Stephen Hendry, "The Golden Boy"

Just as Steve Davis had dominated the 1980s, the 1990s belonged to Stephen Hendry. In that decade, Stephen won no less than 28 ranking titles and countless other major victories.

In 1983, at the National Under-16 Championship, a 14 year-old boy, Stephen Hendry stepped out by winning the title and appeared on Junior Pot Black barely able to reach across the table. At 15, Stephen was Scottish Amateur champion and became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur the same year. After he retained that Scottish title in 1985, at 16 he became the youngest ever professional. In his first season as a pro (1985/86), he reached the last 32 of the Mercantile Credit Classic, but lost to Willie Thorne in the first round at the Crucible.

After becoming the youngest Scottish Professional champion, he ended the season half way up the ranking list at 51. The next year, he gets to the quarter-final of the Grand Prix and the semi-final of the Mercantile. He lost in the deciding frame to Joe Johnson in the world quarter-finals. After he reached the final of the World Doubles with Mike Hallett, Stephen retained his Scottish pro title and was up to 23rd in the rankings. During his third pro season, Stephen claimed his first ranking titles: the Grand prix and the British Open. He also won the Australian Masters, a third successive Scottish Professional title and , again with Mike Hallett, the World Doubles, ending the season at number four in rankings. During the season 1988/89, he failed to get any ranking event titles, but made his first win in the Masters at Wembley as well as the New Zealand Masters. Despite his lack of a ranking victory he was up to third. Stephen hasn’t failed to win a ranking event in any season since. In 1989/90 he picked up the UK Championship, Dubai Classic and Asian Open titles adding the Scottish and Wembley Masters before arriving at Sheffield as favorite to lift the world crown.

At the age of 21 he had already won all the games major prizes. The number one ranking position was his! In 1990/91 he picked up further five ranking events, a record for a single season, but he failed to retain his world title. The World Championship title was regained in 1992 together with victories in the Grand Prix and Welsh Open as well as some six other titles including a fourth consecutive Benson & Hedges Masters, which he would make five in 1993.


Season 1994/95:
• Wins the UK Championship (10-5 against Ken Doherty), the European Open (9-3 John Parrott) and the World Championship (18-9 Nigel Bond)
• Gets into the semi-finals of : Dubai Classic (4-6 Alan McManus)
• And to the quarter-finals of: Grand Prix (2-5 Dave Harold), Regal Welsh Open (1-5 Chris Small) and British Open (1-5 John Parrott).

Season 1995/96:
• Wins the Grand Prix (9-5 John Higgins), the UK Championship (10-3 Peter Ebdon) and the World Championship (18-12 Peter Ebdon)
• Loses in the semi-finals of Thailand Classic (4-5 John Parrott), German Open (3-6 Ken Doherty) and Thailand Open (against Ken Doherty).

Season 1996/97:
• Retains the UK championship title (10-9 John Higgins) and wins also the Regal Welsh (9-2 Mark King) and the International Open (9-1 Tony Drago)
• Gets to the semi-finals in Thailand (4-5 Nigel Bond)
• Loses in the quarter-finals at German Open (2-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan) and at the European Open (2-5 James Wattana).

Season 1997/98:
• Wins the Thailand Masters (9-6 John Parrott)
• Reaches the quarter-finals of the German Open (3-5 John Parrott).

Season 1998/99:
• Wins both Scottish Championship (9-1 Graeme Dott) and World Championship (18-11 Mark Williams)
• In China , gets to the semi-finals (2-6 Billy Snaddon)
• Loses in the quarter-finals: Grand Prix (4-5 Dave Harold), Irish (4-5 Tony Drago), Thailand (2-5 Mark Williams) and British Championship (3-5 Anthony Hamilton).

Season 1999/2000:
• Wins the British Championship (9-5 Peter Ebdon)
• Gets into the semi-finals at: UK Championship (6-9 Mark Williams) and in China (4-6 Stephen Lee)
• But only to the quarter-finals in Malta (2-5 Stephen Lee).

