scotmast

Scottish Masters

Invitation Event

Brief History of the Scottish Masters

Like its counterparts in London and Ireland, the Scottish Masters was an invitation event, usually one of the first of the season, and was held, apart from 1988, continuously from 1981 to 2002. The first event, for which Langs Supreme provided the sponsorship, was held in Glasgow’s vast Kelvin Hall with nine competitors. 19-year-old, Jimmy White beat three world champions, Ray Reardon, Steve Davis and Cliff Thorburn, to collect the £8,000 first prize and his first major title.

Steve Davis beat Alex Higgins for the 1982 title when the event had moved to the Holiday Inn in Glasgow. Another year, another Glasgow hotel, the Skean Dhu, but it was the same winner, Steve Davis, who beat Tony Knowles for the title for which the prize had now risen to £10,000. Davis completed a hat trick in 1984, with Jimmy White as his final victim, this time at the Hospitality Inn which would remain the venue for the next four years.

Canada’s Cliff Thorburn beat Willie Thorne in 1985 and Alex Higgins in 1986 for two successive victories and then in 1987 Joe Johnson gained his only major victory other than the world title. The Langs sponsorship then came to an end and the event disappeared from the calendar, but only for one season.

With sponsorship from Imperial Tobacco’s Regal brand, Stephen Hendry’s management company, headed by Ian Doyle, promoted the revival of the event, now known as the Regal Masters, at The Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow in 1989. The previous field of eight players but was now increased to ten with a top prize of £32,500. Hendry rewarded his boss’s faith by winning the event beating Terry Griffiths in the final. The same two contested the 1990 final with the same result. The event was now part of a World Series of invitation events and had moved to Motherwell’s Civic Centre which would become its home for the next eleven years.

Mike Hallett was the surprise winner in 1991 and Neal Foulds triumphed over Gary Wilkinson the following year when the field was increased to twelve. Local favourites, Ken Doherty had back to back wins in 1993 and 1994 but then Hendry brought the trophy back to Scotland with a victory over Peter Ebdon. In that year, 1995, a qualifying competition was introduced with the winner joining the other eleven invitees. Peter reached the final again in 1996 and this time came away as the winner against Alan McManus who was to lose in a third final the following year to Nigel Bond in the deciding frame.

1998 saw Ronnie O’Sullivan pick up the winner’s cheque which had now risen to £61,000 and Matthew Stevens took the title to Wales for the first time in 1999. He was the first winner to have come through the qualifying competition. On the second day of the 2000 event, Marco Fu from Hong Kong made the tournament’s first 147 maximum against Ken Doherty but unfortunately lost the match. Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Stephen Hendry in the final which meant that a Scottish player had lost in each of the last five finals – four of them to Englishmen!

For 2001, the event moved back to Glasgow, to the Thistle Hotel. For the ninth year in a row there was a Scot in the final although only one of them had emerged victorious in the previous eight. This time however John Higgins, who was in the middle of a fantastic run of form, managed to win beating the holder, O’Sullivan, 9-6. Ronnie got his revenge the following year, beating Higgins 9-4 in the final to win for the third time.

The end of tobacco sponsorship brought about the end of this event after 2002.

Roll Of Honour

Year	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
1981	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Jimmy White	Cliff Thorburn	9-4	£8,000
1982	Holiday Inn, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Steve Davis	Alex Higgins	9-4	£9,000
1983	Skean Dhu, Hotel, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Steve Davis	Tony Knowles	9-5	£10,000
1984	Hospitality Inn, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	9-4	£10,000
1985	Hospitality Inn, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Cliff Thorburn	Willie Thorne	9-7	£10,500
1986	Hospitality Inn, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Cliff Thorburn	Alex Higgins	9-8	£13,000
1987	Hospitality Inn, Glasgow	Langs Supreme	Joe Johnson	Terry Griffiths	9-7	£16,000
1988	not held	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
1989	Scottish Exhibition Centre, Glasgow	Regal	Stephen Hendry	Terry Griffiths	10-1	£32,500
1990	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Stephen Hendry	Terry Griffiths	10-6	£35,000
1991	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Mike Hallett	Steve Davis	10-6	£37,000
1992	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Neal Foulds	Gary Wilkinson	10-8	£40,000
1993	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Ken Doherty	Alan McManus	10-9	£45,000
1994	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Ken Doherty	Stephen Hendry	9-7	£50,000
1995	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Stephen Hendry	Peter Ebdon	9-5	£55,000
1996	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Peter Ebdon	Alan McManus	9-6	£60,000
1997	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Nigel Bond	Alan McManus	9-8	£60,000
1998	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9-7	£61,000
1999	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Matthew Stevens	John Higgins	9-7	£61,000
2000	Civic Centre, Motherwell	Regal	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9-6	£62,000
2001	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow	Regal	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9-6	£63,000
2002	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow	Regal	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9-4	£65,000

Maximum Breaks

Marco Fu

2000

Round 1 v. Ken Doherty

Jan	FEB	Aug
	16
2010	2012	2013