720
59 -4 Michael Judge 3589
60 -4 Chris Scanlon 3568
61 +4 Joe Johnson 3548
62 -31 David Gray 3517
63 -15 Neal Foulds 3496
64 +3 Nick Pearce 3448
65 -35 Andy Hicks 3439
66 -34 Jason Ferguson 3407
67 -7 David Roe 3385
68 -31 Martin Clark 3309
69 -1 John Read 3254
70 +69 Stuart Bingham 3185
71 -14 Karl Broughton 3168
72 -39 Jason Prince 3153
73 +19 Darren Clarke 3142
74 +20 Mark Gray 3091
75 -14 Paul Wykes 3014
76 -6 Stuart Pettman 2965
77 -14 Tony Jones 2950
78 -36 Shokat Ali 2896
79 -10 Martin Dziewialtowski 2852
80 +15 Anthony Davies 2815
81 = Stephen O'Connor 2681
82 -6 Steve Judd 2676
83 -12 Dene O'Kane 2626
84 +27 Craig MacGillivray 2564
85 -40 Stefan Mazrocis 2526
86 -27 Mick Price 2517
87 -23 Tony Chappel 2452
88 -5 Lee Richardson 2388
89 -35 Sean Storey 2366
90 -13 Willie Thorne 2307
91 +7 Robert Milkins 2252
92 +30 Robin Hull 2205
93 -31 Mark Davis 2125
94 +52 Tony Knowles 2079
95 -20 Mark Bennett 2065
96 -14 Simon Bedford 2029
97 -17 Wayne Brown 2016
98 NEW Kristjan Helgason 1862
99 -25 Karl Burrows 1851
100 +17 Paul Sweeny 1845
101 -10 Troy Shaw 1766
102 -15 Joe Delaney 1754
103 -10 Karl Payne 1738
104 RETURNING Phaitoon Phonbun 1729
105 -27 Dennis Taylor 1721
106 -9 Ian Brumby 1721
107 -4 Peter McCullagh 1694
108 -24 Wayne Jones 1635
109 -1 Alan Burnett 1626
110= -13 Barry Pinches 1600
110= NEW Adrian Gunnell 1600
112 +78 Hugh Abernethy 1575
113 +50 Craig Harrison 1546
114 -24 Graham Horne 1544
115 +22 Nigel Gilbert 1510
116 +107 Barry Mapstone 1460
117 RETURNING Colm Gilcreest 1439
118 +33 Mario Geudens 1376
119 -4 Nick Terry 1235
120 +91 Patrick Delsemme 1190
121 -9 Bjorn Haneveer 1163
122 +11 Darryn Walker 1161
123 -18 Jason Weston 1105
124 RETURNING John Whitty 1058
125 -23 David McLellan 1013
126 +26 Mark Fenton 981
127 RETURNING David McDonnell 972
128 +59 Joe Grech 956

*RETURNING means was unranked at the end of 97-98, but did have a ranking earlier

99-00 season British Open - Plymouth Pavilions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Brit ... (1999/2000)

Stephen Hendry was at his best in Plymouth, beating Stephen Lee and Ronnie O'Sullivan on his was to the final, and then knocking in 8 50+ breaks (including a maximum) to defeat Peter Ebdon in the final.

Number 1, John Higgins, was thrashed 5-1 by O'Sullivan in the quarters, while Mark Williams fell to Steve Davis in the last 16.

Nick Walker, fresh from making the second round at the Crucible, again fared well by making it to the last 16, where he lost narrowly, 5-3 to Hendry.
I must admit, I don't remember Walker, who was born in 1973 and was 26 at the time of this spell of form. His Wiki article says his highest ranking was 42, though in these rankings he is now as high as 21st. He is going to retire from snooker in 2005, when he is 31.

QFs:
Joe Swail (23) 5-4 Alan McManus (9)
Peter Ebdon (13) 5-2 Steve Davis (14)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) 5-1 John Higgins (1)
Stephen Hendry (2) 5-2 Stephen Lee (8)

SFs:
Ebdon (13) 6-3 Swail (23)
Hendry (2) 6-5 O'Sullivan (4)

Final:
Hendry (2) 9-5 Ebdon (13)

Following the 99-00 season British Open (which was the first ranking event for Mark Selby and Ryan Day)

Top 16
1 = John Higgins 22746
2 = Stephen Hendry 22518
3 = Mark Williams 20253
4 +1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 15651
5 +1 John Parrott 13521
6 -2 Ken Doherty 13487
7 +1 Stephen Lee 12702
8 -1 Matthew Stevens 11801
9 = Alan McManus 11724
10 +3 Peter Ebdon 9866
11 = Paul Hunter 9416
12 -2 Anthony Hamilton 9325
13 -1 Fergal O'Brien 9026
14 = Steve Davis 7870
15 = Dave Harold 6924
16 +3 Marco Fu 6854

In: Marco Fu
Out: Jimmy White

Top 32
In: Nick Walker; Dominic Dale; Graeme Dott
Out: Matthew Couch; Billy Snaddon; Marcus Campbell

Top 64
In: Darren Clarke; Stuart Bingham; Anthony Davies
Out: Neal Foulds; David Gray; Alain Robidoux

Top 128
In: Stephen Maguire; Mike Dunn
Out: Joe Grech; David McDonnell

I am intrigued to see McCulloch's ranking around 2005/06

At the time it felt like Hendry was reestablishing himself as the no.1 player.

Alex0paul wrote:I am intrigued to see McCulloch's ranking around 2005/06

McCulloch was well & truly shafted by Murphy winning the ‘05 WC. Not sure he ever really recovered from it...