The 1999 World Snooker Championship (officially the 1999 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 1999 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 23rd consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. Sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy, the tournament was the ninth and final ranking event of the 1998–99 season. The winner received £230,000 from a total prize fund of £1,400,000.
The top 16 players from the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible. They were joined by the 16 successful players from the qualifying rounds. There were five pre-qualifying rounds and nine qualifying rounds. There were eight Crucible debutants at the tournament: Leo Fernandez, Marco Fu, Gerard Greene, Paul Hunter, John Lardner, Ian McCulloch, Joe Perry, and Nick Walker.
John Higgins was the defending champion, having defeated Ken Doherty 18–12 in the 1998 final to win his maiden world title. He lost 10–17 to Mark Williams in the semi-finals, becoming the ninth player to experience the so-called Crucible curse, referring to the fact that no first-time champion had retained the title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977. Stephen Hendry defeated Williams 18–11 in the final to win a seventh world title in nine years. With this win, Hendry superseded Ray Reardon and Steve Davis, who had each won the tournament six times, to become the most successful player in the modern era of the World Championship. The main stage of the tournament produced 53 century breaks, of which the highest was a 142 by Higgins in his first-round match against Greene.
Background
The inaugural 1927 World Snooker Championship, then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker, took place at various venues in England between November 1926 and May 1927. Joe Davis won the final—held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham from 9 to 12 May 1927—and went on to win the tournament 15 consecutive times before retiring undefeated after the 1946 edition (no tournaments were held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II). The tournament went into abeyance after only two players contested the 1952 edition. The six editions of the World Professional Championship held between 1952 and 1957 are retroactively regarded as legitimate continuations of the World Snooker Championship, but that tournament was discontinued due to waning public interest in snooker in the post-war era. The world title was uncontested between 1958 and 1963.
Then-professional player Rex Williams was instrumental in reviving the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964. John Pulman, winner of the 1957 World Professional Championship, defended the world title across seven challenge matches between 1964 and 1968. The World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament for the 1969 edition, marking the beginning of the championship's "modern era". The 1977 edition was the first staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has remained since. As of 1999, the most successful players in the modern era were Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, and Stephen Hendry, each having won the title six times. Hendry was also the tournament's youngest winner, having captured his first title at the 1990 event, aged . Reardon was the oldest winner, having secured his sixth title at the 1978 event, aged .
Overview The 1999 World Snooker Championship was the ninth and last ranking tournament of the 1998–99 snooker season, held from 17 April to 3 May, after the British Open. It was sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy. The 1999 edition marked the 23rd consecutive year that the tournament was held at the Crucible Theatre and the 30th successive year that the World Championship was contested through the modern knockout format. The defending champion was John Higgins, who had defeated Ken Doherty 18–12 in the final of the 1998 World Championship to win his maiden world title.
Format The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible Theatre. They faced 16 players who progressed through the qualifying rounds, which took place from 3 January to 20 March at the Newport Centre in Wales. First-round matches were played as the best of 19 , held over two . Second-round and quarter-final matches were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions. The semi-final matches were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions. The final was the best of 35 frames, also held over four sessions.
Prize fund The winner received £230,000 from a total prize fund of £1,400,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:
Winner: £230,000 Runner-up: £135,000 Semi-final: £68,000 Quarter-final: £34,000 Last 16: £18,350 Last 32: £12,500 Last 48: £9,250 Last 64: £6,000 Last 96: £3,700 Last 134: £300 Stage one highest break : £2,000 Stage two highest break : £20,000 Stage two maximum break: £147,000 Total: £1,400,000
Summary Qualifying There were fourteen rounds of qualifying matches. The first six rounds of qualifying were played at Hazel Grove Snooker Club, Stockport, from 11 to 15 December 1998. The first five rounds were the best of 9 and round six was the best of 11. Journalist Martin Johnson, who wrote a week before the event that his highest was only nine, lost 0–5 to Gary Challis in the first round. The reigning Women's World Champion, Kelly Fisher, defeated Arthur Eldridge and Ben Fitzgerald before losing 4–5 to Tim English in the fourth round. Rounds 7 to 11 took place at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, from 14 to 21 January 1999 as best-of-19-frame matches. Mike Hallett recovered from 0–8 down against Kyndon Paddon in round seven to win 10–9, then beat Andy Neck 10–4. However, his 7–10 loss to Robert Milkins in the ninth round meant that Hallett lost his place on the professional tour because of his ranking position.
