The 1997 German Open was a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

snooker tournament that took place between 8 and 14 December 1997 at the Atlantis Rheinhotel in

Bingen am Rhein Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The settlement's original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ''Mäuseturm'', k ...

, Germany. It was the third edition of the tournament, with 16 players competing in the final stage.

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

won the event for the second time, defeating

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained withi ...

9–4 in the final.

Summary

Three of the four quarter-finals went to the final frame.

beat Anthony Hamilton 5–4.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

beat

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

by the same score after fluking the final black.

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

also beat

Jamie Burnett Jamie Burnett (born 16 September 1975) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. A journeyman, Burnett was ranked within the world's top 64 players for 20 consecutive years between 1996 and 2016, reac ...

in the final frame, having been 1–3 down.

beat

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 ...

5–3 in the other match. Hendry won the third frame to take a 2–1 lead, despite need two snookers. Parrott won the next two frames, winning the fifth frame with a break of 103. Hendry then won the next frame with a break of 130, his 400th in professional competition, before Parrott won frames seven and eight to win the match. In the semi-finals

beat

6–4, with

beating

by the same score. In the final, Higgins led 5–3 lead after the first session, despite Parrott making a break of 102 in frame 7. Higgins then won the first three frames in the evening session to lead 8–3. Parrott won frame 12 but Higgins finished the match with a break of 105 in the next frame, winning the first prize of £50,000.

won the high break prize for his break of 130 in the quarter-finals.

Main draw

Final

Qualifying

Qualifying was held at the Hereford Leisure Centre in Hereford in September 1997.

Final qualifying round

References

{{Snooker season 1997/1998 German Masters German Open German Open German Open Sports competitions in Rhineland-Palatinate