1996 Masters (snooker)

The 1996 Masters (officially the 1996 Benson & Hedges Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 4 and 11 February 1996 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. The last 16 and quarter-final rounds were extended from 9 to 11 frames while the final was extended from 17 to 19 frames, which has remained the match format ever since.

1996 Benson & Hedges Masters
Tournament information
Dates4–11 February 1996 (1996-02-04 – 1996-02-11)
VenueWembley Conference Centre
CityLondon
CountryEngland
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatNon-ranking event
Winner's share£125,000
Highest break Stephen Hendry (SCO) (144)
Final
Champion Stephen Hendry (SCO)
Runner-up Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)
Score10–5
← 1995
1997 →

Stephen Hendry won his sixth Masters title by defeating defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–5 in the final. Hendry won £125,000 and £10,000 for the highest break of the tournament (144).[1] During his quarter-final match Hendry also set the record of scoring 487 points without reply against Jimmy White.[2]

Field

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion Stephen Hendry seeded 2. Places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Matthew Stevens (ranked 236), and Andy Hicks (ranked 17), who was the wild-card selection. Dave Harold, Andy Hicks and Matthew Stevens were making their debuts in the Masters.

Wild-card round

In the preliminary round, the qualifier and wild-card players played the 15th and 16th seeds:[1][3]

MatchDateScore
WC1 Sunday 4 February  Terry Griffiths (WAL) (15) 3–5  Matthew Stevens (WAL)
WC2 Monday 5 February  David Roe (ENG) (16) 2–5  Andy Hicks (ENG)

Main draw

[1][3]

Last 16
Best of 11 frames 		Quarter-finals
Best of 11 frames 		Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames 		Final
Best of 19 frames
            
1  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 6
12  Nigel Bond (ENG) 5
1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 6
8 Darren Morgan 4
8  Darren Morgan (WAL) 6
10  Peter Ebdon (ENG) 5
1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 6
Andy Hicks 1
5  James Wattana (THA) 4
 Andy Hicks (ENG) 6
Andy Hicks 6
4 John Parrott 3
4  John Parrott (ENG) 6
14  Tony Drago (MLT) 5
1 Ronnie O'Sullivan 5
2 Stephen Hendry 10
3  Steve Davis (ENG) 6
9  Ken Doherty (IRL) 0
3 Steve Davis 4
6 Alan McManus 6
6  Alan McManus (SCO) 6
 Matthew Stevens (WAL) 5
6 Alan McManus 4
2 Stephen Hendry 6
7  Jimmy White (ENG) 6
13  Dave Harold (ENG) 5
7 Jimmy White 0
2 Stephen Hendry 6
2  Stephen Hendry (SCO) 6
11  John Higgins (SCO) 4

Final
Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee:
Wembley Conference Centre, London, England, 11 February 1996.[1]
Stephen Hendry (2)
 Scotland		 10–5 Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)
 England
Afternoon: 108–0 (71), 12–73 (62), 69–90 (Hendry 54), 78–48 (77), 74–49, 61–17 (50), 71–5, 74–1 (62)
Evening: 0–109 (109), 122–0 (87), 126–8 (125), 9–62 (61), 80–1 (80), 0–138 (106), 103–0 (97)
125 Highest break 109
1 Century breaks 2
9 50+ breaks 4

Qualifying

Matthew Stevens won the qualifying tournament, known as the 1995 Benson & Hedges Championship at the time.[4]

Century breaks

Total: 21[5]

Andy Hicks's 125, 103 and 102 were scored in the wild-card round.

References
  1. "Benson & Hedges Masters". Snooker.org. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  2. Turner, Chris. "On this Week: White becomes Brown". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. "The Masters". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  4. Turner, Chris. "Benson & Hedges Championship, Masters Qualifying Tournament". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  5. "1996 Masters". CueTracker - Snooker Results and Statistics Database. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
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