The 2004 Players Championship (officially the 2004 Daily Record Players Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 3–11 April 2004 at the S.E.C.C in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the seventh and penultimate ranking event of the 2003/2004 season.
The tournament was a re-branding of the Scottish Open which had been held under various names since 1981. It was the last time the tournament was played until it returned to the calendar in 2016, under the original name from previous seasons.
Twelve years after his last ranking tournament success, Jimmy White aged 41 won his tenth ranking tournament by defeating Paul Hunter 9–7 in the final. This was White's first success in the tournament, having last appeared in the final in 1988 International Open, when he lost 12–6 to Steve Davis. It was also Hunter's last appearance in a ranking final.
Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £82,500 Final: £42,500 Semi-final: £21,500 Quarter-final: £11,800 Last 16: £9,700 Last 32: £7,600 Last 48: £4,200 Last 64: £3,100
Last 80: £2,200 Last 96: £1,500 Stage one highest break: £1,800 Stage two highest break: £5,000 Stage one maximum break: £5,000 Stage two maximum break: £20,000 Total: £597,200
Main draw
Final Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Colin Brinded.S.E.C.C., Glasgow, Scotland, 11 April 2004. Jimmy White (15) 9–7 Paul Hunter (8) Afternoon: 73–33, 76–50, , , , , , Evening: 10–52, 70–2 (51), , , , , , 76 Highest break 67 0 Century breaks 0 3 50+ breaks 1
Qualifying Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales between 11 and 15 March 2004.
Round 1 Best of 9 frames
Andrew Higginson 1–5 Tom Ford Atthasit Mahitthi 3–5 Joe Delaney Craig Butler 5–3 Garry Hardiman Tony Jones 0–5 Kurt Maflin Paul Wykes 5–2 Darryn Walker Johl Younger 2–5 Scott MacKenzie David Gilbert 3–5 Ian Preece Matthew Couch 3–5 Chris Melling Jason Prince 5–3 Andy Neck Adrian Gunnell w/o–w/d Alain Robidoux Wayne Brown 0–5 Philip Williams Terry Murphy 3–5 Luke Simmonds Kristján Helgason w/d–w/o Mehmet Husnu Luke Fisher 5–4 Michael Wild Simon Bedford 5–4 Ian Sargeant Peter Lines 2–5 Adrian Rosa
Rory McLeod 3–5 Liu Song Ryan Day 5–1 Carlo Giagnacovo Ricky Walden 2–5 Michael Rhodes Martin Dziewialtowski 5–1 Ian Brumby Colm Gilcreest 5–2 Joe Meara Bradley Jones 4–5 Neil Robertson Jamie Cope 5–1 Supoj Saenla Billy Snaddon 4–5 Ding Junhui Paul Davies 5–4 Stephen Croft Kwan Poomjang 3–5 Paul Sweeny Andrew Norman 1–5 Gary Thomson Joe Johnson 3–5 Stuart Mann Lee Walker 5–3 Martin Gould Jason Ferguson 5–4 James Leadbetter Munraj Pal 5–1 Steve Mifsud Leo Fernandez 5–2 Steven Bennie
Round 2–4
Century breaks
Qualifying stage centuries
144, 102 Stuart Bingham 144 Garry Hardiman 137, 135, 100 Ding Junhui 134 Chris Melling 132, 115, 109 Adrian Gunnell 126 Lee Walker 125 Mark King 125 Neil Robertson 124 Tom Ford 123 Patrick Wallace 121 Martin Dziewialtowski 120, 106 Ryan Day
118 Shaun Murphy 113 Ali Carter 112, 104, 103 Kurt Maflin 108 Jamie Burnett 107 Munraj Pal 106 Barry Pinches 106 Adrian Rosa 104 Ian Preece 102 Simon Bedford 102 Mark Davis 101 Michael Holt
Televised stage centuries
145 Ken Doherty 144, 135, 121, 117, 110 Paul Hunter 144 Peter Ebdon 138 Mark King 123 John Higgins 122 David Gray 121, 115, 104 Jimmy White 120 Ryan Day 112, 106 Graeme Dott
107, 106, 103 Ronnie O'Sullivan 106 Stephen Lee 105, 102 Rod Lawler 103, 101 Ian McCulloch 103 Stephen Hendry 102 Alan McManus 102 Stuart Bingham 100 Joe Perry
References