Irish Masters 1997

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Irish Masters 1997
Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1997
Billiard Picto 2-black.svg

Tournament type: Invitation tournament
Attendees: 12
Venue: Goffs, Kill , Ireland
Opening: March 18, 1997
Endgame: March 23, 1997

Winner: ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry
Finalist: WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan
Highest Break: 129 ( John Parrott ) EnglandEngland
← 1996
 
1998 →

The 1997 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1996/97 season . The invitation tournament was held in Kill from March 18th to 23rd . For the 20th time, the Goffs arena in the small town near Dublin was the venue for the tournament.

Defending champion Darren Morgan reached the final for the second time in a row. While last year he had just won 9: 8 against ex-world champion Steve Davis , this time he lost with the same result against reigning world champion Stephen Hendry . For the Scots it was the 5th tournament victory within 5 months and the second victory at the Irish Masters.

Prize money

There was a small increase of £ 5,000 this time for the last 4 of the tournament: £ 2,000 more each for the two finalists, £ 500 each for the semi-finalists.

placement Prize money
winner £ 72,000
final £ 32,000
Semifinals £ 16,000
Quarter finals £ 8,000
Round 1 £ 6,000
Highest break £ 3,000
All in all £ 195,000

Final round

The top 10 in the world rankings competed in Dublin for the Irish Masters. For this purpose, yet Jimmy White invited and as a second Irish player was Stephen Murphy , number 61 of the ranking, a starting place. The players from place 5 played against each other in round 1. The top 4 were set for the quarterfinals. As in the previous year, the first three rounds were played in the Best of 11 mode . The final went 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  ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry  6th    
6th  ScotlandScotland Alan McManus  3
11  EnglandEngland Jimmy White  5    
11  EnglandEngland Jimmy White  6th   1  ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry  6th
  8th  EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan  2    
2  ScotlandScotland John Higgins  4th
8th  EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan  6th
8th  EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan  8th  
5  EnglandEngland Nigel Bond  5   1  ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry  9
  9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  8th
3  EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon  6th
7th  IrelandIreland Ken Doherty  1
10  EnglandEngland Steve Davis  1    
10  EnglandEngland Steve Davis  6th   3  EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon  2
  9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  6th  
9  WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan  6th
4th  EnglandEngland John Parrott  6th
4th  EnglandEngland John Parrott  2  
12  IrelandIreland Stephen Murphy  5  


final

In 1992 the 6-time world champion Stephen Hendry had already won the Irish Masters once, but twice he had lost a final 8: 9. Darren Morgan was the surprise winner in 1996 and had achieved his most important tournament victory at the time. Against Hendry he had lost a ranking final at the Welsh Open in 1992 . In general, he had won against the Scot once in 13 matches.

Hendry started the final confidently and took a 3-0 lead with a Century and a Fast Century. But Morgan countered with two high breaks of his own and didn't let the number 1 pull away. With 3: 5 after the first session, he had left all chances open. Even when Hendry again established a lead of 3 frames in the first frame of the evening, he persisted undeterred and started a series. With 4 frames in a row he managed to turn the match around and take the lead 7: 6 himself. After Hendry equalized, he immediately took the lead again, but could not complete in the 16th frame. The Scot equalized again and saved himself in the decision-making frame. Morgan had a great chance there too, but his break ended after 52 points. Not enough for the win, because Hendry got a total of 70 points and he won his second Irish Masters title with 9: 8 and achieved his 11th final victory in a row.

Final: Best of 17 Frames
Goffs,  Kill , Ireland , March 23, 1997
ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 9 : 8 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan
Afternoon : 69 : 19, 126 : 0 (126), 96 : 0 (96), 30: 85 (82), 0: 100 (100), 120 : 12 (79), 0: 98 (68), 64 : 19 (54);
Evening : 95 : 10 (59), 28: 92 , 45: 80 (56), 21: 67 , 0: 81 (80), 76 : 5 (67), 15: 91 (69), 80 : 12, 70 : 56 (52 Morgan)
126 Highest break 100
1 Century breaks 1
6th 50+ breaks 7th

Century breaks

There were 8 breaks of 100 or more points in the tournament, four players were responsible. Already in the opening round, John Parrott presented the highest tournament break with 129 points. This earned him another £ 3,000 on top of his prize money.

EnglandEngland John Parrott 129
ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 127, 126
EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan 121, 118, 101
WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 100 (2 ×)

swell

  1. ↑ Irish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on October 24, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c 1997 Irish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ 1997 Irish Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1997. snooker.org, accessed on October 24, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Rankings - 1996-1997. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 24, 2019 .