DohertyK

Player Profile

Ken Doherty

Born:	17 September 1969. Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland
Turned Professional:	1990
Highest Break:	145 (2004 Players Championship)
Career Centuries	261 (to end of 2008/9 season)
Highest Ranking	2nd (2006/7)

Popular Irishman, Ken Doherty, achieved a unique place in snooker history in 1997 when he added the world professional title to the amateur one he had won eight years. To date he is the only player to have won both and for good measure he won the world junior title as well.

Although a football fanatic, it was at snooker that his talent could be found. He first came to be noticed in 1983 when he won the Irish under 16 title and retained it the following year. In 1985 he was runner-up in the Irish Amateur and won their under 19 title in 1986. He went to the world amateur event that year but although he beat a young James Wattana, he only finished 5th in his group. He won the Irish amateur championship in 1987 which earned him another trip to the world event where he did a little better finishing third in his group. In 1988 he won the prestigious Pontins Open title and the 1988/89 season saw him win a major under 19 open event in London and he set a new junior record break in the home internationals of 120. He regained the Irish amateur title in 1989, was runner-up in the Pontins Open and in Reykjavik, beat Jason Ferguson to take the World Junior (Under 21) championship. He then moved on to the World Amateur championship in Singapore and this time the title was his with an 11-2 victory over England’s Jonathan Birch. The professional ranks now beckoned.

A modest opening season saw him reach the Mercantile Credit Classic quarter-final and qualify for the Crucible at his first event. There he came close to beating six-times champion Steve Davis in the first round but lost 10-8 and it would be three years before he returned to that arena. He finished his first season a satisfactory 51st in the world rankings. In 1992/2 he reached two ranking semi-finals, the Strachan Open and British Open and took the Benson & Hedges championship gaining him a wild card for the Wembley Masters. He also had an invitation to the Irish Masters where he went all the way to the final eventually losing out 9-6 to Stephen Hendry. His ranking went up to 21st and things went even better in the next season. After losing out in the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, he took his first ranking title, the 1993 Welsh Open. Consistent results in the other events took him into the top 16 at number 11. On the way he won the Irish Professional and Pontins Professional titles.

In 1993/4 he was runner-up in the Grand Prix and reached the world quarter-finals. In the other ranking events he only once failed to reach the last 16, whilst in non-ranking events he won his first Scottish Masters and retained his Pontins title. He was now seventh in the world. He retained his Scottish Masters title in 1994/5 and was runner-up in the UK but his ranking slipped back a couple of places. The next season saw him reach two more ranking finals, losing both, but he picked up his third Pontins title in four years and won the Matchroon League. He was back up to 7th and arrived at Sheffield at the end of the next season with three more semi-finals in ranking events under his belt.

At the 1997 world championships he trounced Steve Davis 13-3 in the second round and beat the fast improving John Higgins in the last 8. A comfortable semi-final victory over Alain Robidoux took him into the final to meet Stephen Hendry who had won the last five on the trot. It was to be Ken’s day and he won decisively, 18-12 to become the first, and so far only, Irishman to lift that famous trophy. It is said that all Dublin stayed in to watch with a dramatic reduction in the crime figures that night. He was given a hero’s welcome when he brought the trophy home and received the acclaim of his country’s president. As a life long Manchester United supporter, he was also thrilled to be asked to parade the trophy around Old Trafford.

Back to the reality of the 1997/8 circuit, now ranked third, he did manage three semi-finals and in non-ranking events won the Irish Masters, Malta Grand Prix and, for the second time, the Matchroon League. No one had ever retained the world title at the Crucible after winning it for the first time but Ken went as close as he could, losing in the final to John Higgins 18-12. He had to wait until the 2000 Malta Grand Prix for his next ranking title. In the final of the 2000 Benson & Hedges Masters he had the heartbreak of missing the final black when on course for what would have been his first 147.

2000/01 proved to be one of Ken’s best ever seasons. He won back-to-back ranking titles in the Regal Welsh and Thailand Masters and came within a whisker of making it a hat-trick, just losing out to Peter Ebdon in the Scottish Open final. He remained a major force and reached the UK Championship final in both 2001 and got to a third World Championship final in 2003, this time losing to Mark Williams.

Although he won an invitation event in the Far East at the beginning of the 2003/4 season, it was not until 2006 that he won his sixth ranking title, the Malta Cup. With quarter finals in the UK and World Championship and a semi final in the China Open, Ken ended that 2005/6 season with his highest ever ranking at number two. He began the next provisionally in top spot but despite three quarter finals he could only finish fourth. He did manage to reclaim the revived Irish Professional title he had last held in 1993. He retained that title in 2007/8 and won the Pot Black event but on the world ranking circuit he failed to get past the last 16 in any event and lost his top 16 ranking after 15 years in snooker’s elite. Worse was to follow as he only won three ranking matches in 2008/9 and dropped a massive 26 places down the ranking list.

Ken remains one of the most successful players ever with total prize money of nearly £3m. He is admired for having one of the best all round games amongst the top pros; not outstanding in any one aspect but a player who never gives in and one you would rather not have in your section of the draw.

Career Highlights

World Professional Snooker Champion	1997
World Professional Snooker Championship Runner up	1998, 2003
Welsh Open champion	2003, 2001
Malta Grand Prix champion	1997, 2000
Thailand Masters champion	2001
Malta Cup champion	2006
Irish Masters champion	1998
Scottish Masters champion	2003, 2004
Benson & Hedges Championship winner	1991
Irish Professional champion	1993, 2006, 2007
Pot Black champion	2007
Pontins Professional champion	1993, 1994, 1996
Pontins (Spring) Open champion	1996, 1997
Matchroom / Premier League champion	1996, 1998
Euro-Asia Masters Challenge 2nd Leg champion	2003
Barry McNamee Memorial champion	2003
Lucan Racing Irish Classicchampion	2008
Pontins World Pro-Am Series Grand Final winner	2006
IBSF World Amateur champion	1989
IBSF World Under-21 champion	1989
Irish (Republic) Amateur champion	1987, 1989
All-Ireland Amateur champion	1987, 1989