The 1998 UK Championship (officially the 1998 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England. The event started on 16 November 1998 and the televised stages were shown on BBC between 21 and 29 November 1998.
This was the first UK championship to be held in Bournemouth since the inaugural championship in 1977, after 20 years at Preston. The Conference Centre has held snooker competitions before. It hosted the World Cup between 1985 and 1990, the Mercantile Credit Classic in 1991 and 1992, the International Open in 1994 and 1995, and the Grand Prix in 1996 and 1997.
Five-time champion Stephen Hendry lost 9–0 in the first round to fellow Scottish player Marcus Campbell.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he withdrew before the tournament. His doctor had told him to rest after suffering from physical and nervous exhaustion.
John Higgins won this year's title by defeating Matthew Stevens 10–6 in the final to go with the World Championship crown he won earlier in the year. This was Higgins' 10th ranking title.
Tournament summary
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion John Higgins seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £75,000 Runner-up: £39,000 Semi-final: £19,750 Quarter-final: £10,080 Last 16: £5,525 Last 32: £3,450 Last 64: £2,950 Last 96: £1,460 Last 134: £235
Stage one highest break: £1,500 Stage two highest break: £5,000 Total: £460,000
Main draw
Top half
Bottom half
Final Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Alan Chamberlain.Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England, 29 November 1998. Matthew Stevens (26) 6–10 John Higgins (2)Afternoon: 0–86, 36–62, 68–31 (52), 48–69, 91–0 (62), 11–68 (50), 105–10 (105), 61–60 (Higgins 60)Evening: 72–22 (66), 36–87 (73), 0–84 (84), 6–70, 0–107 (107), 76–34, 23–81, 0–90 (90) 105 Highest break 107 1 Century breaks 1 4 50+ breaks 6
Century breaks
Televised stage centuries
141, 116, 107, 106, 101 John Higgins 138, 128, 127, 109 Gary Ponting 138 Dominic Dale 136, 114 Gerard Greene 135, 117, 105 Matthew Stevens 130, 127 Fergal O'Brien 126 Jimmy White 118, 111, 104 Andy Hicks 118 Michael Holt
116 Mark Williams 115, 105, 100 Dave Harold 115 Chris Small 114 Patrick Wallace 113 Anthony Hamilton 111 Martin Clark 107, 105 Euan Henderson 102 Lee Richardson 102 Peter Ebdon
Qualifying stage centuries
138 Joe Grech 128 Barry Pinches 125 Gary Ponting 124 Peter McCullagh 120 Michael Holt 119 Gerard Greene 119 Keith E Boon 116 Mehmet Husnu 114 John Read 110 Kristjan Helgason
110 Leo Fernandez 109 Phil Williams 107 Alfie Burden 105 Ali Carter 105 John Giles 104, 101 Lee Richardson 100 Adrian Gunnell 100 Euan Henderson 100 David Roe
References