Snooker major titles
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Professional snooker, unlike professional golf or tennis, does not operate an official system of 'Majors' or 'Grand Slam' events. The World Championship is by far the most significant snooker event of the calendar year, awarding the most prize money and ranking points, and the only other event with official superiority over the bulk of the ranking events is the United Kingdom Championship, which awards 1.5 times the ranking points of other ranking events. However, snooker has held an unofficial system which counts the World Championship, United Kingdom Championship, the Grand Prix and the Masters (the only of the four which is not a ranking event) as 'major' titles, as the four events which have traditionally had the highest prize money, highest profile sponsors, most TV coverage, and largest field of competitors. More universally, winning the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters is also referred to as the 'Triple Crown' of Snooker, with these three events holding considerably more prestige than other events in the snooker year, with longer matches, more prize money, longer histories and a greater profile. Due to changes in sponsorship, the exact names of the tournaments have varied slightly over time. The United Kingdom Championship was, between 1984 and 1991, titled the UK Open (preceded by the tournament's sponsor). The Masters until 2003 was entitled the Benson and Hedges Masters, and is currently entitled the Saga Insurance Masters after the tournament's current sponsor. The Grand Prix has gone through many formats, having been titled the Professional Players Tournament, Rothmans Grand Prix, Skoda Grand Prix, Grand Prix, LG Cup and the totesport Grand Prix[1].
Stephen Hendry remains the only player to have won the effective Snooker 'Grand Slam' of winning all four of the major titles in one year: in the 1995/6 season. Hendry also won three of the four titles in three consecutive seasons: 19989/90, 1990/1 and 1991/2. Steve Davis, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins are the other players to have made career 'grand slams' having won one each of the four events at some point in their careers. Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Mark Williams are also the only players to have won all the Triple Crown events in one season.[1].
The development of the modern ranking system has somewhat decreased the concept of the four major titles, with the seven ranking events in the season plus the Masters sometimes referred to as major titles or tour titles, as those officially sanctioned by World Snooker (as opposed to a handful of 'minor' non-ranking events). The Grand Prix, UK Championship, Masters and World Championship continue, however, to be the longest running and most publicised events, and until the 2007/8 season, were the only events shown on terrestrial British television (the Welsh Open is now also shown by the BBC).
A list of every snooker player having won 3 or more majors, counting the tournaments since their inception (or since the start of the knockout format in regards to the world championship) is given below. Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis dominate the records by far, Hendry with the most majors (22) with Davis next (18)[2].
[edit] List of top winners of professional majors
| Name | Country | World Championship | UK Championship | Grand Prix | Masters | Total | Triple Crown Events | Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Hendry |  Scotland |
7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 18 | 1987-1999 |
| Steve Davis |  England |
6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 15 | 1980-1997 |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan | England |
3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 1993-2008 |
| Mark Williams |  Wales |
2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 1996-2003 |
| John Higgins | Scotland |
2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 1994-2007 |
| Ray Reardon | Wales |
6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1970-1982 |
| Alex Higgins |  Northern Ireland |
2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1972-1983 |
| Cliff Thorburn |  Canada |
1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1980-1986 |
| John Spencer | Northern Ireland |
3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1969-1977 |
| Jimmy White | England |
0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1984-1992 |
| Dennis Taylor | Northern Ireland |
1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1984-1987 |
| Paul Hunter | England |
0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2001-2004 |
| Peter Ebdon | England |
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1993-2006 |
| Terry Griffiths | Wales |
1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1979-1982 |
| Doug Mountjoy | Northern Ireland |
0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1977-1988 |
[edit] Major championship winners
A list of all Major Title winners is shown below by year since 1982 when the fourth of the major titles - the Grand Prix (then called the Professional Players Tournament) was introduced.
