The second half of a countdown – everyone’s going to have opinions in terms of what greatest matches finals and I have spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging the order from No. 6 to be honest.
By the way, if you could see the PART 1 of this countdown, that would be great! Here is the link: COUNTDOWN: Top Ten Masters Finals PART 1!
Just goes to show how exceptional, remarkable and memorable these finals are – LET’S DO THIS!
5. Stephen Hendry vs. Mike Hallett (1991; 9-8)
It was bound to come up, wasn’t it?
Mike Hallett had the best possible chance of winning this match, leading 7-0 in what he described himself was the best snooker he had ever played to the point where he didn’t miss a ball. This sent shockwaves since Hendry was a very strong favourite to win the tournament and he was left completely cold. It was absolutely vital for Hendry to win two frames to have any chance of winning and it ended up being 8-2. The decisive moment was at 8-3 where Hallet potted the last blue without hitting it well to leave himself with a tricky pink using the rest. Hallett failed to grasp the chance, leading him to pot the pink, win the frame and of course, the rest is history.
Hallett lamented his discipline that cost him the match, but you have to applaud Stephen Hendry’s mental strength that got him over the line. Many players would have given up by that stage. However, as long as one takes one frame at a time, you can be going places. Stephen Hendry didn’t do too badly after that for the rest of his career, did he?
A comeback of Lazarus proportions👏👏👏👏👏👍
— Mountain Man 🌹 #FightingBack 🌹 (@ValleysCommando) January 11, 2018
4. Paul Hunter vs. Fergal O’Brien (2001; 10-9)
Plan B. That’s all you need to know. Think we can move on, can’t we?
Plan B has become almost synonymous to snooker because of the wonderful incident that happened in his hotel room with his girlfriend Lindsey Fell after the afternoon interval where Paul Hunter found himself 6-2 down against Fergal O’Brien. To sum it up from Paul Hunter himself:
“Sex was the last thing on my mind. I just wasn’t in the mood. But I had to do something to break the tension. It was a quick session – around 10 minutes or so – but I felt great afterwards. She jumped in the bath, I had a kip and then played like a dream. I reeled off four centuries in six frames. I won easily.”
And that was exactly what happened in the evening session. The Beckham on the Baize reeled out a 129, 101, 136 and 132 in six frames before finally being begged back by Fergal to force a decider. Paul then slotted it home winning his first out of three Masters trophies! This is a great match not only by the comeback and the quality of Paul’s break-building and his not-so secret plan put snooker in the tabloids for a good while! It seems so unsnookerish that the match became so memorable!
3. John Higgins vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2006; 10-9)
This Masters final has the perfect set-up for one of the greatest rivalries of the modern game as well as a plethora of breaks – 10 50+ breaks and three centuries, including Ronnie hitting the highest break of the tournament of 139. Though O’Sullivan raced to a 3-0 lead, the Wizard of Wishaw made it all square at 3-3. Since then, only two frames separated these two titans, blade to blade in this tremendous clash where each player took the lead in the match on a number of occasions (at this rate of adjectives, all I need to do is shout made and I would’ve got a job as a Sky Sports commentator. Oh well).
Now for the frame that made this final so magical and memorable. It would be the deciding frame. The Rocket made a decent 60 break and after a hatful of close opportunities, Ronnie missed a tricky red. This led to Higgins making one of the best clearances under pressure in snooker. To exact revenge on Ronnie for beating him in the 1995 final, Higgins made a 64 break right up to potting the final black to punch in the air for a little bit and revel in the glory of winning his second Masters title. It really was a match of tremendous quality and Higgins’s temperament was first-class indeed. Higgins remarked that it definitely ranks as one of his best ever clearances and best ever wins, helped by the fact that it was the last ever match at the Wembley Conference Centre.
One thing I have realised: this is the last time a Scot has ever won the Masters! Who will be next?
2. Mark Williams vs. Stephen Hendry (1998; 10-9)
This was around about the time when Mark Williams was considered a rising star. This was when Williams was only making his third appearance in the Masters and hadn’t even won a Triple Crown event by that time. Hendry, on the other hand, had won 17 at that stage. Think I need a lie down.
After leading 5-4 in the afternoon session, Hendry went full throttle and went to lead 9-6, knocking in seven +50 breaks in the process. He had a chance to win it at 10-6, but missed his opportunity, leading The Welsh Potting Machine to pounce back three times on the bounce and even in the decider to force a respot on the black. There was a lot of safety play and a number of close chances, with Williams attempting a double but hitting the jaw and another rattling the jaws of the top left pocket later on. Then Hendry missed one in the middle pocket, leaving Williams to seal the match! Hendry mentioned that Williams dominated the final, while Williams mentioned just beating Hendry was just an extra incentive to win the Masters!
1. Paul Hunter vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2004; 10-9)
After Paul beat Williams in 2002 to win his second Masters title, Williams mentioned:
“I will never forget it. I was 5-0 up and he won 10-9. He was one of the best under pressure.”
Fast forward to 2004, where Paul Hunter reached his third Masters final to be pitted against the Rocket – two of the games most popular people and in some ways a dream final between the pair who reached five Masters finals between them. Again, Paul Hunter is behind, this time 7-2 down and this is despite making two centuries!
And yet once again Paul proved what Williams said and managed to have enough self-belief and enough bottle to storm back to 6–8 and 7–9 behind before reeling off the final three frames to seal the sixth title of his professional career and finally his third Masters title. Three trophies by winning three matches against three different players from 6-2 down to win 10-9 is absolutely phenomenal.
Unfortunately, we will never know how many trophies he could’ve won while his personality would light up the room! It was only in 2016 when Barry Hearn passed down that the Masters trophy was named the Paul Hunter Trophy in his honour and to be honest, we can bleat on about that it should have been down a long time ago and Barry has, it is still one of the best things Barry has ever done in my eyes. What a tribute.
References:
BBC Sport., “Masters: Memorable moments from over the years.” (22nd January 2017) Accessed on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38708953
Custis, N., “A HERO TO EVERYONE Paul Hunter remembered: Death of ‘the Beckham of the Baize’ 10 years ago is still hard to take for family and fellow stars.” The Sun. (12th October 2016). Accessed on: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/othersports/1964529/paul-hunter-remembered-death-of-the-beckham-of-the-baize-10-years-ago-is-still-hard-to-take-for-family-and-fellow-stars/
Davies, J., “Five of the greatest finals in the history of Masters Snooker” LiveSnooker. (13th January 2017) Accessed on: http://www.livesnooker.com/category/invitational-events/top-5-masters-snooker-final-20170113-0003/
Dee, J., “Snooker: Payday for Williams.” The Daily Telegraph. (10th February 2003). Accessed on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/4778188/Snooker-Payday-for-Williams.html
Phillips, O., “Paul Hunter: Masters trophy renamed in honour of ex-champion.” BBC Sport. (20th April 2016). Accessed on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36095079
The Guardian., “Interview Paul Hunter.” (12th April 2004). Accessed on: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/apr/12/snooker
The Herald., “John Higgins reflects a decade on from on bringing down the Rocket in style.” (9th January 2016). Accessed on: http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/14193325.John_Higgins_reflects_a_decade_on_from_on_bringing_down_the_Rocket_in_style/
Vedat, I., “Snooker’s greatest comeback: ‘It took me six months to get over it'”. ESPN. (17th January 2014.) Accessed on: http://en.espn.co.uk/snooker/sport/story/274113.html.
World Snooker., “Ten Masters Moments.” (4th January 2018). Accessed on: http://www.worldsnooker.com/10-masters-moments/
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