The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter

Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, pool ...

, the tournament had a similar format to the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

events in

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, with men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles and a junior competition. As in tennis, players had to win a match by two clear frames. If a match was tied going into a final frame, an additional two frames would be played. If the players were still level, there would be a tie break deciding frame with just one red and all the colours. There was controversy when

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Wor ...

was invited to participate, despite being banned from snooker for the whole of the 1990/1991 season for punching an official at the 1990 World Championship, as the World Masters was not a

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

-run event. A number of players, among them reigning world champion

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

, were unhappy with Higgins' inclusion and threatened to boycott the event if he appeared in it. Higgins voluntarily withdrew, and Hendry took his place in the tournament. Staged at the

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway stati ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, it carried a record amount of prize money of £1,000,000 ; the winner of the men's singles won £200,000, more than the

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

would receive that year. During the tournament

James Wattana James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...

made the ninth official

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

against

Paul Dawkins Paul Lamar Dawkins (June 10, 1957 – March 25, 2019) was an American-Turkish professional basketball player, who played for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA), appearing in 57 games. He was inducted into the Northern Illin ...

. However, the break was not filmed due to it being on one of the outside tables. Meanwhile, a 13-year-old

Quinten Hann Quinten may refer to: People Surname * Christopher Quinten (born 1957), British actor Given name * Quinten Burg (born 1948), American politician * Quinten Hann (born 1977), Australian snooker player * Quinten Hermans (born 1995), Belgian cyclist ...

became the youngest player to make a televised century break. The tournament was subsequently unable to find sponsorship, and was not staged again. The tournament was televised by the original incarnation of

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

. Coverage was presented by

Dickie Davies Richard John Davies (born 30 April 1933) is a retired British television sports presenter, who anchored '' World of Sport'' from 1968 until 1985. Early life Davies attended Oldershaw Grammar School after passing his eleven-plus; he then did ...

, who had presented snooker on ITV until 1989.

Matthew Lorenzo Matthew Lorenzo is a British television presenter and film producer who has worked for Sky, BBC, ITV, Channel Four and GMTV. He is the son of the late former BBC and ITV sports commentator and journalist Peter Lorenzo. Broadcasting career Lorenzo ...

was the 'roving reporter'. The commentary team was

Peter Brackley Peter Brackley (13 June 1951 – 14 October 2018) was an English football commentator, perhaps most famous for commentating for ''Football Italia'' on Channel 4 in the 1990s, for the computer game series ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' until ''Pro Evol ...

Mike Watterson George Michael Edwin Watterson (26 August 1942 – 8 March 2019) was an English professional snooker player, businessman, entrepreneur and television commentator. He was an England Amateur international for two years before turning professiona ...

Jim Wych Jim Wych (born 11 January 1955 in Calgary) is a Canadian sports announcer and former professional snooker and pocket billiards player. He turned professional in 1979 and reached the quarter-final of the 1980 World Snooker Championship in his debut ...

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and

Phil Yates Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root term ...

. Alternative commentary was available in other languages across continental Europe, including from long-time commentator

Rolf Kalb Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. A ...

in Germany.

Winners

Main draw (men's singles)

Main draw (women's singles)

Sources: Rothmans Snooker Yearbook 1991–92, Snooker Scene

Prize Money (Women's Singles)

Prize money was awarded as follows: *Winner (

Karen Corr Karen Corr (born 10 November 1969) is a Northern Irish professional pool and former snooker and English billiards player. She was inducted in the BCA Hall of Fame in 2012. Early life Corr was born on 10 November 1969 in Ballymoney, Northern Ir ...

) £15,000 *Runner-up (

Stacey Hillyard Stacey Hillyard (born 5 September 1969) is an English former professional snooker player, who won the 1984 amateur World Women's Snooker Championship at the age of 15, making her the youngest winner of the tournament. She reached the final of t ...

) £5,000 *Losing semi-finalists £3,000 *Losing quarter-finalists £1,500 *Second round losers £1,000 *First round losers £500 *Highest ( Ann-Marie Farren, 62) £2,000

References

External links

When Snooker went all Wimbledon
{{Snooker tournaments Snooker competitions in England Snooker non-ranking competitions

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands 1990s in Birmingham, West Midlands