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2005 Irish Masters
The 2005 Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 6–13 March 2005 at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. This was the last time the tournament was run as a ranking event. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the title by defeating Matthew Stevens 10–8 in the final. Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: *Winner: £40,000 *Runner-up: £20,000 *Semi-final: £10,000 *Quarter-final: £7,000 *Last 16: £5,000 *Last 32: £3,100 *Last 48: £1,775 *Last 64: £1,375 *Stage two highest break: £2,000 *Stage two maximum break: £20,000 *Total: £250,000 Main draw Final Qualifying Qualifying for the tournament took place between 10 and 13 January 2005 at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales. Century breaks Qualifying stage centuries * 141, 125, 110 Ding Junhui * 138 Mark Selby * 138 Jamie Burnett * 132 Barry Pinches * 130 Gary Wilson * 128 Sean Storey * 127 Alfie Burden ... [...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 (snooker player), 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 ... [...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] |
Paul Davies (snooker Player)
Paul Davies (born 22 June 1970) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who lives in Cardiff. He turned professional in 1991. Initially based in Hampshire, Davies began his career in which he was mentored by a local amateur snooker player by the name of Bert Garland who died in 1996. Paul now owns his snooker cue. Career He made an immediate impact, reaching two semi-finals in his first 3 seasons – the 1991 Dubai Classic and the 1993 Asian Open, losing to the eventual champions (John Parrott and Dave Harold) in each case. However he has never gone this far in a ranking event again. He has never qualified for the World Championship, losing in the final qualifying round four times. In 1997 he was runner up to Andy Hicks in the Benson and Hedges Qualifying, losing 6–9 in the final, denying him a place at the wildcard stage at Wembley. He reached the quarter-Finals of the 1997 Welsh Open with wins over Dave Harold, Chris Small and Ken Doherty before Mark Williams ended ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Hull
Robin Hull (born 16 August 1974) is a Finnish former professional snooker player. For some time, he was the sole Nordic player on the game's main tour. He is known as a solid -builder, having compiled over 150 competitive during his career, among the highest for a player who has never featured in the top 16 in the world rankings. Hull is one of six players to have missed the final black in attempting a maximum break, alongside Ken Doherty, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (twice), Barry Pinches, Mark Selby and Liang Wenbo. Career A professional since 1992, Hull came to prominence during the 2001–02 season, as he reached the last 16 of the 2001 UK Championship, and later qualified for the 2002 World Championship, knocking out Steve Davis in the final qualifying round; in the first round proper, he lost 6–10 to Graeme Dott. These results allowed Hull to get into the world top 32 at the end of the next season. A potentially fatal viral infection kept Hull out of much of the 200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 rose rapidly through the snooker world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990 aged 21 years and 106 days, superseding Alex Higgins as the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. From 1990 to 1999, he won seven world titles, setting a modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022. Hendry also won the Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 21. His total of 36 ranking titles is second only to O'Sullivan's 39, while his nine seasons as world number one were the most by any play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Davis (snooker Player)
Mark Davis (born 12 August 1972) is an English professional snooker player from St Leonards in Sussex. He became professional in 1991, and for many years was considered something of a journeyman; however, he vastly improved his game in the late 2000s, and as a result in 2012 made his debut in the top 16. The highlights of his career so far have been winning the Benson & Hedges Championship in 2002 (earning him an appearance at the Masters), and the six-red snooker world championships three times (in 2009, 2012 and 2013). Davis reached his first ranking event final in 2018, losing to Stuart Bingham in the final of the English Open. Prior to this he was widely considered to be the best player never to have reached a ranking final. Career Davis made his debut in the main draw of the World Championship in 1994, losing in the first round to Terry Griffiths. In the following year he won his first match at the Crucible, beating Ken Doherty in the first round before being knoc ... [...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 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 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 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 three times for a total of 15 Triple Crown titles, placing him third on the all-time list behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (21) and Stephen Hendry (18). During the 1987–88 season, he became the first player to win all three Triple Crown events i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian McCulloch (snooker Player)
Ian McCulloch (born 28 July 1971) is an English former professional snooker player from Walton-Le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire. He is known for his ability to grind opponents down through protracted safety exchanges and disjointed breakbuilding. He compiled 105 century breaks in his career. Career McCulloch turned professional in 1992, and after steadily climbing up the rankings for many years, he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in the 1999 Welsh Open. He also made his debut in the Crucible stages of the 1999 World Championship. Like Barry Pinches he entered his best form in his early 30s. He reached two ranking event finals – the 2002 British Open (losing to Paul Hunter) and the 2004 Grand Prix in his home town (losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan). He beat David Gray to qualify for the 2003 World Championship in a clash between players who share their names with musicians, and went on to reach the quarter finals in 2004. He went one stage fu ... [...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 regula ... [...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 f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Guangzhou Masters. He later switched his focus to pool and won the 2003 World Pool Masters beating Hsia Hui-kai 8–6 and the 2008 Predator International 10-ball Championship beating Francisco Bustamante 13–10. Snooker career Drago's highest snooker world rankings position was number ten (in 1998). He has reached two major finals – the 1991 World Masters (losing to Jimmy White), and the 1997 International Open (beaten by Stephen Hendry—Drago's only ranking event final, and his first run past the quarter-finals of any ranking event). He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 1988. He has appeared in the tournament 11 further times, most recently in 2004/2005, with five further last-sixteen runs. He lost to Matthew St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on all three occasions. He also won three ranking events: the Welsh Open in 1998 and 2002, and the British Open in 2002. During the 2004–05 snooker season, he attained a career-high ranking of number four in the world. In March 2005, Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours, but continued to play for several months afterwards. He died shortly before his 28th birthday in October 2006. In his memory, a tournament in Fürth, Germany, was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic and, in April 2016, the Masters trophy was renamed the Paul Hunter Trophy. A prolific break-builder, he made 114 century breaks, the highest being a 146 in the 2004 Premier League. Early life Hunter was born on 14 October 1978 in Leeds, England, and was educated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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