1998 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	18 April–4 May 1998
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,323,000
Winner's share	£220,000
Highest break	John Higgins (143) Jimmy White (143)
Final
Champion	John Higgins
Runner-up	Ken Doherty
Score	18–12
← 1997 1999 →

The 1998 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1998 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April–4 May 1998 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

John Higgins won his first World title by defeating defending champion Ken Doherty 18–12 in the final. Doherty became another World Champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title. However, Doherty has come closer than any other first-time champion bar Joe Johnson to retaining his championship. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Stephen Hendry lost in the first round 4–10 to Jimmy White. It was the first time since his debut in 1986 that he lost in the last 32 and it was also the first quarter-final stage not to feature Hendry since 1988.^[1]
• Simon Bedford, David Gray, Quinten Hann, Matthew Stevens, Terry Murphy, Alfie Burden, Peter Lines and Jason Prince made their Crucible debuts this year.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} Only Stevens could advance to the second round by defeating Alain Robidoux 10–8.^[10][11]
• Stephen Hendry's eight-year run as the world number one ended and he was replaced by John Higgins.^[12]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[10][11][13]

• Winner: £220,000
• Runner-up: £132,000
• Semi-final: £66,000
• Quarter-final: £33,000
• Last 16: £17,750
• Last 32: £12,000
• Highest break £19,000
• Maximum break £147,000
• Total £1,323,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^{[10][11][14][15]}

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 33 frames

18 April

Ken Doherty (1)

10

24 & 25 April

Lee Walker

8

Ken Doherty (1)

13

22 April

Stephen Lee (16)

8

Stephen Lee (16)

10

28 & 29 April

Andy Hicks

4

Ken Doherty (1)

13

22 & 23 April

Matthew Stevens

10

Alain Robidoux (9)

8

26 & 27 April

Matthew Stevens

10

Matthew Stevens

13

20 & 21 April

Mark King

9

Nigel Bond (8)

5

30 April, 1 & 2 May

Mark King

10

Ken Doherty (1)

17

21 April

Mark Williams (4)

14

Peter Ebdon (5)

10

25, 26 & 27

Terry Murphy

3

Peter Ebdon (5)

13

18 & 19 April

Fergal O'Brien

5

James Wattana (12)

9

28 & 29 April

Fergal O'Brien

10

Peter Ebdon (5)

11

19 & 20 April

Mark Williams (4)

13

Steve Davis (13)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Simon Bedford

6

Steve Davis (13)

6

19 & 20 April

Mark Williams (4)

13

Mark Williams (4)

10

Quinten Hann

9

18 & 19 April

John Higgins (3)

10

23 & 24 April

Jason Ferguson

8

John Higgins (3)

13

18 & 19 April

Anthony Hamilton (14)

9

Anthony Hamilton (14)

10

28 & 29 April

Dave Harold

8

John Higgins (3)

13

18 & 19 April

John Parrott (6)

11

Tony Drago (11)

10

24 & 25 April

Alfie Burden

8

Tony Drago (11)

7

20 & 21 April

John Parrott (6)

13

John Parrott (6)

10

30 April, 1 & 2 May

Peter Lines

4

John Higgins (3)

17

21 & 22 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)

9

Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)

10

26 & 27 April

Joe Swail

5

Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)

13

20 April

Alan McManus (10)

4

Alan McManus (10)

10

28 & 29 April

David Gray

8

Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)

13

21 & 22 April

Jimmy White

7

Darren Morgan (15)

10

25 & 26 April

Jason Prince

8

Darren Morgan (15)

3

22 & 23 April

Jimmy White

13

Stephen Hendry (2)

4

Jimmy White

10

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 3 & 4 May 1998. Referee: Lawrie Annandale[16]
Ken Doherty (1)  Ireland	12–18	John Higgins (3)  Scotland
73–34, 20–80, 7–86, 1–71, 0–113, 52–73, 0–130, 89–0, 112–0, 66–7, 97–18, 2–66, 4–103, 5–86, 0–138, 82–70, 90–39, 0–89, 61–6, 0–130, 90–0, 99–1, 48–58, 82–44, 14–60, 0–128, 58–71, 78–41, 16–66, 8–119	Century breaks: 6 (Doherty 1, Higgins 5) Highest break by Doherty: 112 Highest break by Higgins: 130	73–34, 20–80, 7–86, 1–71, 0–113, 52–73, 0–130, 89–0, 112–0, 66–7, 97–18, 2–66, 4–103, 5–86, 0–138, 82–70, 90–39, 0–89, 61–6, 0–130, 90–0, 99–1, 48–58, 82–44, 14–60, 0–128, 58–71, 78–41, 16–66, 8–119
John Higgins wins the 1998 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 59 century breaks in the championship, a new record which would last until 2002.^[10][17][18] John Higgins' 14 centuries in the tournament was a new record, beating the 12 made by Stephen Hendry in 1995.^[19]

References