Ken Doherty

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Ken Doherty

Doherty playing with the rest, at the 2005 Swiss Open
Born September 17, 1969 (1969-09-17) (age 38)
Nationality Flag of Ireland Irish
Nickname(s) "The Darlin' of Dublin",
"Krafty Ken",
"Ken-do"
Professional 1990–
Highest ranking #2
2008/09 ranking #18
Career winnings GB£3,044,035[1]
Highest break 145 (2006)
Tournament wins
Ranking 6
Non-ranking 8
World Champion 1997

Ken Doherty (born September 17, 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player. He is the only player ever to have been world amateur (1989) and world professional champion (1997). He was also World Under-21 champion in 1989.

Contents

[edit] Career

After two semi-finals in the 1991/1992 season (his second as a professional), Doherty first made an impact by reaching the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, narrowly losing 10-9 to Jimmy White. In the same event a year later, he lost 6-9 to Peter Ebdon. His first ranking title was the 1993 Welsh Open, enough to take him into the top 16 in the world, where he remained until the 2007/2008 season. In the 1994 World Championship he reached the quarter-finals, his only run past the first round before 1997.

After Horace Lindrum from Australia and Cliff Thorburn from Canada in 1980, Doherty became only the third player from outside the United Kingdom to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18-12 in the 1997 final. Ken also reached the World Championship final in 1998 (losing to John Higgins) and in 2003, losing narrowly to Mark Williams. The latter run was noted for some outstanding comebacks, including final-frame wins over Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy, a 13-8 win over John Higgins in a match where Doherty raced ahead 10-0 but Higgins fought back to 10-7, and a semi-final fightback from 9-15 to beat Paul Hunter 17-16. In that championship he played more frames than anyone before or since. In the final, Williams led 11-4 but Doherty fought back to 12-12 before Williams prevailed 18-16.

He is one of the few players to win back-to-back ranking events - the Welsh Open and Thailand Masters in 2001, also reaching the final of the following Regal Scottish Open. [1]

In 2000, he narrowly failed to achieve a maximum 147 break when he missed a routine final black off its spot in the 15th frame of the Benson & Hedges Masters final against Matthew Stevens, which he eventually lost 10-8. This one pot would have seen him win an £80,000 sports car. However, at 140 he did at least have the consolation of the £19,000 highest break prize.

In the 2005 World Championship, Doherty beat Barry Pinches in the first round 10-5, winning the last 8 frames, but was knocked out in the second round by Alan McManus 13-11.

Following an average start to the 2005/06 season, Doherty won the Malta Cup in February 2006, beating John Higgins in the final. Doherty had trailed 8-5 at one stage but managed a stirring comeback, winning four frames in a row. Doherty called the victory, which bridged a five-year gap, his "most important tournament win since the World Championship".[2] In the 2006 World Championship, Doherty started brightly winning his first match and defeated Barry Hawkins 10-1 and then he beat Matthew Stevens 13-8, playing superbly to win the last 5 frames. He was favourite in his quarter-final match against Marco Fu but lost 13-10. It was 8-8 as the final session started, but Doherty struggled despite winning a frame in which he required 3 snookers. Although he led 7-6, 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9, he could never quite take a decisive advantage to win the match. Doherty admitted afterwards that he "blew it"" but that he still had "a couple more years" to come back and win the title. He ended the 05/06 season as the world no.2, his highest ranking ever.

He made a solid start to the 06/07 snooker season by reaching the quarter-final at what is the closest thing to a home tournament for him, the Northern Ireland Trophy at Belfast's Waterfront Hall. He followed this up with a last-16 defeats at the Grand Prix in Aberdeen and the UK Championship in York. He reached the quarter-finals of the next two tournaments, the Masters and the Malta Cup. He lost in the first round of the World Championship and, although clearly disappointed, the Dubliner vowed to continue.[3]. He was provisional world #1 for most of 2006/2007 but finished the season at #4.

In October 2006, he won the Irish Professional Snooker Championships for a second time (having previously captured the title in 1993), an invitational event, beating Michael Judge 9-4 in the final. A year later he defended his title with a resounding 9-2 victory over Fergal O'Brien. He followed this up a week later by becoming the first Irishman to win the Pot Black invitational tournament, beating Shaun Murphy 76-31 in the one-frame final.

Doherty did not start the 2007-2008 season well, winning only one match during the first four ranking tournaments. However, he did reach the semi-finals of the Masters with victories over Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy [2], before losing to eventual champion Mark Selby. He then reached the final of the Malta Cup for a record fifth time, defeating John Higgins in the semi-finals [3] before losing to Murphy in the final. Unfortunately for Doherty, neither of these events are ranking events meaning his performances did nothing to keep him in the Top 16 for 2008/2009; and defeat to Liang Wenbo in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he drops out of the Top 16 after 15 years.

[edit] Playing style

Doherty's game is often quite tactical and he is not a heavy scorer. This relatively cautious approach has led to the nickname "Krafty Ken". At his best, BBC commentators considered him snooker's top all-round player without dominating any one dimension of the sport.[citation needed].

Doherty's early career had begun with practice in Jason's of Ranelagh, Dublin, where he used to play handicap snooker tournaments on Saturday mornings before moving on to national level. This club closed in 2006 and he now practises in a well-known Dublin hotel. In his first national event, an U-16 ranking tournament, Doherty lost in the final but would come back a month later and beat the man who had beaten him in the Irish U-16 National Championships. He won the World Championship in 1997 with a cue he spotted on the rack in Jason's and purchased (after some haggling) for IRL£2.

Doherty has compiled 232 competitive centuries during his career.

[edit] Life outside snooker

Doherty resides in Ranelagh and is married to Sarah, who is of Australian descent. Their first child, a son named Christian, was born on November 30 2007.

Doherty was nearly blinded in 2002 in a bathroom accident; after slipping, he struck an ornament, which narrowly missed his left eye. However, his distinctive scar on his right cheek dates back to his seventh birthday, when he fell off a shed roof on to a metal dustbin [4].

He has started working occasionally on TV studio coverage on snooker matches with the BBC snooker coverage team.

Doherty is a Manchester United fan and he paraded his trophy at Old Trafford in front of 55,000 spectators following his World Championship triumph.

Although he has never made a 147 break in tournament play, Doherty did make one in a public exhibition in Ireland, in 2002. He made light of his prize on television shortly afterwards, which was allegedly €300, a BMX bicycle and a toy Ferrari car.

In May 2007, Doherty appeared on RTÉ's spoof show "Anonymous", heavily disguised as a priest. Ostensibly he was a beginner at snooker and received some tips from Alex Higgins, who was initially fooled by the make-up and Doherty's hopeless play. However, as "Fr Donoghue" began to clear the table, Higgins' suspicions were aroused and Doherty was eventually rumbled. Still, Doherty's disguise was enough to fool his mother and wife.

Doherty currently represents Irish poker site 'VCPoker.ie', appearing on radio commercials, and regularly playing in tournaments where the players on the site receive a bonus for knocking him out.

[edit] Tournament wins

[edit] Ranking wins

[edit] Other wins

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ World Snooker profile
  2. ^ Doherty wins Malta Cup final RTÉ Sport. Published 5 February 2006
  3. ^ Doherty falls to qualifier Allen RTÉ Sport. Published 24 April 2007
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NAME Doherty, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Irish snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH