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Thailand Masters 1999

Ambassador Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
Mar 1-7, 1999 (Coverage to be confirmed)
WPBSA ranking tournament (#6 of 9)
�295,000 purse

Report

Reports from Janie Watkins ([email protected]) as posted on alt.sport.snooker

Williams rewrites the history books

Mark Williams victory in Thailand today, added a new page in the snooker history books. As he added his third ranking title of the season, he joined a select band of only three other players to have achieve the same distinction - Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins. His defeated opponent, Alan McManus was also on the receiving end in the final of The Irish Open last December.

Williams, took the title, but not without a tremendous scare as McManus fought back from an 8-3 deficit.

The Welsh Wizard roared into an early lead with breaks of 87, 106 and 64 to take him 3-1 ahead. A break of 70 gave him the sixth, despite McManus clawing his way to a respotted black, which Williams potted the length of the table. The afternoon session finished with Williams 6-2 ahead.

McManus took the night's opener on the black. He also had the opportunity to cut the lead further, but missed the yellow to take Williams 8-3 up.

For the next two hours Williams was on the back foot as McManus ground out frame after frame to clip the deficit to 8-7. McManus won all four frames without compiling a single 50 break. He looked well set to level the match, at 46 points ahead in the 16th, but he missed a red and Williams chipped away the lead and potted a full distance match winning green.

Williams pocketed �50,000 for his efforts, while McManus had to be content with �26,000. The snooker roadshow now moves on to Shanghai, where Williams faces his countryman Dominic Dale, while McManus also plays a fellow Scot - Chris Small.

It's the second time this season the Welshman beats McManus in a major final. He did the same thing in the 1998 Irish Open.

The Welshman moves to third on the World Ranking List, thus pushing Ronnie O'Sullivan down to fourth.

TOP TEN WORLD RANKINGS:
  1 John Higgins          Scotland 40,405pts
  2 Stephen Hendry        Scotland 29,590
  3 Mark Williams         Wales    28,910
  4 Ronnie O'Sullivan     England  27,475
  5 John Parrott          England  24,260
  6 Stephen Lee           England  23,805
  7 Ken Doherty           Ireland  23,015
  8 Alan McManus          Scoland  21,275
  9 Matthew Stevens       Wales    18,870
 10 Paul Hunter           England  18,115

7 March

Williams chase the hat trick * McManus end Morgan's run

Scotland's Alan McManus again emphasised the consistency he has suddently rediscovered, as he handed out a 6-1 hammering to Wales' Darren Morgan. McManus, despite still suffering from jet lag and professing "not to be enjoying the tournament much", still found enough energy to win a 42 minute opening frame on the black. A clearance of 59 gave him the second frame, and from there he never looked back. He added further breaks of 63 and 74 as he smoothed his path to the final.

Mark J Williams, Wales' super potter, kept on line for a third title of the season. He put paid to seasoned traveller John Parrott by a 6-2 margin. Parrott contributed a run of 66 to hold Williams 2-2, but the Welshman took over the match from thereon, adding a break of 60 and clinching the match in style with a run of 102.

6 March

Hendry's Revivial stopped by Hot Shot Williams * Morgans thanks Griffiths as he brushes aside Davis * McManus wakes Higgins up but knocks him out again * Parrott bids for another overseas success

Mark J Williams, the season's hottest potter, put paid to Hendry's revival, repeating his Welsh Open victory over the former World Champion. Hendry wasn't too despondent, saying "It's never anything to worry about when you lose to someone of Mark's calibre". "My own game's is in good order and I am looking for to the China International next week". Hendry and Williams were level at 2-2, thanks to breaks of 62 and 120 from Hendry. Williams tooks a crucial 5th frame, with a 41 clearance to pinch the frame on the black. Williams surged away then, with a 130 total clearance to clinch a semi final spot against John Parrott.

Parrott was 3-2 down to Ken Doherty, but a 57 break for Parrott levelled the match and from there he never looked back. It was another disappointing set back for Doherty who has been close to major honours all seasons, without actually clinching a title. He has already appeared in the Benson & Hedges Final and the semi finals of the Charity Challenge and Scottish Open, so he will go forward to China hoping to convert his consistent form into title honours.

Darren Morgan paid further tribute to his Coach Terry Griffiths, after a surprisingly easy 5-1 victory over a revitalised Steve Davis. Dubbing Griffiths the "guru", Darren said "Terry has really helped me a lot and now the pieces are falling into place". "I've been playing really well in practice for quite some time, but this is the first time I've proved it in public".

