Irish Masters 1998

Irish Masters 1998 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1998
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Goffs, Kill , Ireland
Opening:	March 24, 1998
Endgame:	March 29, 1998
Winner:	Ken Doherty
Highest Break:	129 ( Ken Doherty )
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The 1998 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1997/98 season . The invitation tournament was held from March 24th to 29th in Kill near Dublin . Since 1978, the Goffs site in the small suburban community has been the venue.

The tournament went down in history as the first tournament on the Main Tour in which the winner was stripped of the title. Ronnie O'Sullivan had defeated the defending champion and world number one Stephen Hendry and then also the number 2 John Higgins and the reigning world champion Ken Doherty . But in the doping test after his 9-3 victory in the final, he tested positive for cannabis . The title was subsequently stripped of him, as was the entire prize money, and Doherty was declared the winner. This was the first time in the history of the Irish Masters that an Irishman won the tournament.

Prize money

After the prize money had risen steadily in recent years, there was a significant decrease this year. It was also paid out in Irish pounds from this year . Converted to British pounds , the win bonus fell by more than £ 10,000. All other placements were at least £ 1,000 less.

placement	Prize money
winner	£ 61,130
final	- a
Semifinals	£ 13,041
Quarter finals	£ 6,520
Round 1	£ 4,890
Highest break	£ 2,445
All in all	£ 135,297

^a Ken Doherty got the full victory bonus instead of O'Sullivan, the bonus for second place was not paid.

Note: The odd amounts result from the conversion from Irish to British pounds.

Final round

The top 8 in the world rankings were among the participants . In addition, as in the previous year, Steve Davis and Jimmy White were invited along with number 11 Tony Drago and number 23 Fergal O'Brien as the second Irish player. The players from place 5 played against each other in round 1. The top 4 were set for the quarterfinals. As in previous years, the first three rounds were played in 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

Stephen Hendry

3

7th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

6th

7th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

6th

11

Jimmy White

2

7th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

6th

2

John Higgins

4th

2

John Higgins

6th

8th

Nigel Bond

5

10

Steve Davis

3

10

Steve Davis

6th

7th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

9

3

Ken Doherty

3

3

Ken Doherty

6th

5

Peter Ebdon

2

12

Fergal O'Brien

1

12

Fergal O'Brien

6th

3

Ken Doherty

6th

6th

John Parrott

1

4th

Mark Williams

1

6th

John Parrott

6th

6th

John Parrott

6th

9

Tony Drago

2

final

After losing the final in 1992 , Ken Doherty got a second chance to win his home tournament. As world champion and third in the world rankings, he was at the height of his career. He had already won a tournament that season. When Ronnie O'Sullivan went up and down in the career, but with three tournament victories, including the UK Championship , he was back on the way up. On the direct record, the Englishman was 7-5 ahead, but for the first time they played against each other in a final.

The first frame was a close affair and O'Sullivan got it by just one point, but after that he got going and got the next three frames, all with high breaks. Only after the first break did Doherty return with a century break of 129 points. But the Englishman branched out unimpressed and countered. They shared the four frames until the end of the session and with a score of 6: 2 the advantage was clearly with O'Sullivan. Also in the evening they shared the first two frames and the decision was getting closer. The Englishman remained sovereign, he secured the next frame and with another game-deciding break he finished to 9: 3.

But the victory was wasted. A week later it became known that cannabis had been discovered during the doping test, which is also common in snooker, at O'Sullivan . He admitted using marijuana a few days before the tournament . He lost the title and got no prize money, but although he was on parole for improper behavior, the doping offense had no other consequences. The title was later awarded to Ken Doherty. It was his 13th professional title.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Goffs,  Kill , Ireland , March 29, 1998
Ronnie O'Sullivan	9 : 3	Ken Doherty
Afternoon : 52 : 51, 84 : 0 (83), 115 : 18 (107), 65 : 0 (64), 0: 129 (129), 77 : 46 (77), 37: 82 , 89 : 31; Evening : 118 : 1 (68), 34: 57 , 96 : 21, 84 : 0 (84)
107	Highest break	129
1	Century breaks	1
6th	50+ breaks	1

Century breaks

Only 3 of the 12 players managed breaks of 100 or more points in the tournament, but all of them were successful several times. There were a total of 7 Centurys . Ken Doherty surpassed all breaks in the final and secured the additional bonus of £ 2,449 for the highest break. Only later did his bonus for 2nd place become the winner's bonus.

Ken Doherty	129, 111
Ronnie O'Sullivan	123, 109, 107
Mark Williams	112, 101

swell

1. ↑ Irish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on October 23, 2019 (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} 1998 Irish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed October 23, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 1998 Irish Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 23, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 1998. snooker.org, accessed on October 23, 2019 (English). 
5. ↑ Rankings - 1997-1998. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 23, 2019 . 
6. ^ Ian O'Riordan: Rankings - 1997-1998. The Irish Times , July 8, 1998, accessed October 23, 2019 .