1998 Masters (snooker)#Qualifying

{{short description|Professional non-ranking snooker tournament, Feb 1998}}

{{Blacklisted-links|1=

http://www.cuetracker.net/Tournaments/Masters/1998/02
:Triggered by \bcuetracker\.net\b on the local blacklist|bot=Cyberbot II|invisible=false}}

{{Infobox individual snooker tournament

|tournament_name=1998 Benson & Hedges Masters

|logo=

|dates={{Start and end dates|1998|02|1|1998|02|8|df=y}}

|venue=Wembley Conference Centre

|location=London

|country=England

|organisation=WPBSA

|format=Non-ranking event

|Total prize fund=£535,000

|winners_share=£145,000

|highest_break={{flagathlete|Andy Hicks|ENG}} (142)

|winner={{flagathlete|Mark Williams|WAL}}

|runner_up={{flagathlete|Stephen Hendry|SCO}}

|score=10–9

|previous=1997

|next=1999

}}

The 1998 Masters (officially the 1998 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 1 and 8 February 1998 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England.

The final frame of final between Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry turned into a re-spotted black for the first time since John Spencer beat Ray Reardon in the first final in 1975. Hendry had led 9–6, before Williams tied it to 9–9. Williams was then trailing 56–34 in the final frame, when he potted the brown and the remaining colours to tie the scores in the match, after Hendry missed the brown.{{cite web|last=Turner |first=Chris |title=On this Week: White becomes Brown |url=http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08022010/58/week-white-becomes-brown.html |publisher=Eurosport UK |accessdate=24 May 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918231307/http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08022010/58/week-white-becomes-brown.html |archivedate=18 September 2012 |url-status=live }} They then played seven shots on the black in a match similar to the 1985 World Championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. Hendry then missed a straight black across the nap in the middle pocket before Williams potted it on the top right pocket to claim his first Masters title.

Field

Defending champion Steve Davis was the number 1 seed with World Champion Ken Doherty seeded 2. Places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Andy Hicks (ranked 19), and Jimmy White (ranked 21), who was the wild-card selection. Anthony Hamilton and Stephen Lee were making their debuts in the Masters.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

Winner: £145,000

Runner-up: £75,000

High Break: £16,000

Total: £535,000

Wild-card round

In the preliminary round, the wild-card players played the 15th and 16th seeds:{{cite web|title=Benson & Hedges Masters 1998|url=http://www.snooker.org/trn/9798/bm98_res.shtml|publisher=Snooker.org|accessdate=11 November 2010}}{{cite web|title=The Masters|url=http://www.snookerscene.co.uk/page.php?id=60|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124071627/http://www.snookerscene.co.uk/page.php?id=60|archivedate=24 January 2013|publisher=Snooker Scene|accessdate=8 August 2012}}

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%; margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
Match	Date	Score
align="center" \| WC1 \| Sunday 1 February \| {{flagathlete\|Darren Morgan\|WAL}} (15) \| align="center" \| 5–4 \| {{flagathlete\|Andy Hicks\|ENG}}
align="center" \| WC2 \| Monday 2 February \| {{flagathlete\|Stephen Lee\|ENG}} (16) \| align="center" \| 5–1 \| {{flagathlete\|Jimmy White\|ENG}}

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%; margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"

Match

Date

Score

align="center" | WC1

| Sunday 1 February

| {{flagathlete|Darren Morgan|WAL}} (15)

| align="center" | 5–4

| {{flagathlete|Andy Hicks|ENG}}

align="center" | WC2

| Monday 2 February

| {{flagathlete|Stephen Lee|ENG}} (16)