Scotland's Alan McManus has found his form against this season, after a lean spell and his consistency proved to much for the World Champion. Higgins and McManus are sharing a hotel room in China. John Higgins was still snoring peacefully forty minutes before the match, and roommate Alan was sorely tempted to leave him there, but he said "I'd love to have left him there, but I thought I'd better wake him up for the match!" The match proved to be high quality throughout and very close. McManus contributed four half century breaks, one of which proved to be the clincher in the decider. Higgins was less than happy after the match, as he blasted the tv company, who had shunted his match to an outside table to give Darren Morgan and Steve Davis the tv table. In an uncharacteristic outburst, Higgins said "It's unbelievable that myself and Alan should be shunted out to the sticks," "Steve and Darren are low down in the rankings. If that's how they want to promote the game, it makes me angry". "The people here must really enjoy their snooker if they don't want to watch the World, Uk and Masters Champion".

4 March

Headlines: Wattana receives Death Threat * Nugget turns in a Golden Performance * McManus sets up Scottish Clash * Parrott sickens Stephen * Morgan strolls through ....

James Wattana went to the table to play Ken Doherty today, labouring under the worry of having received a death threat a few hours before he was due to play. In 1992 Wattana's father was shot by an assassin and his mother today, begged him not to play. It was believed that the threat could have something to do with an illegal betting ring, but Wattana, with full police protection insisted on going ahead. Seemingly undeterred Wattana opened the match with a break of 67 and was 2-2 at the interval, but Doherty won the fifth on the pink and went further ahead with a break of 102, eventually taking the match 5-2.

Steve Davis rolled back the years to turn in a superlative performance against Peter Ebdon. An impressive Davis clocked up the tournament's highest break so far, with a 136 total clearance in second frame. Despite Ebdon clinching the third on the pink, it was the Nugget all the way, as Davis added further breaks of 91 and 98 to take his place in the quarters. Davis said afterwards "I have to say, it's the best performance I've put in for quite some time".

Another of Snooker's Senior players also made further inroads, as John Parrott accounted for The Grand Prix champion Steve Lee. Having opened up a 3-1 lead, Parrott added breaks of 99 and a match winning 101. Alan McManus progressed, but only just, to meet John Higgins in a tartan quarter final. McManus was pushed to the brink by Belfast's Joe Swail, before winning the decider. McManus led 4-3, but Swail, who has enjoyed a revival of form this season, took the eighth frame to force the decider.

Darren Morgan "strolled" through his clash with Nigel Bond, emerging an easy 5-1 winner; but he will reflect back on his painful progress to Thailand; when strictly against doctors orders, he took part in the qualifying tournament in Plymouth last summer on crutches, following a serious car crash. His reward for his courage is a quarter final match against Steve Davis. Morgan's efforts will have considerably helped his attempt to rescue his Top 32 ranking position.

3 March

The first round of The Thai Masters continued today, with some more close calls for the favourites, and a heartbreaker for Dave Harold.

Play continued amidst unrest from the players, who were very upset at the Opening speeches, to hear from Tournament Promoter, Sindhu Pulsirivong, that this would be the last Thailand Masters, due to continued discord with the governing body - the WPBSA. Sindhu resigned from the Board of the WPBSA in June 1998, in protest at some of the policies and attitudes adopted by the Chairman and Senior Executives. As he has seen no improvement in the situation he has now told the players that he is withdrawing the event. The players, understandably are deeply concerned and were rumoured to be composing a joint letter to their own Governing Body to see if the situation could be rectified.

Back on the table and Stephen Hendry continued to struggle, despite his confidence boosting victory in Scotland. He fell 4-2 behind Cardiff's Paul Davies, before digging deep to force a 5-4 win. Breaks of 59, 40 and 65 helped his revival. Davies missed an easy blue in the decider and Hendry gratefully mopped up blue, pink and black for victory. Hendry goes forward to meet Canadian Alain Robidoux, who was also greatly relieved to put a ranking match victory on the scoresheet.

Hendry commented afterwards that "he was anxious to keep the momentum going that he has gained from victory in Scotland".

Another Scot, Alan McManus also fought his way to victory after lagging behind throughout his match with Wales' Matthew Stevens. McManus was behind 4-2 at one stage, but a break of 59 to pull back to 4-3, set him up to take the last two frames. McManus will now play Belfast's Joe Swail.

