| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Ormonde Hotel |
| Location | Kilkenny |
| Country | Ireland |
| Established | 1975 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Final year | 2007 |
| Final champion |  Ronnie O'Sullivan |
TheIrish Masters was a professionalsnooker tournament. It was founded in 1978, following on from the successfulBenson & Hedges Ireland Tournament (alternatively known as theBenson & Hedges Ireland Championship). The final champion of the tournament wasRonnie O'Sullivan.
The event started out in 1975 as theBenson & Hedges Challenge Match betweenAlex Higgins andJohn 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.[1] In 1976 and 1977 it was expanded to a four-man invitational event, called theBenson & Hedges Ireland Tournament.
In 1978 the tournament was renamed theIrish Masters and continued as an ever-present fixture on the snooker calendar until 2005.Benson & Hedges continued their sponsorship with the tournament being played at Goffs,County Kildare. After tobacco sponsorship was outlawed in the Ireland in 2000, the Irish government funded the event from 2001 and it was subsequently relocated to theCitywest Hotel,Saggart, County Dublin. The tournament was staged on an invitational basis for most of its existence but became aranking tournament from the2002/03 season. The event was dropped from the calendar in the2005/2006 season.[2] In2007, a three-day invitational event known as theKilkenny Irish Masters was staged with 16 players. It attracted a strong field with 9 of the world's top 16 players taking part, withRonnie O'Sullivan winning the title.[3][4]
The tournament was dominated most of all bySteve Davis, who won it eight times. It was won by Irish players on two occasions,Alex Higgins in 1989 andKen Doherty in 1998. Doherty claimed the title despite losing in the final 3–9 againstRonnie O'Sullivan, as O'Sullivan subsequently failed a drugs test after testing positive forcannabis.[5] There was only one officialmaximum break in the history of the tournament. John Higgins made it in the quarter-finals of the 2000 event againstJimmy White.[2] There has been one further maximum break in 2007 by O'Sullivan,[6] but it is not included in the list of official maximum breaks, as the table was not to the required standards used on the professional circuit.[7]
*Ronnie O'Sullivan was disqualified and stripped of the title in 1998 after a 9–3 win overKen Doherty.
O'Sullivan failed a drugs test after testing positive for cannabis. Doherty was awarded the title.[5]
