The 2004 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2004 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 o ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

tournament that took place between 17 April and 3 May 2004 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 ...

, England. Mark Williams was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 11–13 against Joe Perry.

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, ...

won his second world title by defeating

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

18–8 in the final, despite having trailed Dott 0–5. This was the fourth biggest margin in a World final, subsequently equalled by O'Sullivan against

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, and

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. 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 ...

Tournament summary

* Ryan Day and

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in ...

were the only debutants this year. Day narrowly lost 9–10 to 1998 champion

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 ( ...

and Maguire lost 6–10 to eventual winner and 2001 champion

; both in round one. *

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 numbe ...

was forced to retire from his first round match against

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 ...

due to pain from a degenerative spinal disease. His condition would later force him to retire from the game permanently. *

Andy Hicks Andrew Hicks (born 10 August 1973) is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Cream of Devon", Hicks was a semi-finalist at both the World Snooker Championship and UK Championship in 1995, and the same stage at four other ranking ...

reached the second round by beating

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 ...

in a match memorable for a near punch-up between the two players at the end, triggered by Hicks pointing out to Hann that he was likely to drop out of the top 16 as a result of the loss. * Barry Pinches reached the last 16 for the first time in his career. defeated

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 ...

10–8 in a match which overran and had to be completed after other matches. In the second round, he led

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 ...

11–9 before losing a tight match 12–13. The 13-year gap between Pinches' first two Crucible appearances (1991–2004) remains an all-time record. *Six seeded players, Stephen Lee; Hann;

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

;

Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addit ...

;

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 ...

and

, lost in the first round. Lee was defeated 7–10 by Lee Walker and Davis lost to Anthony Hamilton by the same score; 1997 champion Doherty was beaten by two-time semi-finalist

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World ...

6–10 and Ebdon lost 8–10 against Ian McCulloch. * Paul Hunter and

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

met in the last 16 for the second consecutive year. Stevens avenged his 6–13 defeat the previous year, coming from behind in the final frames to win a close match. Hunter found himself 2-up-with-3-to-play at 12–10 before missing a frame-ball pink in the 23rd frame which would have given him the match. Stevens took all 3 frames to win the match 13–12. *Doherty's defeat was the first time he had lost in round one since

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. *O'Sullivan won both his quarter-final and semi-final matches with a session to spare; he defeated Hamilton 13–3 in the last eight. * O'Sullivan's 17–4 against Hendry was the biggest ever semi-final victory, replacing Hendry's 16–4 win over

Terry Griffiths Terence Martin Griffiths (born 16 October 1947) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. In his second professional tournament, he became world champion when he won the 1979 World Snooker Champions ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £250,000 *Runner-up: £125,000 *Semi-final: £63,200 *Quarter-final: £31,600 *Last 16: £17,600 *Last 32: £12,000 *Last 48: £9,200 *Last 64: £5,720 *Last 80: £4,560 *Last 96: £3,440 *Last 128: £1,000 *Stage one highest break: £2,000 *Stage two highest break: £17,600 *Stage one maximum break: £5,000 *Stage two maximum break: £147,000 *Total: £1,378,920

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).

Qualifying

The matches were played at Pontin's, Prestatyn Sands in between 10 and 20 February 2004. 1st Round (Best of 19 frames) Brian Salmon 10–9

Chris Melling Christopher "Mello" Melling (born 21 September 1984) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for England (Under-16s, and Under-18s), and as a for Great Bri ...

Ian Preece 10–8

Justin Astley Justin Astley (born 20 May 1983) is an English former professional snooker player. He played on Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with ...

Mike Hallett Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator. Career Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ran ...

10–6 James Leadbetter

Mehmet Husnu Mehmet Husnu (born 25 July 1972) is a Cypriot former professional snooker player. Career Born in 1972, Husnu turned professional in 1991, becoming the first Cypriot professional snooker player in the history of the game. Husnu's career highl ...

10–2 Craig MacGillivray

Joe Delaney Joe Alton Delaney (; October 30, 1958 – June 29, 1983) was an American football running back who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL). In his two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Delaney set four franchise records ...

10–6 Rodney Goggins Adrian Rosa 10–6 Steve James Adam Davies 10–8 David Hall 2nd Round (Best of 19 frames)

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and direct ...

10–8

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began his pr ...

Craig Butler Craig Butler (born December 19, 1988) is a former professional Canadian football defensive back and current special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played ...

10–9 Brian Salmon

Luke Simmonds Luke Simmonds (born 7 December 1979) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Early career Simmonds won the World Under-21 Championship in Malta in 1998, defeating Robert Murphy 11–2 in the final, before beating Ryan Day 11� ...

10–8

Matthew Couch Matthew Couch (born 30 June 1974) is an English former professional snooker player. Career During a professional career lasting from 1992 to 2012, Couch had little success in ranking events, although he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Ch ...