Match of the day so far was John Parrott in battle against Dave Harold of Stoke - and what a battle it was. Harold, who won the event in 1993, fell 4-1 behind and looked out, but known for his redoubtable fighting qualities, he fought back to level at 4-4. This time Parrott looked finished, as he needed three snookers; but with characteristic tenacity Parrott clawed his way back in to eventually clinch the match on the black.

Harold, naturally was completely "gutted". He said afterwards that it would have been bad enough to lose a match like that on home soil, but to travel 6,000 miles to lose made it even worse. And worse still, for Harold, he has not qualified for next week's event in China, so he has a long lonely journey back to Stoke, while the snooker juggernaut rolls east. Even his opponent John Parrott expressed his sympathy, as he said in his post match interview, that matches like that "absolutely kill a player". He said that even as the winner, he felt "totally numb".

2 March

The 1999 Thailand Masters got under way with the four lowest seeded players having to play off an extra match against local invited wildcards. Dean Reynolds was unable to take his place in the lineup, but the other three eventually defeated their Thai opponents, but not without a few alarms along the way.

Hugh Abernethy, formerly of Scotland, but now domiciled in Folkestone, needed to recover from a 3-2 deficit, before he overcame Atthasit Mahitti 5-3, a crucial clearance of 41 clinching the match for him. Ian McCulloch, Preston and Dave Finbow, Worcester, had easier journeys. Finbow beat Poomjang 5-2, while McCulloch warmed up for his match against John Higgins with breaks of 76, 64 and 61 in beating Phirom Ritthiprasong 5-1.

First round

Two seeds bit the dust at the first hurdle, in the most unpredictable event of the season, while Australia's Quientan Hann produced another disappointing performance. But the happy recipient was Alain Robidoux, a grateful 5-1 victor, to give him a very rare ranking victory. Tony Drago, always enigmatic failed to take a decider against Scotland's Euan Henderson. Henderson was hampered by an insect bite on his bridge hand, which caused him considerable "irritation" during the match. Anthony Hamilton, who reached the semis last year, took an early 3-1 lead against Ireland's Joe Swail, but Swail rallied to take four frames on the spin for a 5-3 victory. Swail ran the match out in style with breaks of 74 and 68. Swail now faces either McManus or Matthew Stevens.

Stevens had to watch helplessly while his stablemate Paul Hunter was edged out 5-4 by the obdurate Peter Ebdon. Ebdon goes forward to face Steve Davis, in what promises to be a "long" match! Davis disposed of Wales's Dominic Dale 5-2.

Local favourite James Wattana continued his revival with a 5-3 win over Londoner Bradley Jones. Wattana will be desparately anxious to string some results together in front of his home crowd, particularly after his disappointments in the Asian Games.

Stephen Lee took a while to settle down, going 2-0 behind to breaks of 70 and 100 from Billy Snaddon. But Lee found his form and rounded off the match with a 102 clearance.

Back to the top

Qualifying Rounds

Plymouth Pavillions, Plymouth, England (Jul-Sep, 1998)
Results provided by Janie Watkins ([email protected])

(Players are English unless stated)

Round 7

(Wednesday 2nd September)

Paul Davies (Wales)              5-4 Andy Hicks
Quinten Hann (Australia)         5-2 Martin Clark
Euan Henderson (Scotland)        5-4 Fergal O'Brien (Ireland)
Hugh Abernethy (Scotland)        5-3 Jimmy White
Dave Harold                      5-3 Alfie Burden                    
Billy Snaddon (Scotland)         5-2 Willie Thorne                   
Bradley Jones                    5-2 Graeme Dott (Scotland)
Dean Reynolds                    5-2 Chris Small (Scotland)
Darren Morgan (Wales)            5-2 Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland)
Dave Finbow                      5-4 Gary Wilkinson
Dominic Dale (Wales)             5-4 Neal Foulds                     
Paul Hunter                      5-3 Jason Weston                    
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          5-1 Joe Perry                       
Joe Swail (N.Ireland)            w/o Terry Murphy (N.Ireland)
Jamie Burnett (Scotland)         5-3 Paul Wykes                      
Ian McCulloch                    5-1 Brian Morgan

Abernethy produces his best result ever to beat Jimmy White and reach the venue stages of a Tournament for the first time. Abernethy's 5-3 defeat of White earns him a trip to Thailand where he will plays Benson and Hedges Masters Champion Mark J Williams.

