2002–03 snooker season

The 2002–03 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 27 August 2002 and 22 May 2003. Due to a legal ban, this was the final season to have events sponsored by tobacco companies (apart from Embassy, who would continue to sponsor the World Championship for another two years). The following table outlines the results for the ranking events and the invitational events. Mark Williams remains the last player to have won all three triple crown events in the same season (UK Championships, Masters, World Championships).

2002–03 snooker season

Details
Duration	27 August 2002 – 22 May 2003 (2002-08-27 – 2003-05-22)
Tournaments	19 (8 ranking events)
Triple Crown winners
UK Championship	Mark Williams
Masters	Mark Williams
World Championship	Mark Williams
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Calendar

Date^[n 1]			Rank	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score^[1]^[2]	References
09–24	09–29	SCO	NR	Scottish Masters	Thistle Hotels	Glasgow	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9–4	^[3]
10–01	10–08	KOR	P/A	Asian Games	Dongju College Gymnasium	Busan	Ding Junhui	Supoj Saenla	3–1	^[4]
10–05	10–13	ENG	WR	LG Cup	Guild Hall	Preston	Chris Small	Alan McManus	9–5	^[5]
10–21	10–31	ENG	NR	Benson & Hedges Championship	Towers Snooker Club	Mansfield	Mark Davis	Mehmet Husnu	9–6	^[6]
11–02	11–07	WAL	CT	Challenge Tour 1	Towers Snooker Club	Mansfield	Chris Melling	Tom Ford	6–2	^[7]
11–09	11–17	ENG	WR	British Open	Telford International Centre	Telford	Paul Hunter	Ian McCulloch	9–4	^[8]
12–02	12–15	ENG	WR	UK Championship	Barbican Centre	York	Mark Williams	Ken Doherty	10–9	^[9]
01–22	01–26	WAL	WR	Welsh Open	Cardiff International Arena	Cardiff	Stephen Hendry	Mark Williams	9–5	^[10]
02–02	02–09	ENG	NR	Masters	Wembley Conference Centre	London	Mark Williams	Stephen Hendry	10–4	^[11]^[12]
02–15	02–20	ENG	CT	Challenge Tour 2	Jesters Snooker Club	Swindon	Adrian Rosa	Stuart Mann	6–5	^[13]
02–20	02–22	NIR	NR	Irish Open	Millennium Forum	Derry	Joe Swail	Fergal O'Brien	10–3	^[14]
02–19	02–23	THA	NR	Thailand Masters	Rajamangala National Stadium	Bangkok	Noppadon Noppachorn	Rom Surin	5–4	^[15]^[16]
03–11	03–16	ENG	WR	European Open	Palace Hotel	Torquay	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9–6	^[17]^[18]
03–15	03–20	WAL	CT	Challenge Tour 3	Jesters Snooker Club	Swindon	Michael Rhodes	Luke Simmonds	6–5	^[19]
03–25	03–30	IRL	WR	Irish Masters	Citywest Hotel	Dublin	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	10–9	^[20]
04–05	04–13	SCO	WR	Scottish Open	Royal Highland Centre	Edinburgh	David Gray	Mark Selby	9–7	^[21]^[22]
04–19	05–05	ENG	WR	World Snooker Championship	Crucible Theatre	Sheffield	Mark Williams	Ken Doherty	18–16	^[23]
01–11	05–11	ENG	NR	Premier League	Crowtree Leisure Centre	Sunderland	Marco Fu	Mark Williams	9–5	^[24]
05–16	05–22	WAL	CT	Challenge Tour 4	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Kurt Maflin	James Leadbetter	6–2	^[25]

WR = World ranking event

CT = Challenge Tour event

NR = Non-ranking event

P/A = Pro-am event

Official rankings

Main article: Snooker world rankings 2002/2003

The top 16 of the world rankings, these players automatically played in the final rounds of the world ranking events and were invited for the Masters.^{[26][27][28][29]}

No.	Player	Points 2000/01	Points 2001/02	Total
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	25399	24625	50024
2	Mark Williams	21735	25050	46785
3	Peter Ebdon	20777	23875	44652
4	John Higgins	22034	22300	44334
5	Ken Doherty	22079	21400	43479
6	Stephen Hendry	17478	24650	42128
7	Stephen Lee	13944	25725	39669
8	Matthew Stevens	14879	18000	32879
9	Paul Hunter	15809	15500	31309
10	Jimmy White	12009	16925	28934
11	Mark King	11895	15537	27432
12	Graeme Dott	11397	15762	27159
13	Joe Perry	9269	17700	26969
14	Quinten Hann	11395	14837	26232
15	Alan McManus	12190	13550	25740
16	Joe Swail	12117	12762	24879

Notes

1. Dates use the month day format

References

1. "The 2002/2003 Season". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
2. . Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
3. "Regal Scottish Masters 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
4. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2008.
5. "LG Cup 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
6. Turner, Chris. . cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
7. . Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006.
8. "British Open 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
9. "PowerHouse UK Championship 2002". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
10. "Regal Welsh Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
11. "Benson & Hedges Masters 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
12. Turner, Chris. "On this Week: White becomes Brown". Eurosport UK. from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
13. . Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006.
14. "Swail lifts Irish crown". BBC. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
15. Turner, Chris. . cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
16. . thailandsnooker.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
17. "European Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
18. Turner, Chris. "On this Week: Birth of the Hurricane". Eurosport UK. from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
19. . Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006.
20. "Citywest Irish Masters 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
21. "Regal Scottish Open 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
22. Turner, Chris. "On this Week: First world title for Reardon". Eurosport UK. from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
23. "Embassy World Championship 2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
24. . premierleaguesnooker.com. Matchroom Sport. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
25. . Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006.
26. Turner, Chris. . cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
27. "Embassy World Rankings 2002/2003". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
28. Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. pp. 119–123. ISBN 0-9548549-0-X.
29. . worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 4 June 2002. Retrieved 10 January 2013.

External links