Rounds 12 to 14 were played at Telford International Centre from 29 March to 2 April, as the best of 19 frames. In the 12th round, the 1985 champion Dennis Taylor, who was considering retiring from the game, lost 3–10 to Nick Walker and commented "That was pathetic... after 28 years as a professional that would be an embarrassing way to finish off my career". His manager received over 3,000 letters from fans asking Taylor to continue playing. Willie Thorne experienced his heaviest defeat as a professional in his 24-year career, beaten 0–10 by Paul Sweeney. Former world number two Tony Knowles lost 4–10 to Michael Judge. The 1986 winner Joe Johnson recovered from 2–5 down against Robin Hull to win 10–7. Ian McCulloch made a 144 break during his 10–9 win against Barry Pinches, equalling the best break in qualifying that year set by Stephen Maguire. Dean Reynolds was granted permission to play on day release from prison, where he was serving a sentence for drink-driving, and defeated John Read 10–8.
Walker led 9–0 against Rod Lawler in the 13th round, but Lawler won the next eight frames before Walker clinched victory at 10–9. Nick Pearce was mistaken about the day when his match started, and after he was contacted arrived at the venue late, leading to him forfeiting three frames. He went on to defeat Gary Ponting 10–7. Bradley Jones mistakenly a again after potting the penultimate red when level at 7–7 with Leo Fernandez. The seven-point penalty left him in that frame; he lost the match 9–10. Fu compiled ten breaks of 50 or more in his 10–4 defeat of Milkins. Reynolds beat Johnson 10–5. Six-time runner-up Jimmy White defeated Reynolds 10–7 in the 14th round to confirm his 19th consecutive appearance at the main event. Graeme Dott made a of 141 in the first frame of his match against Fu, but Fu won 10–4. Paul Hunter qualified for the first time by defeating Gary Wilkinson in the of their match.
First round The first round was played between 17 and 22 April as the best of 19 frames held over two . The defending champion, John Higgins, had earned more than £400,000 in prize money during the season. After his opponent, Gerard Greene, made a 95 break to trail 1–2, Higgins won six consecutive frames for an 8–1 lead. He went on to win 10–2. Nigel Bond, who had not reached the quarter-finals of any ranking event during the season, faced Dominic Dale. Dale won the first frame, but Bond then took eight in a row. In the fifteenth frame, Dale scored 167 points: a plus 44 from eleven plus a 122 break, which set a record for the highest number of total points scored in a single frame during professional competition. The record stood until 2021, when it was broken by Jimmy Robertson, who scored 178 points in a frame during the Scottish Open. Bond won the match 10–6. Facing Fergal O'Brien, Tony Drago had reached the semi-finals of only one ranking tournament that season, the 1998 Irish Open. Drago won the first four frames of the match and went on to secure a 10–4 victory. Anthony Hamilton, runner-up of the 1999 British Open during the season, lost a against Chris Small.
John Parrott, champion in 1991, was tied at 8–8 with Terry Murphy, but took the last two frames of the match for victory. Ken Doherty, winner of the 1997 World Championship and runner-up in 1998, had lost the final of the 1999 Masters during the season. He attempted a maximum break in his match against Steve James, but missed the fourteenth red. "I thought the 147 was on when I reached 24. It was a great chance because the reds were nicely spread. You don't get many opportunities to make a maximum, especially here," Doherty said afterwards. In frame seven, James compiled the 500th century break in the history of the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre and also made a 137 , but lost 3–10 to Doherty, who made breaks of 81, 65, 57, 56 and 54 in the match. Walker faced Alain Robidoux, a semi-finalist the previous year. Robidoux took the first frame, but Walker took five in a row and went on to win the match 10–6. Matthew Stevens made a 120 break as he took the first four frames of his encounter with Peter Ebdon, runner-up in 1996. Stevens also won the last three of the match for a 10–7 victory.
In the first all-Asian match at the Crucible, James Wattana, a semi-finalist in 1994 and 1997, built a 5–4 lead against Marco Fu. Fu then went 8–7 ahead, but Wattana won three consecutive frames, making a 136 break in the process, to progress to the second round. Mark King, who had lost three first-round matches that season, was in danger of losing his place in the top 16. He defeated Darren Morgan 10–8 to secure it. Mark Williams, a semi-finalist the previous year, defeated McCulloch 10–4. Six-time World Champion Stephen Hendry, who had won the 1999 Irish Masters and the 1999 Scottish Open during the season, led Hunter 5–4. Hunter led 8–7, but Hendry won three consecutive frames to claim victory. "There were two or three qualifiers most of us wanted to avoid and Paul [Hunter] was one of them. This was a tough match," Hendry said.