Scottish Masters 1998
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Scottish Masters 1998 Regal Scottish Masters 1998 
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| Tournament type: | Invitation tournament |
| Venue: | Civic Center, Motherwell , Scotland |
| Opening: | September 29, 1998 |
| Endgame: | October 4, 1998
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| Winner: |
 Ronnie O'Sullivan
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| Finalist: |
 John Higgins
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| Highest Break: | 132 ( Jimmy White )
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← 1997
1999 →
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The 1998 Regal Scottish Masters was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1998/99 season . The invitational tournament was held from September 29th to October 4th at the Motherwell Civic Center . For the second time after 1995, the tournament marked the start of the season.
Last year's winner Nigel Bond lost this time in the semifinals to Ronnie O'Sullivan . He met the new world champion and world number one John Higgins in the final . O'Sullivan as number 3 in the world was at eye level, he was able to prevail in a narrow final with 9: 7 and win the tournament for the first time.
Prize money
In the previous year, the qualifiers had received up to £ 1,000 in bonuses. This year only the participants in the main tournament were rewarded. The redistribution increased the prize money by £ 100 to £ 1,000 from the round of 16.
| placement | Prize money |
|---|---|
| winner | £ 61,000 |
| final | £ 29,700 |
| Semifinals | £ 15,350 |
| Quarter finals | £ 8,650 |
| Round 1 | £ 4,850 |
| All in all | £ 175,400 |
Final round
The defending champion Nigel Bond and the first 8 in the world rankings as well as Steve Davis and Jimmy White formed the invited field of participants of the tournament. As the 12th player, Paul Hunter qualified in an additional elimination tournament . He and the players placed 5th to 11th competed against each other in round 1. The top 4 were set for the quarterfinals.
| Round 1 (Best of 9) |
Quarter Finals (Best of 11) |
Semi-finals (Best of 11) |
Final (Best of 17) |
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| 1 | Nigel Bond
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 |  Ken Doherty
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4th | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Jimmy White
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4th | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Jimmy White
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5 | 1 | Nigel Bond
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5 | |||||||||||||
| 4th | Ronnie O'Sullivan
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 4th | Ronnie O'Sullivan
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 6th |  Mark Williams
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5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6th | Mark Williams
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5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Steve Davis
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4th | 4th | Ronnie O'Sullivan
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9 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | John Higgins
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7th | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Stephen Hendry
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 8th | Peter Ebdon
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5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8th | Peter Ebdon
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5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Paul Hunter
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1 | 3 | Stephen Hendry
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5 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | John Higgins
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | John Higgins
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6th | ||||||||||||||||
| 7th | John Parrott
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5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | John Parrott
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1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Alan McManus
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4th | ||||||||||||||||
final
A few months earlier, John Higgins had become world champion for the first time and rose to number 1 in the world rankings . Before that he had already won the British Open and was in his third final in a row. At the World Cup, he had clearly defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semifinals. The Englishman had played a good season beforehand and had improved by 4 places in the ranking. The final was very changeable. The Scottish favorite took a 2-0 lead, but then O'Sullivan took 5 frame wins in a row. At the end of the first session, however, Higgins was still able to operate with the 3: 5 damage limitation. In the evening he made the connection with a century break . He countered O'Sullivan's 6: 4 with three frames in a row and was in the lead for the second time in the match. But again the dominance changed. The English not only equalized to 7: 7, he also won the following two frames and thus the match with 9: 7.
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Final: Best of 17 Frames Civic Center, Motherwell , Scotland , 4th October 1999 |
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Ronnie O'Sullivan
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9 : 7 |
John Higgins
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Afternoon : 0:92 (68); 0: 69 ; 76 : 41 (55); 79 : 7 (79); 68:33 ; 58:50 (50 Higgins); 70 : 48 (55); 29: 61 ; Evening : 0: 113 (113); 92 : 18 (70); 0: 74 (59); 4: 76 ; 47: 72 ; 77:45 ; 75 : 38; 76 : 17 |
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| 79 | Highest break | 113 |
| - | Century breaks | 1 |
| 4th | 50+ breaks | 4th |
qualification
Two years earlier there had been the first opportunity to qualify for a free place in the main tournament. After a year without qualification, they made another attempt with a different format. In a pre-qualification one out of four Scottish players could play their way into the main qualification. Jamie Burnett was one of the 6 players who then played for the tournament field. Although he made it to the final, he lost to Paul Hunter . The games took place earlier in September in Stirling , about 50 km away .
Scottish pre-qualification
| Semifinals | final | |||||||
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Chris Small
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0 | |||||||
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Billy Snaddon
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5 | |||||||
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Billy Snaddon
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2 | |||||||
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Jamie Burnett
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5 | |||||||
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Graeme Dott
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4th | |||||||
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Jamie Burnett
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5 | |||||||
qualification
| Quarter finals | Semifinals | final | |||||||||||
 Tony Drago
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2 | ||||||||||||
| Anthony Hamilton
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4th | Jamie Burnett
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5 | ||||||||||
| Jamie Burnett
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5 | Jamie Burnett
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1 | ||||||||||
| Paul Hunter
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5 | ||||||||||||
| Stephen Lee
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4th | ||||||||||||
| Paul Hunter
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5 | Paul Hunter
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5 | ||||||||||
| Matthew Stevens
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3 | ||||||||||||
Century breaks
There was a break of 100 or more points 7 times in the entire tournament, one of them in the semi-finals of the qualification. Jimmy White achieved the highest tournament break of 132 points in the first main round.
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swell
- ^ Scottish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on November 30, 2018 (English).
- ↑ a b c d 1998 Scottish Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ a b 1998 Scottish Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Regal Scottish Masters 1998. snooker.org, accessed November 30, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Rankings - 1998-1999. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 30, 2018 .