The 1997 World Snooker Championship (officially the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 19 April to 5 May 1997 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 21st consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. Sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, the tournament was the tenth and final ranking event of the 1996–97 season. The winner received £210,000 from a total prize fund of £1,260,000.
The top 16 players from the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible, where they were joined by the 16 successful players from the nine qualifying rounds. The tournament featured seven Crucible debutants. Mark Williams was a seed upon his debut, only the second time this had happened since the 16-seed format was introduced in 1982. The other debutants were qualifiers Dominic Dale, Graeme Dott, Graham Horne, Bradley Jones, David McLellan, and Lee Walker.
Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, having defeated Peter Ebdon 18–12 in the 1996 final to win his sixth world title, his fifth consecutively. Ken Doherty claimed the only world title of his professional career with an 18–12 victory over Hendry in the final. This ended a record 29-match Crucible winning streak by Hendry, who had last lost in the quarter-finals of the 1991 edition. Doherty became the first World Champion from the Republic of Ireland and the second in snooker's from outside the United Kingdom, following Cliff Thorburn at the 1980 edition. The main stage of the tournament produced 39 century breaks, of which the highest was a maximum break by Ronnie O'Sullivan, the first of his professional career, during his first-round match against Mick Price. Compiled in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds, it remains the fastest 147 in snooker history.
Background
The inaugural 1927 World Snooker Championship, then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker, took place at various venues in England between November 1926 and May 1927. Joe Davis won the final—held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham from 9 to 12 May 1927—and went on to win the tournament 15 consecutive times before retiring undefeated after the 1946 edition (no tournaments were held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II). The tournament went into abeyance after only two players contested the 1952 edition. The six editions of the World Professional Championship held between 1952 and 1957 are retroactively regarded as legitimate continuations of the World Snooker Championship, but that tournament was discontinued due to waning public interest in snooker in the post-war era. The world title was uncontested between 1958 and 1963.
Then-professional player Rex Williams was instrumental in reviving the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964. John Pulman, winner of the 1957 World Professional Championship, defended the world title across seven challenge matches between 1964 and 1968. The World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament for the 1969 edition, marking the beginning of the championship's "modern era". The 1977 edition was the first staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has remained since. As of 1997, the most successful players in the modern era were Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, and Stephen Hendry, each having won the title six times. Hendry was also the tournament's youngest winner, having captured his first title at the 1990 event, aged . Reardon was the oldest winner, having secured his sixth title at the 1978 event, aged .
Overview The 1997 edition of the tournament—the 28th successive year that the World Snooker Championship was contested through the modern knockout format—took place from 19 April to 5 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 21st consecutive year that the World Championship was staged at the venue. Sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, it was the tenth and last ranking tournament of the 1996–97 season, held after the British Open. The defending champion was Stephen Hendry, who had defeated Peter Ebdon 18–12 in the final of the 1996 World Championship to win his sixth world title and fifth consecutively.
Format The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible Theatre. They faced 16 players who progressed through the qualifying rounds. First-round matches were played as the best of 19 , held over two . Second-round and quarter-final matches were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions. The semi-final matches were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions. The final was the best of 35 frames, also held over four sessions.
Prize fund The winner of the event received £210,000 from a total prize fund of £1,260,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £210,000 Runner-up: £126,000 Semi-finalist: £63,000 Quarter-finalist: £31,500 Last 16: £16,800 Last 32: £9,450 Highest : £18,000 Maximum break: £147,000
Total: £1,260,000
Summary Qualifying There were nine rounds in the qualifying competition. The first eight qualifying rounds took place at the Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool, from 3 to 24 January 1997. The final qualifying round was played at Telford International Centre from 24 to 26 March. The first four rounds were played as the best of 9 , and the other rounds were the best of 19.
Karen Corr, the only woman in the competition and the reigning World Women's Snooker Champion, lost 2–5 to Peter Holland. The fourth-round match between Robby Foldvari and Phil Seaton lasted 353 minutes and was the sixth-longest best-of-nine-frame match in championship history, Foldvari having been involved in five of the longest seven. Seaton won in the . World Amateur Championship titleholder Stuart Bingham won his second-round match against Eddie Glass 5–4 after being 1–3 behind. He then defeated Iwan Jones 5–3 before prevailing on the final of the deciding frame against Garry Baldrey in round four.