| align="center" | 5–1

| {{flagathlete|Jimmy White|ENG}}

Main draw

{{16TeamBracket

| seed-width =

| team-width = 180

| score-width =

| RD1= Last 16
Best of 11 frames

| RD2= Quarter-finals
Best of 11 frames

| RD3= Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames

| RD4= Final
Best of 19 frames

| RD1-seed01=1

| RD1-team01={{flagathlete|Steve Davis|ENG}}

| RD1-score01=6

| RD1-seed02=15

| RD1-team02={{flagathlete|Darren Morgan|WAL}}

| RD1-score02=2

| RD1-seed03=8

| RD1-team03={{flagathlete|Ronnie O'Sullivan|ENG}}

| RD1-score03=6

| RD1-seed04=10

| RD1-team04={{flagathlete|Alain Robidoux|CAN}}

| RD1-score04=5

| RD1-seed05=5

| RD1-team05={{flagathlete|Mark Williams|WAL}}

| RD1-score05=6

| RD1-seed06=11

| RD1-team06={{flagathlete|Alan McManus|SCO}}

| RD1-score06=4

| RD1-seed07=4

| RD1-team07={{flagathlete|John Higgins|SCO}}

| RD1-score07=3

| RD1-seed08=14

| RD1-team08={{nowrap|{{flagathlete|Anthony Hamilton|ENG}}}}

| RD1-score08=6

| RD1-seed09=3

| RD1-team09={{flagathlete|Stephen Hendry|SCO}}

| RD1-score09=6

| RD1-seed10=16

| RD1-team10={{flagathlete|Stephen Lee|ENG}}

| RD1-score10=1

| RD1-seed11=6

| RD1-team11={{flagathlete|Peter Ebdon|ENG}}

| RD1-score11=2

| RD1-seed12=9

| RD1-team12={{flagathlete|Nigel Bond|ENG}}

| RD1-score12=6

| RD1-seed13=7

| RD1-team13={{flagathlete|John Parrott|ENG}}

| RD1-score13=5

| RD1-seed14=13

| RD1-team14={{flagathlete|James Wattana|THA}}

| RD1-score14=6

| RD1-seed15=2

| RD1-team15={{flagathlete|Ken Doherty|IRL}}

| RD1-score15=6

| RD1-seed16=12

| RD1-team16={{flagathlete|Tony Drago|MLT}}

| RD1-score16=4

| RD2-seed01=1

| RD2-team01={{flagicon|ENG}} Steve Davis

| RD2-score01=6

| RD2-seed02=8

| RD2-team02={{flagicon|ENG}} Ronnie O'Sullivan

| RD2-score02=3

| RD2-seed03=5

| RD2-team03={{flagicon|WAL}} Mark Williams

| RD2-score03=6

| RD2-seed04=14

| RD2-team04={{flagicon|ENG}} Anthony Hamilton

| RD2-score04=3

| RD2-seed05=3

| RD2-team05={{flagicon|SCO}} Stephen Hendry

| RD2-score05=6

| RD2-seed06=9

| RD2-team06={{flagicon|ENG}} Nigel Bond

| RD2-score06=3

| RD2-seed07=13

| RD2-team07={{flagicon|THA}} James Wattana

| RD2-score07=1

| RD2-seed08=2

| RD2-team08={{flagicon|IRL}} Ken Doherty

| RD2-score08=6

| RD3-seed01=1

| RD3-team01={{flagicon|ENG}} Steve Davis

| RD3-score01=3

| RD3-seed02=5

| RD3-team02={{flagicon|WAL}} Mark Williams

| RD3-score02=6

| RD3-seed03=3

| RD3-team03={{flagicon|SCO}} Stephen Hendry

| RD3-score03=6

| RD3-seed04=2

| RD3-team04={{flagicon|IRL}} Ken Doherty

| RD3-score04=5

| RD4-seed01=5

| RD4-team01={{flagicon|WAL}} Mark Williams

| RD4-score01=10

| RD4-seed02=3

| RD4-team02={{flagicon|SCO}} Stephen Hendry

| RD4-score02=9

}}

Final

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"

colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="#ffd700" | Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Alan Chamberlain
Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 8 February 1998

width = "270" align="right"| Mark Williams (5)
{{WAL}}

| width = "100" align="center" | 10–9

| width = "270" | Stephen Hendry (3)
{{SCO}}

colspan="3" align="center" style="font-size: 100%" | Afternoon: 63–72, 68–34 (64), 45–79, 0–98 (98), 82–36, 0–121 (120), 6–70 (70), 80–66
Evening: 64–26, 104–1 (100), 0–106 (67), 87–2, 1–69, 44–73 (69), 0–78 (78), 72–60 (Hendry 54), 70–20 (69), 52–23, 63–56

align="right" | 100

| align="center" | Highest break

| 120

align="right" | 1

| align="center" | Century breaks

| 1

align="right" | 3

| align="center" | 50+ breaks

| 7

Qualifying

Andy Hicks won the qualifying tournament, known as the 1997 Benson & Hedges Championship at the time.{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Chris|title=Benson & Hedges Championship, Masters Qualifying Tournament|url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/masqual.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216155348/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/masqual.html|archivedate=16 February 2012|work=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk|publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive|accessdate=23 December 2010}}

Century breaks

Total: 20{{cite web|title=1998 Masters|url=http://www.cuetracker.net/Tournaments/Masters/1998/02|publisher=CueTracker - Snooker Results and Statistics Database|accessdate=19 January 2015}}

142 {{ndash}} Andy Hicks
133, 113, 100 {{ndash}} James Wattana
133 {{ndash}} John Higgins
131, 122, 120, 110 {{ndash}} Stephen Hendry
126 {{ndash}} Alain Robidoux
124 {{ndash}} Ronnie O'Sullivan
119, 112 {{ndash}} Nigel Bond
114 {{ndash}} Stephen Lee
106 {{ndash}} Darren Morgan
104, 100 {{ndash}} Steve Davis
104 {{ndash}} Darren Morgan
100, 100 {{ndash}} Mark Williams

Andy Hicks, Stephen Lee and Darren Morgan scored their century breaks in the wild-card round.

References

Category:Masters (snooker)

Masters Snooker

Category:February 1998 sports events in the United Kingdom