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2003 Irish Masters
The 2003 Citywest Irish Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 25 and 30 March 2003 at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the title by defeating defending champion John Higgins 10–9 in the final. __TOC__ Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £48,000 *Final: £24,000 *Semi-final: £11,500 *Quarter-final: £7,525 *Last 16: £6,600 *Last 32: £5,600 *Last 48: £3,000 *Last 64: £2,300 *Last 80: £1,600 *Last 96: £800 *Stage one highest break: £1,800 *Stage two highest break: £7,500 *Stage one maximum break: £5,000 *Stage two maximum break: £20,000 *Total: £400,000 Main draw Final Qualifying Round 1 Best of 9 frames Round 2–5 Century breaks Qualifying stage centuries * 129 Fergal O'Brien * 117 Matthew Couch * 116 Ricky Walden * 115 Tony Drago * 115 Jason Ferguson * 114 Lee Spick * 113, 108, 106 Paul Wykes * 112 Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Masters
The Irish Masters was a professional snooker tournament. It was founded in 1978, following on from the successful Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament (alternatively known as the Benson & Hedges Ireland Championship). The final champion of the tournament was Ronnie O'Sullivan. History Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament The Benson & Hedges Ireland Tournament started out as a challenge match in 1975 between Alex Higgins and John Spencer. The match initially carried a £250 prize for the winner and £150 for the runner-up, but both players agreed to a "winner takes all" format. Spencer scored two centuries (a 121 and a 109) and despite Higgins leading 7–5, Spencer won four frames in a row to win. In 1976 and 1977 the event was staged as a four-man invitational. Irish Masters In 1978 the tournament was renamed the Irish Masters and continued as an ever-present fixture on the snooker calendar until 2005. Benson & Hedges continued their sponsorship with the tournament being played a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerard Greene
Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast. Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his career, reaching his highest ranking, 26th, for the 2004–05 season, and has reached one ranking final, at the 2014 Players Championship Grand Final, where he lost 4–0 to Barry Hawkins. Alongside this, Greene reached a ranking semi-final, at the 2007 Grand Prix, losing to the eventual champion Marco Fu, and five quarter-finals. Representing Northern Ireland with teammate Mark Allen, he reached the final of the 2011 World Cup, where they lost to China. Greene has qualified for the World Championship five times without winning a match at the Crucible Theatre, although he twice drew the defending champion – John Higgins in 1999, and Peter Ebdon in 2003. He was ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1997 until he fell off the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod Lawler
Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tournament final—the 1996 International Open—where he lost 3–9 to John Higgins, and has won one minor-ranking tournament – Event 3 of the 2012/2013 Players Tour Championship – where he defeated Marco Fu 4–2 in the final. Lawler has compiled 110 competitive century breaks during his long career. His highest is a 143, in qualifying for the 2003 World Championship. Career Early career Lawler turned professional in 1990. His first season proved to be quite successful as he reached the last 32 in the Dubai Classic, losing out 2–5 to former World Billiards Champion Rex Williams. He then followed this up with a run to the Quarter Finals of the Classic, beating John Virgo 5–3 to qualify, as well as Joe Johnson 5–3 in the second round, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Williams (snooker Player)
Mark James Williams (born 21 March 1975) is a Welsh professional snooker player who is a three-time World Champion, winning in 2000, 2003 and 2018. Often noted for his single-ball long potting ability, Williams has earned the nickname "The Welsh Potting Machine". Williams turned professional in 1992 and has been ranked the world number one player three times ( 1999–00, 2000–01 and 2002–03). His most successful season to date was 2002–03, when he won the Triple Crown: the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship. In doing so, he became only the third player, after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, to win all three Triple Crown events in one season. He is the first player (and to date, the only player) to win all three versions of the professional World Championship: the World Snooker Championship, the Six-red World Championship and the World Seniors Championship. The first left-handed player to win the World Championship, Williams has won 24 ranking to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Milkins
Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998. Milkins reached a career high rank of 12 in 2014 and has been in and around the worlds top 32 for two decades. After 27 years as a professional, he won his first ranking title at the 2022 Gibraltar Open. Aged 46, he became the oldest first-time winner of a ranking event since Doug Mountjoy at the 1988 UK Championship. Career Milkins turned professional in 1995, but dropped off the Main Tour when it was reduced in size after the 1996/1997 season, but returned a year later via the UK Tour. After four seasons of solid progress with occasional last-16 runs, he reached the last 16 of the World Snooker Championship in 2002, and the first round in each of the next three years. He made history in qualifying for the 2006 World Snooker Championship by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Hamilton (snooker Player)