Season 2000/01:
• Gets into the semis at Uk Championship (4-9 John Higgins) and in China (3-6 Ronnie O’Sullivan)
• Loses in the quarter-finals of British Championship (3-5 Peter Ebdon), Welsh one (3-5 Ken Doherty) and at the World Championship (5-13 Matthew Stevens).

Season 2001/02:
• Wins the European Championship (9-2 Joe Perry)
• Makes it to the semi-finals at the LG Cup (beaten 4-6) and at the Welsh one (4-6 Ken Doherty)
• Loses in the quarter-finals at the UK Championship (8-9 Mark Williams), in Thailand (3-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan) and at the Scottish one (3-5 David Gray).
• At the World Championship, Peter Ebdon defeats him with 18-17.

Season 2002/03:
• Wins the Regal Welsh Open (9-5 Mark Williams)
• Loses in the semi-finals: Benson & Hedges Masters (4-10 Mark Williams) and European Open (6-9 Ronnie O’Sullivan).

Season 2003/04:
• Wins the British Open (9-6 Ronnie O’Sullivan)
• Loses in semi-finals at the Travis Perkins UK Championship (8-10 Mark Williams) and at the World Championship (4-17 Ronnie O’Sullivan)
• Gets only to the quarter-finals at the Welsh Open (4-5 Marco Fu) and at the Daily Record Players Championship (4-5 Ken Doherty).

Season 2004/05:
• Ronnie O’Sullivan defeats him in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open with 9-8.

Stephen has won 35 ranking (record) and 78 titles in all (from 111 finals). He has won a record seven World championships, six Masters and five UK championships. After surpassing Steve Davis in 1990 he was the No. 1 player in the rankings until 1998. He became the youngest World Professional Champion, at 21 yr 106 days on 29 Apr 1990. Hendry became the first player to make more than two tournament 147s. His first was made in the 1992 Matchroom League and his second in the 1995 World Championship. The record-breaking third maximum came on 25 Nov 1995 in the UK Championship. Not content with this he made his fourth maximum on 5 Jan 1997 in the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge, his fifth on 23 May 1998 in the 1998 Dr Martens Premier League, his sixth on 19 Sep 1999 in the final of the 1999 British Open (the first maximum in a ranking final), his seventh on (21-23) November in 1999 in the 1999 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship and his eighth on 25 Feb 2001 in the final of the 2001 Rothmans Grand Prix!

Stephen made seven centuries in the final of the 1994 UK Championship, which is a record in a professional match. He also became the first player ever to make five centuries in seven frames. From 17 Mar 1990 to his defeat by Jimmy White on 13 Jan 1991, the Scot won five successive titles and 36 consecutive matches in ranking tournaments. That's the longest unbeaten run ever. Hendry is one of only five players to win both the World Championship and the UK Championship in the same year. Steve Davis, John Parrott, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the others. Together with Steve Davis and John Higgins he is also the only one to hold the World, UK and Masters titles at the same time. Hendry holds the record for most tons by one player in a tournament. He made 16 centuries during the 2002 World Championship. He was voted WPBSA Young Player of the Year in 1988 and Player of the Year in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996. He was a member of Scottish teams that won the 1996 Castrol-Honda World Cup and the 2001 Coalite Nations Cup. He has defeated Jimmy White in four World Championship finals (1990, 1992-94). His career record against the "Whirlwind" is 27-13 (?). Hendry had won their last 14 encounters before he was dumped 10-4 in the first round of the 1998 World Championship. In the 1998 UK Championship he suffered a career-worst 9-0 loss to Marcus Campbell in the first round. Stephen had won all his 12 matches with Tony Drago before he was beaten thrice in a row, in the quarter-finals of the 1998 German Masters, the quarter-finals of the 1998 Irish Open and the second round of the 1999 Benson & Hedges Masters. (source: WWW SNOOKER)

Undeniably, one of the greatest players of all times, Hendry was No 1 on the ranking list for eight years. Specialized in break building and centre pocket pots, he made well over 600 century breaks and earned nearly £8 million in prize money. In 1994 he was made MBE by the Queen and has been voted twice BBC Scotland's Sports Personality of the Year.

Monica Oana Hayes 2005