Irish Masters 1996

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Irish Masters 1996
Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1996
Billiard Picto 2-black.svg

Tournament type: Invitation tournament
Attendees: 12
Venue: Goffs, Kill , Ireland
Opening: March 26, 1996
Endgame: March 31, 1996

Winner: WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan
Finalist: EnglandEngland Steve Davis
Highest Break: 138 ( Peter Ebdon ) EnglandEngland
← 1995
 
1997 →

The 1996 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1995/96 season . The invitation tournament was held from March 26th to 31st near the capital Dublin . Traditionally the venue was the Goffs Arena in the small community of Kill .

Defending champion Peter Ebdon narrowly lost his quarter-final match to Darren Morgan . The Welshman reached the final, where he beat 6-time world champion Steve Davis just 9: 8. It was his only victory in such a high-class invitation tournament and his greatest career success.

Prize money

The prize money decreased by £ 10,000 compared to the previous year. But it didn't affect the finalists. But from the semi-finals to the first round there was £ 2,500 to £ 250 less.

placement Prize money
winner £ 70,000
final £ 30,000
Semifinals £ 15,500
Quarter finals £ 8,000
Round 1 £ 6,000
Highest break £ 3,000
All in all £ 190,000

Final round

The top 11 in the world rankings competed in Dublin for the Irish Masters. As the twelfth player, the Northern Irishman Joe Swail , number 19 in the ranking, got a starting place. Defending champion Peter Ebdon and the top 3 were set for the quarter-finals. The other participants played against each other in round 1 for the other quarter-finals. Unlike before, the first two rounds were no longer played in the Best of 9 mode , but all rounds up to the semi-finals were Best of 11. The final was, as before, over 9 winning frames (Best of 17).

Round 1
(Best of 11) 		Quarter Finals
(Best of 11) 		Semi-finals
(Best of 11) 		Final
(Best of 17)
                                   
  1  EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon  5    
7th  ScotlandScotland Alan McManus  4th
9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  6th    
9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  6th   9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  6th
  12  Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail  5    
4th  EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan  5
5  EnglandEngland John Parrott  4th
12  Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail  6th  
12  Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail  6th   9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  9
  3  EnglandEngland Steve Davis  8th
3  EnglandEngland Steve Davis  6th
6th  ThailandThailand James Wattana  6th
6th  ThailandThailand James Wattana  3    
11  ScotlandScotland John Higgins  4th   3  EnglandEngland Steve Davis  6th
  10  IrelandIreland Ken Doherty  4th  
2  ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry  5
8th  EnglandEngland Jimmy White  3
10  IrelandIreland Ken Doherty  6th  
10  IrelandIreland Ken Doherty  6th  


final

Steve Davis was a permanent guest in the final of the Irish Masters, since 1982 it was his 10th final and only the very first he had lost by then. For Darren Morgan , however, it was not only the first Irish Masters final, but only his second participation in the tournament. He had already won smaller tournaments like the Welsh Professional Championship , but lost two ranking finals. In a direct comparison, Davis led 4-2 wins, but Morgan had recently won the Scottish Masters at the start of the season.

Steve Davis had the better start and took a 2-0 lead, but it was still a perfectly even game. At the mid-session break, the Welshman equalized and then Davis always put forward one frame and Morgan followed suit in the next frame. After 4: 4 after the afternoon session, this sequence continued in the evening until the score was 7: 7. When the decision was approaching, the outsider took the lead for the first time. Davis equalized again, but Darren Morgan had the longer breath and with a 50-point break he won the decision frame and thus the final with 9: 8. In addition to half a dozen smaller titles, it was the biggest tournament success of his career.

Finale: Best of 17 Frames
Goffs,  Kill , Ireland , March 31, 1996
WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 9 : 8 EnglandEngland Steve Davis
Afternoon : 20: 97 , 48: 60 , 101 : 7 (94), 78 : 31, 44: 60 , 63 : 5, 18: 67 , 58 : 14;
Evening : 38: 72 , 65 : 29, 18: 69 , 71 : 67 (71), 1: 85 (85), 85 : 0 (85), 71 : 33, 43: 75 , 81 : 37 (50)
94 Highest break 85
- Century breaks -
4th 50+ breaks 1

Century breaks

The players managed to break 100 or more points 11 times in the tournament, 8 of the 12 participants made at least one century . In his first match, Peter Ebdon scored 138 points in a row, for which he received the extra bonus of £ 3,000 for the highest tournament break.

EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon 138, 100
EnglandEngland John Parrott 127, 112
IrelandIreland Ken Doherty 121
ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 119, 106
EnglandEngland Steve Davis 105
EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan 103
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail 101
WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 101

swell

  1. ↑ Irish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on October 28, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c 1996 Irish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  3. ↑ 1996 Irish Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Benson & Hedges Irish Masters. snooker.org, accessed October 28, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Rankings - 1995-1996. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 28, 2019 .