The 1998/99 season has started in the pro snooker world. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the first event of the season, the Regal Scottish Masters, when he defeated the new world champion and world number one John Higgins 9-7 in the final.

Wizard of Wishaw John Higgins became the new king of snooker when he beat defending champion Ken Doherty in the final of the Embassy World Championship. The win takes him to the number one spot which has been reigned for eight continuous years by Stephen Hendry.

John Higgins also wrote his name in the history book of the game with the record 14 century breaks he made during the event. This record has also been held by Stephen Hendry since the 1995 World Championship when he made 12 centuries.

Welshman Mark Williams from Cwm is the winner of the 1998 Benson & Hedges Masters championship. He beat Stephen Hendry 10-9 in a nail biting final on the respotted black.

At one stage Stephen Hendry was leading 9-6 and although 66-0 behind, he was on his way to clear the table and pick the title for the seventh time. He was two pots away from this when he missed the pink. Then Williams potted the pink and went on to take the next two frames as well to draw level at 9-9. Hendry was leading 56-34 in the deciding frame but Williams cleared up from brown to make it level again at 56-56. After six shots Hendry looked certain to clinch the title with a dead straight pot into the middle pocket. He had to slowly roll the cue ball which had been frozen to the opposite rail and he missed it as the black caught the far jaw of the pocket. Williams then had no trouble to sink it to the green pocket.

It only happened once in the history of the game, 23 years ago, that a major title was decided on a respotted black in the final frame. 11th Feb, 1998

The German Open ended with a comfortable win for John Higgins over Liverpudlian John Parrott. He also captured the title 1995.

Stephen Hendry, who was eliminated in the quarter final stage by John Parrott, made the highest break of the tournament, 130 points. This break goes into the history book of snooker because it was Hendry's 400th century in professional competition. So far, no one else has managed 300. 15th Dec, 1997

Ronnie O'sullivan beat Stephen Hendry 10-6 in the final of the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship. This is his second UK title; he won the first at the age of 17, four years ago. 1st Dec, 1997

After a wretched start to the season in which reigning world champion Ken Doherty failed to survive his opening contest at both the Regal Scottish Masters and Bournemouth Grand Prix, he finally showed his talent when he won the Rothmans Grand Prix (Malta, invitational tournament).

"I refused to press the panic button because I knew full well that sooner or later my form would turn a corner. Mind you, it's still a big relief to get back into the groove again.", said Doherty, who beat John Higgins 7-5 in the final. 3rd Nov, 1997

Dominic Dale won the Grand Prix, the first ranking event of the season. After leading 4-0 and 5-1, he dropped a few frames so John Higgins came back to be just one frame behind at 7-6. Dale then made two frame-winning breaks to clinch the title. This win brings the 100-1 outsider from 54th place to 14th in the provisional rankings. 26th Oct, 1997

Last year's Embassy World Championship finalists Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty both lost their first match in the Grand Prix (Oct 14-26). With these unexpected exits the tournament became wide open.