In the fifth round, Joe Perry set a new record of 463 unanswered points in a ranking tournament as he beat Tony Meo 10–2, which included of 139 in the first frame and 142 in the third frame. The previous record was 454 points, set by Stephen Hendry at the 1994 UK Championship. Bingham won in the deciding frame for the third time in four matches, winning the last two frames to overcome Matt Wilson 10–9. Alex Higgins, the champion in 1972 and 1982, had been in court for a breach of the peace case two days before the start of his match against world number 205 Darren Limburg. Higgins led 5–1 and 8–3 but eventually lost 9–10, meaning that he dropped out of the top 64 places in the rankings and so did not automatically qualify for a place on the tour the following season.
The 1986 champion Joe Johnson lost 4–10 to Lee Walker in round seven, and Paul Hunter led Jimmy Michie 7–5 but lost 7–10. In the final qualifying round, the 1979 champion Terry Griffiths, who had not played competitively since the 1996 World Championship because he was focusing on his role as the WPBSA's director of coaching, beat Alfie Burden 10–4 from 1–3 behind. Dennis Taylor, the winner in 1985 but who had not qualified since 1994, was defeated 7–10 by world number 189 Walker. Dominic Dale won five successive frames from 5–6 to eliminate Willie Thorne 10–6. In all, ten of the players seeded 17 to 32 lost to players who had advanced from earlier rounds. The lowest-ranked player to qualify was world number 199 Bradley Jones, who won 10–4 against Dave Finbow.
Six players reached the main stage for the first time: Dale, Jones, Graeme Dott, Graham Horne, David McLellan, and Lee Walker. Four players shared the £2,000 prize for the highest break during the qualifying stages: Quinten Hann made a break of 142 in round one, which was matched in round three by Perry, Dale and Jason Weston.
First round The first round took place from 19 to 24 April, each match played as the best of 19 frames over two . The defending champion Stephen Hendry was on a streak of 25 consecutive matches without defeat at the Crucible, having last lost a match in the quarter-finals of the 1991 edition. He led qualifier Andy Hicks 5–1 and 6–3 in their first meeting and went on to win 10–6. "It was different from what I expected. Stephen [Hendry] dominates you and makes it difficult to get any rhythm going," Hicks said.
Seven players made their debut at the Crucible. Mark Williams was a seed upon his debut, only the second time—after Martin Clark in 1991—this had happened since the 16-seed format had been introduced in 1982. Williams, a three-time ranking event winner, faced Griffiths, who had already retired from the game and had only featured in one match during the season. Griffiths led 2–0 and 4–2, but Williams won three consecutive frames to secure a lead at the end of the first day of play. After the resumption, Griffiths got within one frame of victory at 9–7, but Williams forced a , which he won. This was Griffiths' last professional match; he retired having played 999 frames at the Crucible.
Facing the world number 87 Dale, Tony Drago made a highest break of 64. In frame 18, while leading 9–8 and needing only one more frame to progress, Drago missed the off after potting the last red, allowing Dale to win by clearing the colours. In all, Dale made two breaks of 37, his highest of the match, and five breaks of 36. "I didn't feel any pressure playing the shot. I did well to get back into the frame and I couldn't believe it when the black didn't go down. I've had a good season but this was a real sickener to finish," Drago said. James Wattana led Dott 6–3 at the end of the first session. Dott won four consecutive frames in the second session and then forced a deciding frame with a break of 61. In the decider, Dott had the first scoring opportunity but left himself after a on a red. Wattana produced a break of 53 to win the match. "It was my lucky day. Graeme [Dott] played better than I did in the second half of the match," Wattana said.
The world number 2 John Higgins, who had won the 1997 European Open during the season, faced Horne, number 113 in the rankings. "I've left Sheffield twice feeling deeply disappointed and I don't think people expect me to win it now," Higgins said ahead of the match. In the first session, Higgins had his cue repaired by referee Lawrie Annandale. After this, Higgins compiled two century breaks of 111 and 134 and led Horne 5–4 after the first session. Higgins made another century in the second session and went on to claim a 10–6 victory. Horne's highest break of the match was 58. The world number 199 Jones led John Parrott 5–4 after the first session. Parrott compiled a 102 break in the second session and later forced a decider, which he won. He punched the air when he secured victory. "[Jones] played tremendously well and has commendable bottle. I take my hat off to him. I thought [he] would crack under pressure, particularly towards the end, but that wasn't the case. One of his safety shots in the last frame was the best I've ever seen," Parrott said.