Scottish Open 1998 (snooker)

Scottish Open 1998
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Attendees:	96
Venue:	AECC , Aberdeen , Scotland
Opening:	February 12, 1998
Endgame:	February 22, 1998
Winner:	Ronnie O'Sullivan
Finalist:	John Higgins
Highest Break:	140 ( Tony Drago )
1999 →

The 1998 Regal Scottish Open was a 1997/98 season snooker tournament held in Aberdeen from February 12-22. The Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center had already hosted the last edition of the International Open last year . This year, Imperial Tobacco took over sponsorship with the Regal cigar brand . You had already launched the Welsh Open in 1992 and from this year onwards set up the Scottish Open in a second British part of the country.

The world number one and International Open winner Stephen Hendry did not get past the second round, but with John Higgins a Scot made it into the first home final. But the winner was the Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan , who beat Higgins 9: 5. It was the third win of the season for the UK Championship winner.

Prize money / world ranking points

With £ 350,000 in prize money, the tournament was roughly on par with the other larger tournaments and the International Open last year.

	Prize money	World ranking points
winner	£ 60,000	4,560
finalist	£ 32,000	3,040
Semi-finalist	£ 16,000	2,025
Quarter finalist	£ 9,100	1,520
Round of 16	£ 4,550	1,140
Last 32	£ 2,600	855
Last 64	£ 2,100	640 a
Last 96	£ 1,200	360
Highest break	£ 5,000
All in all	£ 350,000

^a Seeded players who lost their first game in Round 2 received only 480 points.

Tournament course

This season the number of professionals was limited to 96. Therefore there was no longer a separate qualification and all players entered the tournament directly in Aberdeen.

Round 1

In the first round, the players competed against each other from 33rd to 96th place in the world rankings . The winners of the best-of-9 games advanced one round.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 Anthony Davies  52: 52  Leigh Griffin 2 Jason Prince  53: 53  Matthew Couch 3 Tony Jones  54: 54th  Marcus Campbell 4th Dean Reynolds  25 : 25  Alfie Burden 5 Drew Henry  05 : 05  Gary Ponting 6th Graeme Dott  4th5 : 45  Quinten Hann 7th Dennis Taylor  54: 54th  Karl Payne 8th Jimmy Michie  51: 51  David Gray 9 Jamie Burnett  25 : 25  Karl Burrows 10 Paul Hunter  25 : 25  Lee Richardson 11 Michael Judge  25 : 25  John Lardner 12 Dave Finbow  25 : 25  Darren Clarke 13 Mark Bennett  25 : 25  Ian Brumby 14th Dominic Dale  35 : 35  Bradley Jones 15th Chris Scanlon  25 : 25  Mark Gray 16 Willie Thorne  54: 54th  Peter Lines

game Player 1 Result Player 2 17th Tony Chappel  15 : 15  Lee Walker 18th Paul Davies  52: 52  Stuart Pettman 19th Shokat Ali  25 : 25  Wayne Brown 20th Jason Ferguson  4th5 : 45  Stephen O'Connor 21st David Roe  25 : 25  Craig MacGillivray 22nd Euan Henderson  35 : 35  Martin Dziewialtowski 23 Dene O'Kane  kl.  Jamie Woodman 24 Nick Pearce  35 : 35  Ian McCulloch 25th Matthew Stevens  54: 54th  Steve Judd 26th Mark Davis  51: 51  Paul Wykes 27 Wayne Jones  50: 50  Joe Perry 28 Joe Johnson  53: 53  Peter McCullagh 29 Karl Broughton  54: 54th  John Read 30th Stefan Mazrocis  53: 53  Troy Shaw 31 Gerard Greene  25 : 25  Nick Walker 32 Jonathan Birch  53: 53  Sean Storey

Tournament schedule from round 2

The top 32 in the world rankings were set for the second round. The 32 winners of the opening round were drawn to them. The Best of 9 mode remained until the quarter-finals, in the semi-finals it was increased to Best of 11. The final was played over 9 winning frames (Best of 17).

