2003/04 snooker season

2003/04 snooker season
Season dates
Beginning of the season	October 4, 2003
End of season	May 3, 2004
Ranked tournaments	8th
Invitation tournaments	1
number of players	291
Triple Crown Winner
UK Championship	Matthew Stevens
Masters	Paul Hunter
World Champion	Ronnie O'Sullivan
World ranking
Ranking first	Mark Williams
← 2002/03 2004/05 →

The 2003/04 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments that were part of the Main Tour . Compared to the previous season, the tour calendar has been shortened by two events. Eight of the nine tournaments were not only about the title but also about world ranking points, the only exception was traditionally the Masters .

The main tour no longer included the Benson & Hedges Championship , which was now held as a qualifying tournament and earned the winner a place at the Masters. After 22 years (including a one year break) the Scottish Masters were no longer held. The Scottish Open took place for the last time this year as a Players Championship .

The season began on October 4, 2003 with the Grand Prix and ended, as usual, with the World Championship final on May 3, 2004.

Season results

The following table shows the final results of the season.

date	competition	venue	Art	winner	finalist	Result
October 4 to October 12, 2003	LG Cup 2003	Preston	World ranking tournament	Mark J. Williams	John Higgins	9: 5
November 2003	Merseyside Professional 2003	Liverpool	Non-ranking tournament	Stephen Maguire	Mark Davis	5: 1
November 8th to November 16th, 2003	British Open 2003	Brighton	World ranking tournament	Stephen Hendry	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9: 6
November 18 to November 30, 2003	UK Championship 2003	York	World ranking tournament	Matthew Stevens	Stephen Hendry	10: 8
January 19 to January 25, 2004	Welsh Open 2004	Newport	World ranking tournament	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Steve Davis	9: 8
February 1 to February 8, 2004	Masters 2004	London	Invitation tournament	Paul Hunter	Ronnie O'Sullivan	10: 9
March 1 to March 6, 2004	European Open 2004	Portomaso	World ranking tournament	Stephen Maguire	Jimmy White	9: 3
March 23 to March 28, 2004	Irish Masters 2004	Dublin	World ranking tournament	Peter Ebdon	Mark King	10: 7
April 3 to April 11, 2004	Players Championship 2004	Glasgow	World ranking tournament	Jimmy White	Paul Hunter	9: 7
April 17th to May 3rd, 2004	2004 World Snooker Championship	Sheffield	World ranking tournament	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Graeme Dott	18: 8

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 placed players in the 2003/04 season, based on the results from 2001/02 and 2002/03 . The previous year's position is given in brackets.

Place 1 - 8		Place 9 - 16		17th - 24th place		Place 25 - 32
1	Mark Williams (2)	9	Matthew Stevens (8)	17th	Ali Carter (31)	25th	Drew Henry (22)
2	Stephen Hendry (6)	10	Alan McManus (15)	18th	Chris Small (29)	26th	Ian McCulloch (43)
3	Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)	11	Steve Davis (25)	19th	Marco Fu (27)	27	Joe Swail (16)
4th	John Higgins (4)	12	David Gray (19)	20th	Anthony Hamilton (17)	28	Dominic Dale (20)
5	Stephen Lee (7)	13	Graeme Dott (12)	21st	Robert Milkins (33)	29	Mark Selby (53)
6th	Ken Doherty (5)	14th	Quinten Hann (14)	22nd	Mark King (11)	30th	John Parrott (18)
7th	Peter Ebdon (3)	15th	Jimmy White (10)	23	Dave Harold (21)	31	Anthony Davies (26)
8th	Paul Hunter (9)	16	Joe Perry (13)	24	Tony Drago (28)	32	Robin Hull (39)