White started brightly enough taking an early 2-0 lead, but undeterred, Abernethy, based in Margate, hit back with 4 straight frames and breaks of 52 and 54. White rallied briefly but Abernethy emphatically took the next for his dream win.

The seeds suffered again today as Andy Hicks lost for the second day, this time to Welshman Paul Davies, as Davies recovered 4 times from a one frame deficit and eventually took the lead in the frame that mattered - the decider.

Quienten Hann notched his second victory in two days, brushing aside Midlander Martin Clark, still reeling from a 5-0 reverse yesterday. Hann crashed in braks of 71, 83 and 59 to ensure victory.

Dave Harold survived a see saw encounter with Alfie Burden. Burdenshot in runs of 59, 54 and 53 in the first three frames, but still lost two of them as the score locked at 3-3. Harold somehow found an extra gear at this stage and compiled vital runs of 78 and 58 to edge away to victory.

Scot Billy Snaddon ended ended hopes Willie Thorne might of have of qualifying, as he comfortably beat Thorne 5-2.

Bradley Jones lived up to his reputation of "one to watch" as he compiled breaks of 55, 75 and a superb 129 to ease past Scot Graeme Dott.

Grimsby's Dean Reynolds is enjoying something of a renaissance so far at Plymouth and he notched another solid win today, at the expense of - yet another Scot - Chris Small. From 1-0 behind Reynolds ran 3 frames on the trot to break the back of the match and ran out a 5-2 winner.

Joe Swail benefits again from the broken ankle that is keeping Terry Murphy from the table, as he receives another walkover - this time to face Anthony Hamilton in Thailand.

Courageous Welshman Darren Morgan defies the pain and Dziewialtowski to book his passage to Thailand.

Darren Morgan produced the most amazing performance of his career tonight at Plymouth. Hobbling on crutches following injuries in a car smash, Morgan defied both the intense pain and his opponent Martin Dziewialtowski to reach The last 32 of the Thailand Masters. Morgan took the first frame, added a break of 75 to lead 2-0, but his opponent hit back to level. Still undeterred Morgan shot successive breaks of 72 and 80 to carve a 4-2 lead and added the next for a memorable 5-2 victory. Darren said afterward "The pain was frightening, especially towards the end, but thankfully I managed to carry on." Morgan contemplated quitting during the interval and must have doubted the wisdom of proceeding, when he faced a 50 point deficit in frame five, but then he pulled out a 72 clearance to give him hope and encouragement. Morgan will play Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round in Thailand.

Finbow wins a marathon. Dave Finbow of Worcester came through a gruelling encounter with Gary Wilkinson, earning himself a 5-4 win with a gritty 57 in the decider. Wilkinson opened brightly with 93, but after Finbow levelled they were never more than a frame apart the whole way through.

Grand Prix Champion stops Foulds' run - but only just. Breaks of 88, 51,52 and 54 from Dale could not shake off the determined challenge of Ealing's Neal Foulds. Despite carving a 3-1 lead, Dale could not relax as Foulds fought back to level, but Dale gradually got the better of a 35 minute decider to edge victory on the colours.

Hunter strolls through again. Regal Welsh Champion Paul Hunter was knocking in the breaks again as he beat Portsmouth's Jason Weston 5-3. 72 in the second and 90 in the fourth gave Hunter a 3-1 lead. Despite a brief rally from Weston a run of 94 in the eighth sealed the match for Hunter.

Stevens shows his character. Matthews Stevens put last night's disappointment behind him as he took on the same opponent again - Joe Perry. Solid breaks of 52, 55 and 54 gave Stevens a much more comfortable passage tonight as he won 5-1. Stevens faces another daunting task in the morning as he takes on the highly rated Marco Fu. Stevens will face Alan McManus in Thailand, who beat him in a close B&H Masters Match on their one previous meeting.

Essex pro Brian Morgan found himself on the wrong end of a 5-1 drubbing by the little known Ian McCulloch. McCulloch has enjoyed by far his best sequences of results at Plymouth and he knocked in breaks of 66, 50 and 63 to book a trip to Thailand, where he will face world Champion John Higgins.

