The 1997 German Open was a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, 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 ...

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

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 languages, Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ...

, 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 from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...

won the event for the second time, defeating

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player who won the 1991 World Snooker Championship. He came to prominence in the mid to late 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 14 ...

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. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

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 ...

by the same score after fluking the final black.

Ken Doherty Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...

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, reachi ...

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

beat

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and a current Sports commentator, commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, ag ...

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 Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

in September 1997.

Final qualifying round

References

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