	First round best of 9 frames					Second round best of 9 frames					Round of 16 best of 9 frames					Quarterfinals Best of 9 Frames					Semi-final best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
	1	Stephen Hendry	5
	-	Leigh Griffin	4th
						1	Stephen Hendry	5
						17th	Gary Wilkinson	3
	17th	Gary Wilkinson	5
	94	Matthew Couch	4th
											1	Stephen Hendry	4th
											-	Marcus Campbell	5
	10	Alan McManus	3
	-	Marcus Campbell	5
						-	Marcus Campbell	5
						19th	Andy Hicks	3
	19th	Andy Hicks	5
	51	Dean Reynolds	4th
																-	Marcus Campbell	1
																7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
	14th	Anthony Hamilton	4th
	40	Drew Henry	5
						40	Drew Henry	3
						21st	Jimmy White	5
	21st	Jimmy White	5
	33	Graeme Dott	4th
											21st	Jimmy White	3
											7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
	7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
	77	Karl Payne	4th
						7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
						28	Brian Morgan	4th
	28	Brian Morgan	5
	-	David Gray	1
																					7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	6th
																					16	Stephen Lee	2
	6th	John Parrott	5
	38	Jamie Burnett	1
						6th	John Parrott	0
						43	Paul Hunter	5
	31	Mick Price	4th
	43	Paul Hunter	5
											43	Paul Hunter	4th
											16	Stephen Lee	5
	16	Stephen Lee	5
	56	Michael Judge	1
						16	Stephen Lee	5
						30th	Neal Foulds	2
	30th	Neal Foulds	5
	39	Dave Finbow	2
																16	Stephen Lee	5
																64	Chris Scanlon	0
	11	Tony Drago	4th
	50	Mark Bennett	5
						50	Mark Bennett	5
						54	Dominic Dale	2
	18th	Dave Harold	3
	54	Dominic Dale	5
											50	Mark Bennett	0
											64	Chris Scanlon	5
	22nd	Joe Swail	4th
	64	Chris Scanlon	5
						64	Chris Scanlon	5
						90	Peter Lines	0
	4th	Mark Williams	3
	90	Peter Lines	5
																									7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9
																										3	John Higgins	5
	3	John Higgins	5
	46	Tony Chappel	1
						3	John Higgins	5
						87	Stuart Pettman	0
	20th	Mark King	3
	87	Stuart Pettman	5
											3	John Higgins	5
											27	Martin Clark	1
	12	James Wattana	5
	59	Shokat Ali	1
						12	James Wattana	0
						27	Martin Clark	5
	27	Martin Clark	5
	37	Jason Ferguson	2
																3	John Higgins	5
																44	Euan Henderson	4th
	9	Alain Robidoux	3
	49	David Roe	5
						49	David Roe	4th
						44	Euan Henderson	5
	25th	Chris Small	3
	44	Euan Henderson	5
											44	Euan Henderson	5
											8th	Nigel Bond	2
	8th	Nigel Bond	5
	35	Dene O'Kane	4th
						8th	Nigel Bond	5
						29	Terry Murphy	1
	29	Terry Murphy	5
	57	Nick Pearce	4th
																				3	John Higgins	6th
																					23	Fergal O'Brien	2
	5	Peter Ebdon	5
	92	Steve Judd	0
						5	Peter Ebdon	5
						69	Paul Wykes	0
	26th	Rod Lawler	4th
	69	Paul Wykes	5
											5	Peter Ebdon	3
											23	Fergal O'Brien	5
	15th	Darren Morgan	2
	-	Joe Perry	5
						-	Joe Perry	3
						23	Fergal O'Brien	5
	23	Fergal O'Brien	5
	-	Peter McCullagh	2
																23	Fergal O'Brien	5
																2	Ken Doherty	4th
	13	Steve Davis	5
	86	John Read	0
						13	Steve Davis	5
						-	Troy Shaw	1
	24	Steve James	2
	-	Troy Shaw	5
											13	Steve Davis	2
											2	Ken Doherty	5
	32	Billy Snaddon	1
	62	Gerard Greene	5
						62	Gerard Greene	1
						2	Ken Doherty	5
	2	Ken Doherty	5
	82	Sean Storey	1

final

The two most successful players of the season so far met in the final. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the only one who had won two tournaments, John Higgins had three other finals in addition to his victory at the German Open . They had already played against each other three times this season, the Scot had won three times. Overall, they had met three times in finals since 1995, but here O'Sullivan was ahead with 2-1 wins.

The Englishman was also the first to take the lead, but the game was even and they shared the frames until 3: 3. Then O'Sullivan put in a 61 break for the second time and increased to 5: 3 at the end of the session with another high break. For the first time, a player led with more than one frame. In the evening he even increased to 6: 3 before Higgins came back to 6: 5. But O'Sullivan then restored the gap and with the highest break of the day of 97 points, he got the last missing frame for a 9: 5 victory. It was his sixth win in a ranking tournament.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: Colin Brinded AECC ,  Aberdeen , Scotland , 22nd February 1998
Ronnie O'Sullivan	9 : 5	John Higgins
Afternoon : 71 : 10, 59: 69 , 23: 70 (57), 79 : 37 (78), 23: 72 , 51 : 49, 93 : 0 (62), 94 : 0 (81); Evening : 94 : 9 (80), 34: 69 (62), 0: 88 (88), 77 : 27, 75 : 7 (54), 98 : 5 (97)
97	Highest break	88
-	Century breaks	-
6th	50+ breaks	3

Century breaks

21 players scored 29 breaks of at least 100 points in the entire tournament. With Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty , two players were successful three times who were eliminated before the semi-finals. The highest century break of 140 points was also achieved early: Tony Drago made it in round 2. He lost the match anyway, but was able to look forward to at least a bonus of £ 5,000 in retrospect .

Tony Drago 140 Stephen Hendry 139, 126, 111 Paul Hunter 137 Steve Davis 135 Ian McCulloch 134 Euan Henderson 130, 105 Ken Doherty 122, 107, 101 Rod Lawler 117 Stephen Lee 117, 104 Karl Broughton 112 Karl Payne 112

Shokat Ali 111 Fergal O'Brien 109, 103 Ronnie O'Sullivan 108, 104 Gerard Greene 107 Graeme Dott 107 Dave Finbow 105 David Roe 101 Paul Wykes 101 Peter Lines 100 Alan McManus 100

swell

1. ^ Scottish Open. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on October 19, 2019 (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} 1998 Scottish Open - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed October 19, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 1998 Scottish Open. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 19, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Regal Scottish Open 1998. snooker.org, accessed October 19, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Rankings - 1997-1998. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed October 19, 2019 .