European Open 1997

European Open 1997
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Attendees:	424
Venue:	Mediterranean Conference Center, Valletta , Malta
Opening:	February 23, 1997
Endgame:	March 2, 1997
Winner:	John Higgins
Finalist:	John Parrott
Highest Break:	141 ( Chris Small )
← 1996   2001 →

The European Open 1997 was a snooker tournament of the 1996/97 season that was held from February 23 to March 2 in the Mediterranean Conference Center in Valletta . This was the first time that the ninth edition of the tournament had the same venue in two consecutive years.

For the third time in a row, John Parrott was in the final. But he could not defend his title from the previous year. Instead, world number two John Higgins won the final 9-5. It was his first win of the season and his sixth rankings overall.

After this edition, the tournament was suspended. However, five years later the tournament took place again in the same place.

Prize money / world ranking points

The prize money decreased slightly compared to the previous year. There was only a minor shift between the participants in the last two qualifying rounds. There was, however, a major change in the world ranking list points. The winner got 960 points and the second 340 points more. Otherwise everything stayed the same except for the seeded players who lost the first main round and got 90 points more.

placement	Prize money	Points a
winner	£ 60,000	4,560
finalist	£ 32,000	3,040
Semi-finalist	£ 16,000	2,025
Quarter finalist	£ 9,100	1,520
Round of 16	£ 4,550	1,330
Last 32	£ 3,080	1,140 (/ 570)
Last 48	£ 1,645	855 (/ 570)
Last 64	£ 1,235	640
Last 96	925 pounds	480 (/ 320)
Last 128	-	360
Round 1-5	-	57-270
All in all	£ 321,760

^a Seeded players who lost their first game received a reduced number of points (in brackets).

Main tournament

In the past two years there had been a wildcard round with four local players before the main tournament . This time the tournament started immediately with the 32 qualified professionals. The top 16 of the world rankings were set for round one. Another 16 players had prevailed in the qualifying rounds and were drawn to them. The mode of the games remained unchanged.

	Round 1 best of 9 frames					Round of 16 best of 9 frames					Quarterfinals Best of 9 Frames					Semi-final best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
	1	John Parrott	5
	40	Drew Henry	2
						1	John Parrott	5
						15th	Tony Drago	2
	15th	Tony Drago	5
	53	Paul Davies	0
											1	John Parrott	5
											6th	Alan McManus	4th
	9	Darren Morgan	5
	22nd	Anthony Hamilton	3
						9	Darren Morgan	3
						6th	Alan McManus	5
	6th	Alan McManus	5
	93	Darren Clarke	2
																1	John Parrott	6th
																7th	Ken Doherty	4th
	7th	Ken Doherty	5
	231	Robert Milkins	3
						7th	Ken Doherty	5
						18th	Andy Hicks	3
	16	Mark Williams	3
	18th	Andy Hicks	5
											7th	Ken Doherty	5
											4th	Peter Ebdon	3
	14th	Alain Robidoux	5
	33	Martin Clark	4th
						14th	Alain Robidoux	3
						4th	Peter Ebdon	5
	4th	Peter Ebdon	5
	45	Tony Chappel	2
																					1	John Parrott	5
																					3	John Higgins	9
	3	John Higgins	5
	17th	Joe Swail	3
						3	John Higgins	5
						13	Jimmy White	3
	13	Jimmy White	5
	67	Matthew Stevens	1
											3	John Higgins	5
											31	Stephen Lee	3
	10	Steve Davis	0
	31	Stephen Lee	5
						31	Stephen Lee	5
						5	Nigel Bond	1
	5	Nigel Bond	5
	20th	Rod Lawler	3
																3	John Higgins	6th
																12	James Wattana	0
	12	James Wattana	5
	62	Euan Henderson	2
						12	James Wattana	5
						30th	Chris Small	3
	8th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	1
	30th	Chris Small	5
											12	James Wattana	5
											2	Stephen Hendry	2
	11	Dave Harold	1
	64	Jonathan Birch	5
						64	Jonathan Birch	3
						2	Stephen Hendry	5
	2	Stephen Hendry	5
	54	Jamie Burnett	1

final

It was the ninth final of the European Open and for the fifth time John Parrott was involved. With three titles he was also a record winner. John Higgins had made it to the final 12 times in the past two years, but never at the European Open. It was his second final this season, as was Parrott's, who had won the Malta Grand Prix just two weeks earlier . The direct balance of the two was 3: 3, but it was their first meeting in a final. Still, the final seemed to be a one-sided affair. Higgins won frame by frame from the start, while his English rival hardly scored any points. At the mid-session break it was 4-0 and the Scot increased by another frame before Parrott managed his first frame win. The evening session started 6-2. Parrott struggled and convincingly got the first frame. Losing the next one was a small setback, but before the break he got two more frames and reduced it to 5: 7. But Higgins used the break to refocus and took the next two frames to a 9-5 win. For the Scot it was the 7th professional title in 3 years.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: Alain Chamberlain Mediterranean Conference Center,  Valletta , Malta , March 2, 1997
John Parrott	5: 9	John Higgins
Afternoon : 9:74 , 6:74 , 1: 109 , 21: 71 , 4: 62 , 64 : 41, 56 : 48, 0: 73 ; Evening : 101 : 1, 32: 76 , 71 : 12, 57 : 31, 32: 71 , 6: 66
-	Highest break	100
-	Century breaks	1
-	50+ breaks	-

Century breaks

21 players scored 29 breaks of at least 100 points in the entire tournament. There were 13 century breaks in the main tournament, 16 in the qualification. Both times the highest break was 141 points, Chris Small and Graeme Dott were both successful.

Main tournament

Chris Small 141 Joe Swail 129 Tony Chappel 126 Stephen Hendry 124, 106 Peter Ebdon 110, 107, 105

Ken Doherty 107 John Parrott 101 Jimmy White 101 Robert Milkins 100 John Higgins 100

qualification

Graeme Dott 141 Wayne Brown 140 Michael Duffy 140 Stephen Lee 137 Mark King 136, 120, 108 Euan Henderson 134

Matthew Stevens 127, 105 Paul Hunter 124 Jamie Burnett 110, 104 Joe Swail 106 David Gray 100 Darren Clarke 100

swell

1. ↑ Major European Tournaments (European Open, German Open, German Masters, Irish Open). Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on December 19, 2019 (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} 1997 European Open - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed December 19, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 1997 European Open. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed December 19, 2019 . 
4. ↑ European Open 1997. snooker.org, accessed on December 19, 2019 (English). 
5. ↑ Rankings - 1996-1997. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed December 19, 2019 .