Round 6

(Thursday 27th August)

Paul Davies (Wales)              5-2 David McDonnell
Quinten Hann (Australia)         5-0 Craig MacGillivray (Scotland)
Euan Henderson (Scotland)        5-0 Mehmet Husnu (Cyprus)
Hugh Abernethy (Scotland)        5-3 Jason Prince (N.Ireland)
Alfie Burden                     5-2 Peter McCullagh
Willie Thorne                    5-3 Karl Broughton
Bradley Jones                    5-1 Rod Lawler
Dean Reynolds                    5-3 Mick Price
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 5-3 Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)
Dave Finbow                      5-2 Nick Pearce
Neal Foulds                      5-3 Dene O'Kane (New Zealand)
Jason Weston                     5-0 Jonathan Birch
Joe Perry                        5-3 David Roe
Joe Swail (N.Ireland)            5-1 Mark Fenton (Wales)
Paul Wykes                       5-0 Peter Lines
Ian McCulloch                    5-3 Darryn Walker

Round 5

(Wednesday 26th August)

David McDonnell                  5-3 Tony Chappel (Wales)
Paul Davies (Wales)              5-1 Robert Milkins
Craig MacGillivray (Scotland)    5-2 David Gray
Quinten Hann (Australia)         5-0 Simon Bedford
Euan Henderson (Scotland)        5-2 James Reynolds (Wales)
Mehmet Husnu (Cyprus)            5-0 Lee Walker (Wales) 
Hugh Abernethy (Scotland)        5-4 Joe Johnson
Jason Prince (N.Ireland)         5-3 Nigel Gilbert
Peter McCullagh                  5-0 Mark Davis
Alfie Burden                     5-1 Dennis Taylor (N.Ireland) 
Willie Thorne                    5-2 Ian Brumby
Karl Broughton                   5-2 Matthew Couch
Rod Lawler                       5-3 Patrick Wallace (N.Ireland)      
Bradley Jones                    5-2 Stefan Mazrocis                   
Dean Reynolds                    5-1 Mark Gray
Mick Price                       5-4 Chris Scanlon                    
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 5-3 Tony Jones
Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)        5-1 Tony Knowles                     
Nick Pearce                      5-2 Surinder Gill                    
Dave Finbow                      5-2 Steve James
Neal Foulds                      5-1 Karl Payne                       
Dene O'Kane (New Zealand)        5-1 Kristjan Helgason (Iceland)      
Jonathan Birch                   5-2 Barry Pinches                    
Jason Weston                     5-4 Michael Judge (Ireland)
Joe Perry                        5-2 Drew Henry (Scotland)
David Roe                        5-4 Joe Grech (Malta)
Joe Swail (N.Ireland)            5-2 Barry Mapstone                   
Mark Fenton (Wales)              5-1 Jason Ferguson
Peter Lines                      5-2 Marco Fu (Hong Kong)
Paul Wykes                       5-4 Antony Bolsover                  
Darryn Walker                    5-3 Shokat Ali (Pakistan)
Ian McCulloch                    5-1 Robin Hull (Finland)

Morriston's Mark Fenton adds to Jason Ferguson's misery, helped by breaks of 66,65 and 55. Fu's run is brought to an end at last by Leeds' Peter Lines. Fu still managed a run of 67. Jonathan Birch, who last season contemplated packing in the pro circuit, ran in breaks of 54, 96 & 68. Wisbech's Joe Perry went on a scoring spree against Scotland's Drew Henry, with breaks of 76, 65, 69, 77 and 54.

A disastrous run of Results for Jason Ferguson so far, has been brought about by a severe bout of flu - It seems unfortunate that a player can get wiped out of the best part of a season's events by illness.

Round 4

(Tuesday 25th August)

David McDonnell                  5-1 Shawn Budd (Australia)
Surinder Gill                    5-1 Mario Geudens (Belgium)
Kristjan Helgason (Iceland)      5-4 Phaitoon Phonbun (Thailand)
Barry Pinches                    5-4 Tom Finstad (Canada)
Marco Fu (Hong Kong)             5-2 Stuart Bingham
Robin Hull (Finland)             5-0 Richard Somauroo (Mauritius)

Sedate scoring from Fu today - ony: 53, 60 and 57!

Pinches 4-3 down, knocked in 101 and 61 to clinch the match and now plays Jonathan Birch.

