Benson & Hedges Masters 1998 (original) (raw)
Wembley Conference Centre,London, England (Feb 1-8, 1998)
Invitational tournament
�535,000 purse
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Report
Welshman Mark J Williams won his fourth major title when he potted a re-spotted black to beat world No.1 Stephen Hendry from Scotland 10-9 in the final. The last time a major professional final was decided on a re-spotted black was in 1975 when John Spencer from England defeated Welshman Ray Reardon 9-8 in the first edition of the Masters.
Williams was trailing 56-34 in the final frame when he cleared up from brown to tie the scores. After seven shots on the black he finally buried the ball in a baulk pocket. Hendry had at one time been 9-6 up, but he failed to negotiate any of his many match-winning chances, and thus lost his fifth straight major final. His last victory came 11 months ago, in the 1997 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters.
The �145,000 winner's cheque more than doubled his previous biggest pay-day. Hendry pocketed a "meager" �75,000 in this, one of snooker's richest events. Andy Hicks won the �16,000 high break prize with a 142 total clearance in his 5-4 first round loss to Darren Morgan.
Results
(Players are English unless stated)
Final
Mark J Williams (Wales) 10-9 Stephen Hendry (Scotland)
63-72, 68-34 (64), 45-79, 0-98 (98), 82-36, 0-121 (120), 6-70 (70), 80-66, 64-26, 104-1 (100), 0-106 (67), 87-2, 1-69, 44-73 (69), 0-78 (78), 72-60 (54H), 70-20 (69), 52-23, 63-56
Semi-finals
Mark J Williams (Wales) 6-3 Steve Davis
8-84 (84), 62-53, 10-80 (50), 54-53, 78-7, 0-104 (104), 83-23, 91-8 (61), 57-55
Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-5 Ken Doherty (Ireland)
14-73 (73), 66-52, 131-4 (131), 0-78 (56), 80-1 (80), 31-69, 130-0 (122), 0-75 (60), 9-70 (57), 73-19, 69-29 (68)
Quarter-finals
Mark J Williams (Wales) 6-3 Anthony Hamilton Steve Davis 6-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan Ken Doherty (Ireland) 6-1 James Wattana (Thailand) Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-3 Nigel Bond
Second round
Mark J Williams (Wales) 6-4 Alan McManus (Scotland) Anthony Hamilton 6-3 John Higgins (Scotland) Steve Davis 6-2 Darren Morgan (Wales) Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 Alain Robidoux (Canada) James Wattana (Thailand) 6-5 John Parrott Ken Doherty (Ireland) 6-4 Tony Drago (Malta) Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-1 Stephen Lee Nigel Bond 6-2 Peter Ebdon
First round
Darren Morgan (Wales) 5-4 Andy Hicks Stephen Lee 5-1 Jimmy White
Related Pages
External
Internal
1995 Benson & Hedges Masters
1996 Benson & Hedges Masters
1997 Benson & Hedges Masters
Benson & Hedges Masters Finals
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