By Elliott West
Introduction
Held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, Ronnie was victorious in this tournament, beating John Higgins 9-6 in the final. Victory was worth £30,000 for Ronnie with his chosen charity, the National Deaf Children’s benefiting with a donation of £100,000. In a battle of the 20-year-olds, John Higgins walked away with a cash prize of £20,000 and £35,000 was given to Leukaemia Research.
The Tournament
In a final that lasted just 200 minutes, this was a contest of quick fire snooker between two players who have always had the deepest respect for each other since they started playing as youngsters. O’Sullivan, the world No.3 and the holder of the Benson and Hedges Masters crown, recorded high breaks of 82 and 79 with Higgins recording breaks of 55 and 50. The eleventh frame only lasted six minutes with breaks from O’Sullivan of 46 and 32.
Higgins was not very sharp in this final and missed a golden opportunity to draw level at 7-7. Ronnie threw his opponent a lifeline when he missed the green off the final red but the Scot botched the same colour., allowing O’Sullivan to surge into an 8-6 lead. The Londoner would have led 3-0 at one stage in frame three but got a kick on the brown.
John freely admitted that he didn’t score highly enough and confessed that he was beaten by the better player on the day. Whilst Ronnie commented that his previous matches had been affected by his mindset and this victory was the tonic that he needed to regain his confidence and kick on in the season. As proven time and again, when O’Sullivan is in a good place, snooker poetry is always displayed on the table.
In the semi-final, Ronnie defeated Ken Doherty 6-4 with breaks of 102, 82, 71, 58 and 57. In a game where there was a great deal of respect, Ronnie went for his shots, putting on a display that was probably his best in the season. The consolation for Ken was to compile the highest break of the tournament, a total clearance of 138 which had a bonus tag of £3,000 attached to it, a monetary sum that he donated to The Samaritans.
In the other semi-final, John Higgins defeated Peter Ebdon 6-4. In what was an exciting match, Higgins fired in centuries of 102 in the fourth frame and 119 in the final frame. Ebdon did manage to get a 112 break in frame three but he didn’t get the run of the match overall nor win the losing frames. Despite the defeat, Peter remained optimistic and was determined to keep plugging away, believing better times were around the corner.
Higgins roared into the semi-final after a 5-2 victory over Jimmy White with runs of 84, 66, 64, 47 (twice) and 43 with the Whirlwind throwing in the towel with John 48-11 ahead and 51 points still on the table in the last frame. It was the third time that Higgins had beaten White in four months.
The turning point in the match was the sixth frame in which Jimmy with his break on 56, attempted one red too many. He left a red over a middle pocket and, after John had potted it and snookered White, the opening came to clear to the pink with a break of 64 to lead 4-2. Jimmy later commented, saying:
“Attempting that red was a diabolical shot, all I had to do was to put him in trouble. I should never have gone for it”.
Jimmy White
Ebdon, with a break of 131, defeated Willie Thorne 5-2 to reach his fourth semi-final of the season. O’Sullivan and Doherty also won their matches 5-3, the former UK champion beating Darren Morgan and the Irishman removing John Parrott from the charity event where 16 of the top players were playing for their chosen charities.
Stephen Hendry was the major casualty on the opening day when the match due to start at 7pm, started an hour later. Three hours later, Higgins made a remarkable comeback, trailing 4-1 to win the match 5-4. This was his first victory over Hendry, losing to him in the Skoda Grand Prix (9-5) and the semi-final of the Royal Liver Assurance UK Championship (9-1). A great scalp after Stephen had a run of 22 matches being unbeaten.
Ebdon defeated Tony Drago 5-3 to book his place in the quarter-finals while Darren Morgan, 4-0 ahead in his match against Terry Griffiths, eventually won 5-3. Willie Thorne, a wildcard replacement for Steve Davis, who had decline his entry due to playing in the World Trick Shot Championship in Sun City, won his match against Alan McManus by the same score line.
O’Sullivan defeated David Roe 5-2 and Ken Doherty beat Dennis Taylor 5-3. John Parrott and Jimmy White completed the quarter-final line-up with victories over Dave Harold (5-3) and Nigel Bond (5-1) respectively.
Summary
This tournament that showcased the best players of the time and allowed them to play for money that could be given to respected charities. A fusion of sport with benefaction, this was an event that produced sizzling snooker from some of the greats and showcased the early superior talent of John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