Round 3

David McDonnell                  5-3 Marcus Campbell (Scotland)
Robert Milkins                   5-2 Nick Walker
Craig MacGillivray (Scotland)    5-4 Paul S Davison
Simon Bedford                    5-3 Leigh Griffin
James Reynolds (Wales)           5-2 Darren Clarke
Mehmet Husnu (Cyprus)            5-1 Mark Bennett (Wales)
Hugh Abernethy (Scotland)        5-1 Karl Burrows
Nigel Gilbert                    5-3 John Lardner (Scotland)
Peter McCullagh                  5-2 Adrian Rosa
Alfie Burden                     5-3 Adrian Gunnell
Ian Brumby                       5-4 Patrick Delsemme (Belgium)
Matthew Couch                    5-4 Paul Sweeny
Patrick Wallace (N.Ireland)      5-3 Stephen O'Connor (Ireland)
Stefan Mazrocis                  5-3 Björn Haneveer (Belgium)
Mark Gray                        5-3 Oliver King
Chris Scanlon                    5-2 Munraj Pal
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 5-4 Eddie Manning
Tony Knowles                     5-4 John Read
Surinder Gill                    5-1 Sean Storey
Dave Finbow                      5-3 John Giles
Karl Payne                       5-3 Paul McPhillips (Scotland)
Kristjan Helgason (Iceland)      5-0 Troy Shaw
Barry Pinches                    5-1 Wayne Jones (Wales)
Jason Weston                     5-4 Lee Richardson
Joe Perry                        5-3 Ian Sargeant (Wales)
Joe Grech (Malta)                5-3 Stuart Pettman
Barry Mapstone                   5-4 Anthony Davies (Wales)
Mark Fenton (Wales)              5-3 Gary Ponting
Stuart Bingham                   5-1 Graham Horne (Scotland)
Antony Bolsover                  5-2 Jimmy Michie
Darryn Walker                    5-4 Steve Judd
Robin Hull (Finland)             5-3 Wayne Brown

HIGHLIGHTS AND BREAKS

Patrick Wallace now the only unbeaten player - 10 matches on the spin, beating Stephen O'Connor today to qualify again. Gunnell fails at last - Adrian Gunnell lost his first match today at the fifteenth attempt! losing out to Alfie burden, but he still doesn't get a day off - as he will have to play tomorrow in The Chinese Qualifiers - it's hard work in Plymouth!

Mark Gray smashes in 124 and 136 to win 5-3.

Robin Hull (Finland) and Kristian Helgason (Iceland) both won again, maintain their superb runs of form that is reinforcing the rapidly rising standard of snooker across Europe. Tony Knowles sneaks yet another 5-4 win - he doesn't like to make it too easy!

Lee Richardson bangs in 131 in his opening frame but loses the decider. Wales Anthony Davies knocks in 132 to go with his 143 the other day an d still doesn't qualify - another 5-4 reversal for him. Stuart Bingham hits 110, 84 and 77 in his 5-1 win.

Thailand High Break Board - 147 Gunnell - �5,000 bonus for Gunnell.

Gunnell 147
Robin Hull 143
Mark Gray 136
Anthony Davies 132
Lee Richardson 131
Terananon 125
Mark Gray 124
Haneveer 117
David McLellan 116
John Giles 115
Shaun Murphy 111
Stuart Bingham 110
Adrian Rosa 108
Ollie King 102
Jason Weston 101
Ian Brumby 101
Wehrmann 101
Stuart Reardon 100
Mehmet Husnu 100

19 centuries in the 96 matches so far in The Thai Masters.

Round 2

David McDonnell                  5-3 Micky Roughan
Robert Milkins                   5-0 Dylan Leary (N.Ireland)
Paul S Davison                   5-4 Alex Borg (Malta)
Simon Bedford                    5-3 Chatchawan Rutphae (Thailand)
James Reynolds (Wales)           5-2 Matt Wilson
Mehmet Husnu (Cyprus)            5-1 Alan Burnett (Scotland)
Hugh Abernethy (Scotland)        5-2 Allister Carter
Nigel Gilbert                    5-3 Tai Pichit (Thailand)
Adrian Rosa                      5-3 Gary Natale (Canada)
Adrian Gunnell                   5-2 Philip Williams (Wales)
Patrick Delsemme (Belgium)       5-1 Craig Harrison
Paul Sweeny                      5-1 Mike Dunn
Patrick Wallace (N.Ireland)      5-3 Steve Mifsud (Australia)
Björn Haneveer (Belgium)         5-3 Chris Shade (Scotland)
Oliver King                      5-1 Geoff Dunn (Scotland)
Munraj Pal                       5-2 Leigh Robinson
Eddie Manning                    5-4 Colm Gilcreest (Ireland)
Tony Knowles                     5-4 Wayne Saidler
Surinder Gill                    5-2 David McLellan (Scotland)
John Giles                       5-2 Stephen Murphy (Ireland)
Paul McPhillips (Scotland)       5-0 Joe Delaney (Ireland)
Kristjan Helgason (Iceland)      5-4 Michael Holt
Barry Pinches                    5-0 Steve Newbury (Wales)
Jason Weston                     5-4 Shaun Murphy
Ian Sargeant (Wales)             5-3 Jason Wallace
Joe Grech (Malta)                5-2 Ben Reicker (Canada)
Barry Mapstone                   5-4 Mark Johnston-Allen
Mark Fenton (Wales)              5-1 Gary Lees
Stuart Bingham                   5-2 Nick Terry
Antony Bolsover                  5-2 Stuart Reardon
Darryn Walker                    5-4 Paul Cavney
Robin Hull (Finland)             5-3 Leo Fernandez (Ireland)

