1996/97 snooker season

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1996/97 snooker season
Billiard Picto 2-black.svg
Season dates
Beginning of the season September 9, 1996
End of season May 5, 1997
Ranked tournaments 10
Invitation tournaments 7th
number of players 489
Triple Crown Winner
UK Championship ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry
Masters EnglandEngland Steve Davis
World Champion IrelandIreland Ken Doherty
World ranking
Ranking first ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry
1995/96
1997/98

In the 1996/1997 snooker season , 17 professional snooker tournaments were held: ten world ranking tournaments and seven invitation tournaments.

A snooker season began in Asia for the first time, this time on September 9, 1996 with the Asian Classic , as the Thailand Classic of the previous year was now called. In addition, attempts were made to revive the World Cup as a team tournament after a six-year break. But it was the last time that this tournament took place.

The season ended with the World Cup final on May 5, 1997, which Ken Doherty won for the first time ever an Irishman. He ended the series of Stephen Hendry , who had won the five world titles before. The Scottish world number one was by far the most successful player of the season with five titles and two other finals.

Season results

The following table shows the seasonal results.

date competition venue Art winner Final opponent Result
September 9 to September 15, 1996 ThailandThailand Asian Classic 1996 Bangkok World ranking tournament EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan EnglandEngland Brian Morgan 9: 8
September 24th to September 29th, 1996 ScotlandScotland Scottish Masters 1996 Motherwell Invitation tournament EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon ScotlandScotland Alan McManus 9: 6
October 5 to October 14, 1996 ScotlandScotland Benson & Hedges Championship 1996 Edinburgh Invitation tournament EnglandEngland Brian Morgan ScotlandScotland Drew Henry 9: 6
October 8 to October 13, 1996 MaltaMalta Malta Grand Prix 1996 Marsascala Invitation tournament EnglandEngland Nigel Bond MaltaMalta Tony Drago 7: 3
October 16 to October 27, 1996 EnglandEngland Grand Prix 1996 Bournemouth World ranking tournament WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams ScotlandScotland Euan Henderson 9: 5
October 29 to November 10, 1996 ThailandThailand World Cup 1996 Bangkok Invitation tournament ScotlandScotland Scotland IrelandIreland Ireland 10: 7
November 1996 EnglandEngland Merseyside Professional 1996 Liverpool Non-ranking tournament EnglandEngland David Gray EnglandEngland Paul Sweeny 5: 2
November 15 to December 1, 1996 EnglandEngland UK Championship 1996 Preston World ranking tournament ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry ScotlandScotland John Higgins 10: 9
December 9 to December 15, 1996 GermanyGermany German Open 1996 Osnabrück World ranking tournament EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan CanadaCanada Alain Robidoux 9: 7
January 2 to January 5, 1997 EnglandEngland Charity Challenge 1997 Birmingham Invitation tournament ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan 9: 8
January 24th to February 1st, 1997 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Welsh Open 1997 Newport World ranking tournament ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry EnglandEngland Mark King 9: 2
February 2 to February 9, 1997 EnglandEngland Masters 1997 Wembley Invitation tournament EnglandEngland Steve Davis EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan 10: 8
February 13 to February 22, 1997 ScotlandScotland International Open 1997 Aberdeen World ranking tournament ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry MaltaMalta Tony Drago 9: 1
February 23 to March 2, 1997 MaltaMalta European Open 1997 Valletta World ranking tournament ScotlandScotland John Higgins EnglandEngland John Parrott 9: 5
March 10 to March 16, 1997 ThailandThailand Thailand Open 1997 Bangkok World ranking tournament EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon EnglandEngland Nigel Bond 9: 6
March 18 to March 23, 1997 IrelandIreland Irish Masters 1997 Dublin Invitation tournament ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan 9: 8
March 27 to April 5, 1997 EnglandEngland British Open 1997 Plymouth World ranking tournament WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 9: 2
April 19 to May 5, 1997 EnglandEngland World Snooker Championship 1997 Sheffield World ranking tournament IrelandIreland Ken Doherty ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry 18:12

World ranking

The snooker world ranking is only updated after each full season and takes into account the performance of the past two seasons. The following table shows the 32 best players in the world rankings for the 1996/97 season; is based on the results of the seasons 94/95 and 95/96 . The previous year's position is given in brackets.

Place 1 - 8 Place 9 - 16 17th - 24th place Place 25 - 32
1 ScotlandScotland Stephen Hendry (1) 9 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Darren Morgan (8) 17th Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Joe Swail (19) 25th EnglandEngland Willie Thorne (25)
2 ScotlandScotland John Higgins (11) 10 EnglandEngland Steve Davis (2) 18th EnglandEngland Andy Hicks (17) 26th Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Dennis Taylor (32)
3 EnglandEngland Peter Ebdon (10) 11 EnglandEngland Dave Harold (13) 19th EnglandEngland Gary Wilkinson (23) 27 New ZealandNew Zealand Dene O'Kane (18)
4th EnglandEngland John Parrott (4) 12 ThailandThailand James Wattana (5) 20th EnglandEngland Rod Lawler (40) 28 EnglandEngland Dave Finbow (47)
5 EnglandEngland Nigel Bond (12) 13 EnglandEngland Jimmy White (7) 21st EnglandEngland Neal Foulds (28) 29 EnglandEngland Jason Ferguson (29)
6th ScotlandScotland Alan McManus (6) 14th CanadaCanada Alain Robidoux (20) 22nd EnglandEngland Anthony Hamilton (31) 30th ScotlandScotland Chris Small (62)
7th IrelandIreland Ken Doherty (9) 15th MaltaMalta Tony Drago (14) 23 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Terry Griffiths (15) 31 EnglandEngland Stephen Lee (37)
8th EnglandEngland Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 16 WalesFlag of Wales (1959 – present) .svg Mark Williams (39) 24 EnglandEngland Steve James (26) 32 EnglandEngland Mick Price (21)

Individual evidence

  1. The 1996/97 Season. In: snooker.org. Accessed March 23, 2016 .
  2. World Rankings 1996/97. In: snooker.org. Accessed March 23, 2016 .