1997 World Snooker Championship

The 1997 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1997 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1997. Staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Ken Doherty won the only world title of his professional career by defeating the defending champion Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the final. The first player to win world championships at junior, 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 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 made the fastest maximum break 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 and meant that he retired having played 999 frames at The Crucible. 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, reaching the semi-finals. The Canadian player lost 7–17 to Ken Doherty.
• James Wattana reached the semi-finals for the second time (after 1993) but the Thai player lost 13–17 to defending champion Stephen Hendry.
• 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 to win the world title in the modern era, following Cliff Thorburn in 1980.
• Alan Chamberlain refereed his first and only World Championship final. He was the first referee since Jim Thorpe 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 in 1998, Colin Brinded in 1999, John Newton in 2000 and Eirian Williams 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 breaks in this year's championship.

• 147, 133 Template:Ndash Ronnie O'Sullivan
• 137, 122, 117, 114, 110, 106, 106, 101, 101 Template:Ndash Stephen Hendry
• 134, 130, 111, 101 Template:Ndash John Higgins
• 133, 129, 129, 102 Template:Ndash John Parrott
• 131 Template:Ndash Billy Snaddon
• 129, 121, 117 Template:Ndash Anthony Hamilton
• 128, 121, 116, 108 Template:Ndash Darren Morgan
• 127 Template:Ndash Stefan Mazrocis

• 125 Template:Ndash Jimmy White
• 123 Template:Ndash Mark Williams
• 121, 113 Template:Ndash Alain Robidoux
• 116, 104, 101 Template:Ndash Ken Doherty
• 112 Template:Ndash James Wattana
• 110 Template:Ndash Dominic Dale
• 100 Template:Ndash Stephen Lee
• 100 Template:Ndash Alan McManus

Qualifying

The qualifying matches were held between 2 January and March 1997 at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales. The last round was played at Telford International Centre, Telford on 24 and 25 March 1997.

Round 2–3

Round 2 (Best of 19 frames)	Round 3 (Best of 19 frames)
Template:Flagicon Matthew Stevens 10–7 Template:Flagicon Jason Prince	Template:Flagicon Andy Hicks 10–7 Template:Flagicon Matthew Stevens
Template:Flagicon Alfie Burden 10–6 Template:Flagicon Barry Pinches	Template:Flagicon Terry Griffiths 10–4 Template:Flagicon Alfie Burden
Template:Flagicon Michael Judge 10–5 Template:Flagicon Anthony Davies	Template:Flagicon Gary Wilkinson 10–9 Template:Flagicon Michael Judge
Template:Flagicon Jimmy Michie 10–9 Template:Flagicon Paul Davies	Template:Flagicon Mick Price 10–9 Template:Flagicon Jimmy Michie
Template:Flagicon Drew Henry 10–3 Template:Flagicon Alan Burnett	Template:Flagicon Stephen Lee 10–5 Template:Flagicon Drew Henry
Template:Flagicon Graeme Dott 10–7 Template:Flagicon Geoff Dunn	Template:Flagicon Graeme Dott 10–8 Template:Flagicon Joe Swail
Template:Flagicon Karl Broughton 10–5 Template:Flagicon Fergal O'Brien	Template:Flagicon Anthony Hamilton 10–5 Template:Flagicon Karl Broughton
Template:Flagicon Bradley Jones 10–9 Template:Flagicon Jamie Burnett	Template:Flagicon Bradley Jones 10–4 Template:Flagicon David Finbow
Template:Flagicon Stefan Mazrocis 10–9 Template:Flagicon Jason Weston	Template:Flagicon Stefan Mazrocis 10–4 Template:Flagicon Chris Small
Template:Flagicon Brian Morgan 10–7 Template:Flagicon Nick Pearce	Template:Flagicon Brian Morgan 10–6 Template:Flagicon Dene O'Kane
Template:Flagicon Lee Walker 10–8 Template:Flagicon Euan Henderson	Template:Flagicon Lee Walker 10–7 Template:Flagicon Dennis Taylor
Template:Flagicon Billy Snaddon 10–3 Template:Flagicon Paul Davison	Template:Flagicon Billy Snaddon 10–7 Template:Flagicon Rod Lawler
Template:Flagicon Mark Davis 10–6 Template:Flagicon Terry Murphy	Template:Flagicon Mark Davis 10–5 Template:Flagicon Jason Ferguson
Template:Flagicon David McLellan 10–6 Template:Flagicon Nick Dyson	Template:Flagicon David McLellan 10–9 Template:Flagicon Neal Foulds
Template:Flagicon Dominic Dale 10–3 Template:Flagicon Jonathan Birch	Template:Flagicon Dominic Dale 10–6 Template:Flagicon Willie Thorne
Template:Flagicon Graham Horne 10–6 Template:Flagicon Mark King	Template:Flagicon Graham Horne 10–7 Template:Flagicon Steve James