There was disappointment for the Thai Snooker fans as their hopefuls failed to negotiate the qualifying rounds:

Chatchawan Rutphae lost out today 5-3 to Simon Bedford.

His fellow countryman, the former MONK, Tai Pichit also lost the chance to repeat his heroics in the event of 1994. On that occasion he beat the then World Champion Stephen Hendry 5-0 in the opening round.

But today, he couldn't quite make it. The 1993 World Amateur Champion was 3-1 behind, but fought back to level at 3-3. His opponent Nigel Gilbert of Bedford took a 4-3 lead and 61 ensured his 5-3 victory.

Pichit had overcome Manchester based Londoner Darren Limburg 5-4 in the opening round, while Rutphae has defeated the extremely popular "heavyweight" Les Dodd in his first round.

BREAKS:
Haneveer 117
Giles 115
O King 102
McLellan 116

Notes: A chat to a couple of the players revealed that many of the players think that the pockets are "quite" generous, but that the cloths are running slow. The Arena is air-conditioned though, so they are not suffering from the recent hot spell. A couple of years ago in Blackpool, the weather was so hot that for the first time ever, the WPBSa relaxed its dress rules to allow the players to play without waistcoats!

There has also been great confusion amongst the players as to who the lowest ranked 6 players were to play the play off round - I'm glad it's not just me who didn't understand it! An official had to be despatched from WPBSA headquarters in Bristol to go to Plymouth to explain how the system worked!!

WPBSA Vice Chairman Ray Reardon has been visiting Plymouth and listening to the views of the players and answering the many questions that were being thrown at him.

Players from the top of last year's tour were still particularly unhappy that despite "apparently" being on a guaranteed prize sum for their finishing position, this did not in fact materialise. There was much muttering about "moving the goalposts".

Ray Reardon also revealed a "not very well kept secret" that the WPBSA has bought Pot Black Magazine and that in future it will be published under their auspices. A cynic in the conversation suggested that this would give the WPBSA a much wider outlet for their "propaganda" than their "malicious" in house Newsletter - In The Frame. However after rushing THREE issues of In the Frame off the presses during May 98, it now seems to have abruptly ceased publication.

Our "roving reporters" will bring more news and tit bits as and when they occur.

Round 1

David McDonnell                  5-3 Matthew Bray
Dylan Leary (N.Ireland)          5-0 Li Jian-Bing (China)
Alex Borg (Malta)                5-4 Hitesh Naran (South Africa)
Chatchawan Rutphae (Thailand)    5-1 Les Dodd
Matt Wilson                      5-3 Johl Younger (Australia)
Mehmet Husnu (Cyprus)            5-2 Brian Rowswell
Allister Carter                  5-1 Sam Chong (Malaysia)
Tai Pichit (Thailand)            5-4 Darren Limburg
Gary Natale (Canada)             5-4 Simon Parker
Adrian Gunnell                   5-4 Mario Wehrmann (Netherlands)
Patrick Delsemme (Belgium)       5-4 Mark Miller
Mike Dunn                        5-0 Mike Henson (Germany)
Steve Mifsud (Australia)         5-4 Mike Hallett
Björn Haneveer (Belgium)         5-1 Hasimu Tuerxun (China)
Geoff Dunn (Scotland)            5-3 Neil Robertson (New Zealand)
Leigh Robinson                   5-3 Mario Cutajar (Malta)
Colm Gilcreest (Ireland)         5-2 David Coles
Wayne Saidler                    5-2 Keith E (Singapore)
Surinder Gill                    5-0 Dermot McGlinchey (N.Ireland)
John Giles                       5-3 Darren Hackeson
Joe Delaney (Ireland)            5-3 Kirk Stevens (Canada)
Kristjan Helgason (Iceland)      5-2 John Whitty
Barry Pinches                    5-1 Saleh Muhammad (Pakistan)
Shaun Murphy                     5-3 Eddie Barker
Ian Sargeant (Wales)             5-1 Guo Hua (China)
Ben Reicker (Canada)             5-4 Sean Lanigan
Mark Johnston-Allen              5-4 Anan Terananon (Thailand)
Gary Lees                        5-4 Jeff Cundy
Stuart Bingham                   5-2 Wael Talaat (Egypt)
Stuart Reardon                   5-2 Alastair Fleming (Scotland)
Paul Cavney                      5-1 Bob Chaperon (Canada)
Robin Hull (Finland)             5-1 Farhan Mirza (Pakistan)

