1997/98 snooker season

1997/98 snooker season
Season dates
Beginning of the season	August 14, 1997
End of season	May 4, 1998
Ranked tournaments	8th
Invitation tournaments	8th
number of players	599
Triple Crown Winner
UK Championship	Ronnie O'Sullivan
Masters	Mark Williams
World Champion	John Higgins
World ranking
Ranking first	Stephen Hendry
← 1996/97 1998/99 →

The 1997/1998 snooker season consisted of 16 professional snooker tournaments, 8 of which were included in the ranking for the world rankings .

As in the previous year, the season in the Far East began, this time very early on August 14, 1997 in China with the newly created Riley Superstar Championship. The Dubai Classics, which had moved to Thailand in the last two years, returned this year as the China Open and lost their status as a world ranking tournament. Another ranking tournament, the European Open , was discontinued after nine years and only returned later. Even the only team tournament, the World Cup , was finally stopped after its revival last year.

The season ended with the World Cup final on May 4, 1998, which saw John Higgins as world champion for the first time . Higgins was in 8 of the 16 season finals and won four titles, including three in world rankings. Accordingly, he moved up to world number one in the following season 1998/99 .

Season results

The following table shows the seasonal results.

date	competition	venue	Art	winner	Final opponent	Result
August 14 to August 16, 1997	Superstar International 1997	Guangzhou	Invitation tournament	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Jimmy White	5: 3
September 17 to September 20, 1997	China International 1997	Beijing	Invitation tournament	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	7: 4
September 30th to October 5th, 1997	Scottish Masters 1997	Motherwell	Invitation tournament	Nigel Bond	Alan McManus	9: 8
October 14th to October 26th, 1997	Grand Prix 1997	Bournemouth	World ranking tournament	Dominic Dale	John Higgins	9: 6
October 27 to November 8, 1997	Benson & Hedges Championship 1997	Malvern	Invitation tournament	Andy Hicks	Paul Davies	9: 6
October 30 to November 2, 1997	Malta Grand Prix 1997	Marsascala	Invitation tournament	Ken Doherty	John Higgins	7: 5
November 1997	Merseyside Professional 1997	Liverpool	Non-ranking tournament	Anthony Bolsover	Paul Wykes	5: 4
November 12th to November 30th, 1997	UK Championship 1997	Preston	World ranking tournament	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	10: 6
December 8th to December 14th, 1997	German Open 1997	Bingen am Rhein	World ranking tournament	John Higgins	John Parrott	9: 4
January 16 to January 25, 1998	Welsh Open 1998	Newport	World ranking tournament	Paul Hunter	John Higgins	9: 5
February 1 to February 8, 1998	Masters 1998	Wembley	Invitation tournament	Mark Williams	Stephen Hendry	10: 9
February 12 to February 22, 1998	Scottish Open 1998	Aberdeen	World ranking tournament	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9: 5
February 26 to March 1, 1998	Charity Challenge 1998	Derby	Invitation tournament	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9: 8
March 7th to March 15th, 1998	Thailand Masters 1998	Bangkok	World ranking tournament	Stephen Hendry	John Parrott	9: 6
March 24th to March 29th, 1998	Irish Masters 1998	Dublin	Invitation tournament	Ken Doherty	Ronnie O'Sullivan	(3: 9)
April 2 to April 12, 1998	British Open 1998	Plymouth	World ranking tournament	John Higgins	Stephen Hendry	9: 8
April 18 to May 4, 1998	World Snooker Championship 1998	Sheffield	World ranking tournament	John Higgins	Ken Doherty	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 1997/98 season; is based on the results of seasons 95/96 and 96/97 . The previous year's position is given in brackets.

Place 1 - 8		Place 9 - 16		17th - 24th place		Place 25 - 32
1	Stephen Hendry (1)	9	Alain Robidoux (14)	17th	Gary Wilkinson (19)	25th	Chris Small (30)
2	John Higgins (2)	10	Alan McManus (6)	18th	Dave Harold (11)	26th	Rod Lawler (20)
3	Ken Doherty (7)	11	Tony Drago (15)	19th	Andy Hicks (18)	27	Martin Clark (33)
4th	Mark Williams (16)	12	James Wattana (12)	20th	Mark King (39)	28	Brian morgan 49
5	Peter Ebdon (3)	13	Steve Davis (10)	21st	Jimmy White (13)	29	Terry Murphy (41)
6th	John Parrott (4)	14th	Anthony Hamilton (22)	22nd	Joe Swail (17)	30th	Neal Foulds (21)
7th	Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)	15th	Darren Morgan (9)	23	Fergal O'Brien (36)	31	Mick Price (32)
8th	Nigel Bond (5)	16	Stephen Lee (31)	24	Steve James (24)	32	Billy Snaddon (35)

Remarks

1. ↑ O'Sullivan subsequently lost the title after the doping test showed that he was using cannabis

Individual evidence

1. ^ The 1997/98 Season. In: snooker.org. Retrieved March 22, 2016 (English). 
2. ↑ World Rankings 1997/98. In: snooker.org. Retrieved March 22, 2016 (English).