The 1997 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) 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 19 April and 5 May 1997. Staged at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre (often referred to simply as "The Crucible") is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which opened in 1971. Although it hosts regular theatrical performances, it is best known for hosting professional snooker's ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, England, the tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

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 ...

won the only world title of his professional career by defeating the defending 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 ...

18–12 in the final. The first player to win world championships at

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

, amateur, and professional level, Doherty became the second player from outside the United Kingdom to win the title in the modern era, following

Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn (born 16 January 1948) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Hi ...

in 1980. Doherty remains the only world champion from the Republic of Ireland. Hendry's defeat in the final was his first loss in the World Championship since 1991, which ended his record 29 consecutive Crucible victories.

Tournament summary

* The semi-final matches were best of 33 for the first time, having previously been best of 31. *

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, ...

made the quickest

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 ...

in history with a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds, and the fourth in the history of the tournament. * Terry Griffiths' first round encounter against Mark Williams was his last ever professional match. This match was also three time World Champion Williams' Crucible debut. *Other debutants this year were Bradley Jones (England); Graham Horne; David McLellan and future World Champion and twice runner-up Graeme Dott (all Scotland); Lee Walker and Dominic Dale (Wales). All these players lost in the first round except Dale and Walker, who reached the last-16 and quarter finals respectively. This meant that all three Welsh debutants won their first round matches. * Alain Robidoux had his best run at the World Championship (or any ranking event), reaching the semi-finals. The

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

player lost 7–17 to

. *

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 ...

reached the semi finals for the second time (after 1993) but the Thai player lost 13–17 to defending champion

. * Hendry's five-year run as World Champion came to an end after losing to Doherty 12–18. It was Hendry's first defeat at the World Championship since 1991, spanning 29 matches, a Crucible record. *Doherty became only the second player from outside the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to win the world title in the modern era, following

in 1980. * Alan Chamberlain refereed his first and only World Championship final. He was the first referee since

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Nativ ...

in 1984 to officiate a debut final. All finals up to this year were officiated by either John Williams, Len Ganley or John Street. The next four years also had referees debuting the final:

Lawrie Annandale Lawrie is a (patronymic or paternal) family name of Scottish origin which means "crafty." Variants of which include: Laurie, Lorrie, Larry, Laury, Lawry and Lowrie. It is also used as a given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Lawrence (given ...

in 1998,

Colin Brinded Colin Brinded (1946 – 26 November 2005) was an English snooker referee from 1976 until his death. Brinded began officiating at major professional events in 1976. Two occasions on which he officiated during key matches were the World Champions ...

in 1999,

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...

in 2000 and

Eirian Williams Eirian Williams (born 3 September 1955) is a former professional snooker referee. He was formerly a police officer with the Dyfed-Powys Police in the Welsh town of Llanelli for 18 years. Early life Williams was born in Llanelli, Wales, and ...

in 2001, before John Williams did his 10th final in 2002.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £210,000 *Runner-up: £126,000 *Semi-finalist: £63,000 *Quarter-finalist: £31,500 *Last 16: £16,800 *Last 32: £9,450 *Highest break: £18,000 *Maximum break: £147,000 *Total £1,260,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).

Century breaks

There were 39

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

s in this year's championship. *

147 147 may refer to: * 147 (number), a natural number * AD 147, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century * 147 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 147 AH, a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 764 – 765 CE ...

, 133

* 137, 122, 117, 114, 110, 106, 106, 101, 101

* 134, 130, 111, 101

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 ( ...

* 133, 129, 129, 102

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 ...

* 131

Billy Snaddon Billy Snaddon (born 7 July 1969) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He reached the World Snooker Championship first round five times, but never progressed past this stage. He spent 5 seasons ranked among the game's top 32, peaking ...

* 129, 121, 117 Anthony Hamilton * 128, 121, 116, 108

Darren Morgan Darren Morgan (born 3 May 1966) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur. Morgan won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the professional main tour from 1988 until 2006. He earned just ov ...

* 127

Stefan Mazrocis Stefan Mazrocis (born 18 April 1967) is a Dutch-English former professional snooker player. He was born of Latvian and English parentage, and spent his early life in Leicester, England. Career Mazrocis turned professional in 1991. In 1995, ...

* 125

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 ...

* 123 Mark Williams * 121, 113 Alain Robidoux * 116, 104, 101

* 112

* 110

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...

* 100 Stephen Lee * 100

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 Du ...

Qualifying

The qualifying matches were held between 2 January and March 1997 at the Newport Centre in Newport,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The last round was played at

Telford International Centre Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an es ...

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

on 24 and 25 March 1997.

Round 2–3

References

{{Snooker season 1996/1997 1997

World Championship 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, ...

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it ...

Sports competitions in Sheffield April 1997 sports events in the United Kingdom May 1997 sports events in the United Kingdom