25 year old Adrian Gunnell, of Telford, Shropshire, crowned an extraordinary sequences of wins, with not only his thirteenth consecutive win on the trot, but also threw in a maximum 147 this morning for good measure. That's the 23rd maximum in professional competition.

They gave him a 15 min break to relax afterwards ...

Gunnel played his first match on July 29th and because of his success has played a match EVERY day since then.

Playing Mario Wehrmann in the opening round of the 1999 Thailand Masters, Gunnell started poorly, slipping to a 1-2 deficit, before compiling his maximum, to level the scores. Wehrmann took the lead again, but Gunnell responded with 66 to level at 3-3 and went ahead at 4-3. Wehrmann this time turned on the clas with 101 to set up a close decider, which Gunnell edged 67-40.

Gunnell faces Llanelli pro Phil Williams in round two tomorrow morning.

Still no win for Kirk Stevens, and Hallett slips at the first hurdle.

Haneveer gets Belgium's second win of the day and Steve Mifsud gets another on the board for Australia. Mifsud will now play, the so far, undefeated Patrick Wallace of Northern Ireland.

Robin Hull has 143 - nearly the highest break!

Finland's Robin Hull continued his splendid run of results with a 5-1 over Farhan Mirza, his outstanding contributions being a 143 total clearance in Frame 4. Mirza contributed a break of 51 in the frame he won.

Ice-man Helgason marches on - Iceland's European Champion Kristjan Helgason notched up another good win with a 5-2 win over Liverpool's latest hope - John Whitty.

Bristol's Mark Johnston-Allen pushed all the way by Anan Terannanon. Anan opened in great style with 80 and 125 in the first two frames, but Johnston-Allen carved out a hard fought 5-4 win with a black ball win in the decider - 56-55.

Birthday boy - Shaun Murphy - an elderly 16 years old today - celebrates with a 5-3 win over Eddie Barker, helped by breaks of 111 and 58.

Ben Reicker scores for Australia with a narrow win over England's Shaun Lanigan.

Wales' Ian Sargeant has another of his quick wins, although one frame, which he lost on the black, actually took as long as 23 minutes!

England's Stuart Reardon clocks up 100 to complete a high scoring day.

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Prize Money

*� Not payable to overseas qualifiers who lose their first match*
					�
Winner	1	*	50,000		50,000
Runner Up	1	*	26,000		26,000
Losing Semi-finalist	2	*	13,000		26,000
Losing Quarter-finalist	4	*	7,650		30,600
Last 16	8	*	3,700		29,600
Last 32	16	*	3,000		48,000
Last 48	16	*	1,600		25,600
Last 64	16	*	1,150		18,400
Last 96	32	*	800		25,600
Overseas Play-off Round	6	*	800	�	4,800
Last 134	32	*	200		6,400
High TV Break	1	*	3,000		3,000
High Pre TV Break	1	*	1,000		1,000

Total	295,000

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Points

Here is an overview of the points system used in the 1999 Thailand Masters.

The points are awarded to the losing players in each round.

Round	Points
Last 198	200
Last 166	270
(seeds 97-128)	200
Last 134	360
(seeds 65-96)	270
Last 102	480
(overseas seeds)	360
Last 96	480
(seeds 33-64)	360
Last 64	640
Last 48	855
(seeds 17-32)	640
Last 32	1,140
(seeds 1-16)	855
Last 16	1,330
Q-F	1,520
S-F	2,025
R-up	3,040
Winner	4,560