Irish Masters 2000

Irish Masters 2000 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 2000
Tournament type:	Invitation tournament
Attendees:	12
Venue:	Goffs, Kill , Ireland
Opening:	March 21, 2000
Endgame:	March 26, 2000
Winner:	John Higgins
Finalist:	Stephen Hendry
Highest Break:	147 ( John Higgins )
← 1999   2001 →

The Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 2000 was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1999/2000 season . The invitation tournament was held from March 21st to 26th in Kill near Dublin . The tournament traditionally took place in the Goffs arena .

Defending champion Stephen Hendry reached the final for the second time in a row. This time he was defeated by his compatriot John Higgins 9: 4. For Higgins it was the first title at the Irish Masters, but already the third title this season. In the quarter-finals, he scored the second maximum break of his career, having made it for the first time two months earlier at the Nations Cup . It was the only maximum in the history of the Irish Masters.

Two months after the tournament ended, tobacco advertising and sponsorship was banned in Ireland. With that, Benson & Hedges dropped out after 23 years as a supporter and namesake of the tournament. In the following year the Irish Masters could be continued with a new sponsor.

Prize money

The amount distributed remained roughly the same as in the previous year, but only taking into account the special bonus for the maximum break . In contrast, the premiums for the placements fell significantly in some cases. 8,000 £ got the winner, £ 5,000 of Final losers less. Between £ 1,700 and £ 500, the prize money for the other places fell.

placement	Prize money
winner	£ 54,949
final	£ 23,550
Semifinals	£ 11,775
Quarter finals	£ 6,280
Round 1	£ 3,925
Maximum break	£ 23,942
All in all	£ 166,811

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

Final round

All 12 participants came from the top 16 of the world rankings . The top 8 were all represented, and in addition to the second Irish Fergal O'Brien , Matthew Stevens , Steve Davis and Jimmy White were invited. 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

John Higgins

6th

6th

Stephen Lee

4th

12

Jimmy White

4th

12

Jimmy White

6th

1

John Higgins

6th

4th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

3

4th

Ronnie O'Sullivan

6th

7th

Ken Doherty

4th

9

Matthew Stevens

4th

9

Matthew Stevens

6th

1

John Higgins

9

2

Stephen Hendry

8th

2

Stephen Hendry

6th

8th

Alan McManus

6th

8th

Alan McManus

2

10

Fergal O'Brien

4th

2

Stephen Hendry

6th

5

John Parrott

3

3

Mark Williams

3

5

John Parrott

6th

5

John Parrott

6th

11

Steve Davis

1

final

Halfway through the finals this season, one of the two Scots had stood, but for the first time the two long-term opponents met face to face. Before that, they had played three finals against each other, of which Stephen Hendry had won two. He played for the 6th time in the Goffs and wanted to defend his title from the previous year, John Higgins was here for the first time in the final.

The world number one got into the match better and got the first two frames with high breaks. But Hendry countered and managed two century breaks in a row to equalize 2-2. But after the break, Higgins showed that he could also score three-digit points and got frame 5 with the highest final break of 128 points. The next two frames shared by the Scots were the only two that were a little more competitive, then the Break Festival continued. With a 94 break, Higgins established the 5-3 lead after the afternoon. In the evening session he expanded it to 6: 3 and after 56 points in frame 11, this frame seemed to go to him too, but Hendry stole it with a 64-point break. But it was the last success for the record world champion. With a Century, Higgins got the next frame and the following two, while Hendry only got 13 points in the three frames. The 9-4 win brought Higgins the 18th professional title of his career.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Goffs,  Kill , Ireland , March 26, 2000
John Higgins	9 : 4	Stephen Hendry
Afternoon : 66 : 11 (60), 139 : 0 (97), 0: 101 (101), 0: 115 (115), 142 : 0 (128), 67 : 19, 50: 69 , 116 : 0 (94 ); Evening : 66 : 2 (60), 56: 64 (56, 64), 109 : 0 (109), 73 : 12 (73), 76 : 1
128	Highest break	115
2	Century breaks	1
8th	50+ breaks	3

Century breaks

John Higgins was the man of the tournament. First he achieved the 36th official maximum break in snooker history in his opening match , then he secured the title with two more century breaks in the final. The £ 23,942 prize he received for his maximum was higher than the prize money for the runner-up. With the 3 Centurys from Higgins there were a total of 9 three-digit breaks by 6 different players.

John Higgins	147 , 128, 109
John Parrott	135
Stephen Lee	132
Alan McManus	122
Stephen Hendry	115, 101
Matthew Stevens	115

swell

1. ↑ Irish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on October 21, 2019 (English). 
2. ^ Barry Roche: Tobacco advertising and sponsorship banned. The Irish Times , May 30, 2000, accessed October 21, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} 2000 Irish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed October 21, 2019 . 
4. ↑ 2000 Irish Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 21, 2019 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Benson & Hedges Irish Masters 2000. snooker.org, accessed on October 21, 2019 (English). 
6. ↑ Rankings - 1999-2000. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 21, 2019 .