Anthony Stephen Hamilton (born 29 June 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He has spent five seasons ranked among the game's elite Top 16 and fifteen in the Top 32, reaching a career-high of number ten in the world in the 1999/2000 season. Hamilton is a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist, a Masters semi-finalist and compiler of more than 300 competitive century breaks during his long career. He won his first ranking title in 2017, beating Ali Carter 9–6 in the final of the German Masters, doing so at the age of 45. Career 1991–2000 Hamilton turned professional in 1991, entering the world's top 32 in 1995/1996. Hamilton has reached two ranking tournament finals. In the British Open in 1999, where he lost to Fergal O'Brien, Hamilton opened with two centuries, but O'Brien won five frames on the final black to defeat the Nottingham man. The other was the 2001 China Open. Mark Williams beat him 9–8, despite Hamilton having led 8–5. He made the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship. Career Top 16 career and Masters winner McManus has long been considered a consistently good player, having a record of fourteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16, but never managed to achieve the success of his contemporaries Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams. He was ranked in the Top 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Small
Christopher Small (born 26 September 1973) is a retired Scottish professional snooker player and now a qualified snooker coach. His playing career was ended by the spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis. Career At age 15, Small was the number 1 under-19 player in Scotland. He turned professional the following year. In 1992, he won the Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Alan McManus in the final, and in 1995 he reached the Semi-finals of the Welsh Open, and was again a semi-finalist at the 1998 Grand Prix event. His greatest achievement was winning the 2002 LG Cup, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins, before a 9–5 win over Alan McManus in the final. This followed a season in which he won only three matches, owing to the severity of his medical condition. He reached the quarter-finals of the LG Cup in the following season. The 2003/2004 season ended with him having to pull out of a World Championship match against Alan McManus while trailing 1–7, as the regul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy White
James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 Six-red World champion, 3 time World Seniors Champion ( 2010, 2019, 2020), 2019 Seniors 6-Red World Champion and 1984 World Doubles champion with Alex Higgins. White has won two of snooker's three majors: the UK Championship (in 1992) and the Masters (in 1984) and a total of ten ranking events. He is currently tenth on the all-time list of ranking event winners. He reached six World Championship finals but never won the event; the closest he came was in 1994 when he lost in a final frame decider against Stephen Hendry. He spent 21 seasons ranked in snooker's elite top 16. In team events, he won the Nations Cup and the World Cup with England. He is one of a select number of players to have made over 300 century breaks in professio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Davis
Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles, and held the List of world number one snooker players, world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons. He was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in one of snooker's most famous matches, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, 1985 world final, whose dramatic black-ball conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK records for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two that stand to this day. In addition to his six world titles, Davis won the UK Championship six times and the Masters (snooker), Masters three times for a total of 15 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, placing him third on the all-time list behind Ronnie O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Lee (snooker Player)
Stephen Lee (born 12 October 1974) is an English former professional snooker player who is currently serving a 12-year ban from the sport. He turned professional in 1992, reached a career-high of fifth in the snooker world rankings for the 2000–01 season, and won five ranking titles. His best performances in Triple Crown events were reaching the semi-finals of the 2003 World Championship, where he lost to eventual champion Mark Williams, and reaching the final of the 2008 Masters, where he was runner-up to Mark Selby. He compiled 184 century breaks in professional competition and was noted for his smooth cue action. West Midlands police arrested Lee in February 2010, following an investigation into suspicious betting patterns at the 2009 UK Championship, but no further action was taken against him at that time. Following reports of irregular betting patterns on a 2012 Premier League match between Lee and John Higgins on 11 October 2012, the World Professional Billiards a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Harold
David Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his profession of potting snooker balls). He was also the first player on the television circuit to sport a plaster on his chin as a guide for his cue, which is a practice now adopted by Graeme Dott. As an amateur he played as David Harold, but after turning professional in 1991 he was registered as Dave Harold. He won one ranking title, reached two further finals and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Harold was renowned for both his very strong defensive play and his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue. Despite safety play ultimately being considered his strong point, he compiled 143 century breaks. Steve Davis has commented that he is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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