Benson & Hedges Masters 1998

Wembley Conference Centre, London, England (Feb 1-8, 1998)
Invitational tournament
�535,000 purse

[ Report | Results | Related Pages ]

Report

Welshman Mark J Williams won his fourth major title when he potted a re-spotted black to beat world No.1 Stephen Hendry from Scotland 10-9 in the final. The last time a major professional final was decided on a re-spotted black was in 1975 when John Spencer from England defeated Welshman Ray Reardon 9-8 in the first edition of the Masters.

Williams was trailing 56-34 in the final frame when he cleared up from brown to tie the scores. After seven shots on the black he finally buried the ball in a baulk pocket. Hendry had at one time been 9-6 up, but he failed to negotiate any of his many match-winning chances, and thus lost his fifth straight major final. His last victory came 11 months ago, in the 1997 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters.

The �145,000 winner's cheque more than doubled his previous biggest pay-day. Hendry pocketed a "meager" �75,000 in this, one of snooker's richest events. Andy Hicks won the �16,000 high break prize with a 142 total clearance in his 5-4 first round loss to Darren Morgan.

Results

(Players are English unless stated)

Final

Mark J Williams (Wales) 10-9 Stephen Hendry (Scotland)

63-72, 68-34 (64), 45-79, 0-98 (98), 82-36, 0-121 (120), 6-70 (70), 80-66,
64-26, 104-1 (100), 0-106 (67), 87-2, 1-69, 44-73 (69), 0-78 (78),
72-60 (54H), 70-20 (69), 52-23, 63-56

Mark J Williams (Wales) 6-3 Steve Davis

8-84 (84), 62-53, 10-80 (50), 54-53, 78-7, 0-104 (104), 83-23, 91-8 (61), 57-55


Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-5 Ken Doherty (Ireland)

14-73 (73), 66-52, 131-4 (131), 0-78 (56), 80-1 (80), 
31-69, 130-0 (122), 0-75 (60), 9-70 (57), 73-19, 69-29 (68)

Mark J Williams (Wales)   6-3 Anthony Hamilton
Steve Davis               6-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Ken Doherty (Ireland)     6-1 James Wattana (Thailand)
Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-3 Nigel Bond

Mark J Williams (Wales)   6-4 Alan McManus (Scotland)
Anthony Hamilton          6-3 John Higgins (Scotland)
Steve Davis               6-2 Darren Morgan (Wales)
Ronnie O'Sullivan         6-5 Alain Robidoux (Canada)
James Wattana (Thailand)  6-5 John Parrott 
Ken Doherty (Ireland)     6-4 Tony Drago (Malta)
Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 6-1 Stephen Lee
Nigel Bond                6-2 Peter Ebdon

Darren Morgan (Wales)     5-4 Andy Hicks
Stephen Lee               5-1 Jimmy White 

• Eric Whitehead Photography & Snooker Images
• Jimmy White Snooker Site
• Riley Leisure

Internal

1995 Benson & Hedges Masters
1996 Benson & Hedges Masters
1997 Benson & Hedges Masters
Benson & Hedges Masters Finals

Malta

Last Modified: Friday April 20 2012

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