Ian Preece 10–0 Joe Johnson Lee Walker 10–6

Gary Thomson 10–2 Luke Fisher

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...

10–4

Ian Brumby Ian Brumby (born 17 September 1964) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Born on 17 September 1964, Brumby turned professional in 1989. His first season brought a run to the last 32 at the 1990 Classic, where he defeated ...

Dave Gilbert 10–6

Michael Wild Michael Wild (born 27 March 1981) is an English former professional snooker player. Career During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wild competed in the Challenge Tour and International Open Series events, without much success until the 2002/2003 ...

Rory McLeod 10–7

Jason Prince 10–6 Darryn Walker

10–4

Andrew Higginson Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English former professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some success in amateur tourn ...

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

10–8

Martin Dziewialtowski The 1997 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Guild Hall in Preston, England. The event started on 12 November 1997 and the televised stages were shown on BBC between 22 and 30 N ...

Simon Bedford Simon Bedford (born 8 February 1976) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Bedford's best performance in a professional ranking event was to qualify for the 1998 World Championship; he beat Gary Wilkinson 10–9, before l ...

10–5 Ian Sargeant

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

10–5 Wayne Brown

Leo Fernandez Leo Fernandez (born 5 July 1976 in Limerick) is an Irish former professional snooker player. Snooker career Fernandez finished second on the PIOS Order of Merit in 2007 gaining promotion to the Main Tour for the 2007–08 season, although he fai ...

10–9 Paul Sweeny Michael Rhodes 10–9 Terry Murphy

Kwan Poomjang Suchakree "Kwan" Poomjang (born 2 January 1975) is a Thai former professional snooker player who spent three years on the sport's main tour between 2001 and 2004. He reached the final stages of a tournament once, at the 2002 UK Championship, a ...

10–9 Philip Williams Garry Hardiman 10–6 Billy Snaddon

Munraj Pal Munraj Pal (born 21 April 1976) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Pal turned professional in 1995, but fell off the tour two years later in 1997. He re-qualified during the 1997/1998 season, but lost his professional s ...

10–0 Andy Neck

Colm Gilcreest Colm Gilcreest is an Irish former professional snooker player from Kilmainhamwood. Career history He is a former Irish champion. In the 2000 World Snooker Championship Gilcreest won six games against Philip Seaton, Simon Bedford, Robin Hull ...

10–7 Steven Bennie Ryan Day 10–7 Adrian Rosa Tony Jones 10–3 Adam Davies Jason Ferguson 10–9 Carlo Giagnacovo

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

10–0 Stephen Croft Joe Meara 10–8 Andrew Norman Adrian Gunnell 10–5

Steve Mifsud Steve Mifsud (born 25 August 1972 in Australia) is a Maltese Australian professional snooker player. Career He was a winner of the IBSF World Amateur Championship in Cairo, Egypt in 2002, beating Tim English 11–6 in the final which enabl ...

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

10–6

Atthasit Mahitthi Atthasit Mahitthi ( th, อรรถสิทธิ์ มหิทธิ) (born 13 September 1978) is a former professional Thai snooker player. Mahitthi reached the semi-final at the 2006 IBSF World Amateur Championship in Amman, Jordan, w ...

Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...

10–4

Alain Robidoux Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004 and continues to play in events in Canada. Career He was born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec and joine ...

Supoj Saenla Supoj Saenla (born August 15, 1980) is a former Thai professional snooker player who lives in Chiang Mai. Career Saenla joined the professional tour for the first time in 2003 by winning the 2001 Asian U-21 Championship. He was relegated afte ...

10–8 Bradley Jones

Paul Wykes Paul Wykes (born 15 April 1971) is an English former professional snooker player from Bournemouth, Dorset. He spent 16 years on the circuit and remained in the world's top 64 for 13 years. Career Wykes turned professional in 1991 and achieved ...

10–4 Kurt Maflin Stuart Mann 10–8

Jamie Cope Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player. A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his h ...

Scott MacKenzie 10–3 Johl Younger Rounds 3–6

Century breaks

There were 55 centuries in this year's championship. The highest break of the tournament was 145 made by Joe Perry. * 145, 100 Joe Perry * 132, 125, 102 Paul Hunter * 131, 130

* 131, 127, 127, 125, 123, 121, 117, 109, 109, 106, 106, 101, 100

* 128, 125, 122, 115, 113, 111, 109, 104

* 128, 112, 111 Ryan Day * 127, 119

* 127, 110

* 121, 112

* 120

* 117, 113, 108, 106 Ian McCulloch * 117, 110, 103

* 117, 106

* 116

* 115, 111 Barry Pinches * 109 James Wattana * 108, 105 Mark Williams * 103

* 100 David Gray

References

{{Snooker season 2003/2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

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