1998 UK Championship

The 1998 UK Championship (officially the 1998 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England. The event started on 16 November 1998 and the televised stages were shown on BBC between 21 and 29 November 1998.

This was the first UK championship to be held in Bournemouth since the inaugural championship in 1977, after 20 years at Preston. The Conference Centre has held snooker competitions before. It hosted the World Cup between 1985 and 1990, the Mercantile Credit Classic in 1991 and 1992, the International Open in 1994 and 1995, and the Grand Prix in 1996 and 1997.

Famously five time champion Stephen Hendry lost 9–0 in the first round to fellow scottish player Marcus Campbell.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he withdrew before the tournament. His doctor had told him to rest after suffering from physical and nervous exhaustion.

John Higgins won this year's title by defeating Matthew Stevens 10–6 in the final to go with the World Championship crown he won earlier in the year. This was Higgins' 10th ranking title.

Tournament summary
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion John Higgins seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.

Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


 * Winner: £75,000
 * Runner-up: £39,000
 * Semi-final: £19,750
 * Quarter-final: £10,080
 * Last 16: £5,525
 * Last 32: £3,450
 * Last 64: £2,950
 * Last 96: £1,460
 * Last 134: £235


 * Stage one highest break: £1,500
 * Stage two highest break: £5,000
 * Total: £460,000

Televised stage centuries

 * 141, 116, 107, 106, 101 – John Higgins
 * 138, 128, 127, 109 – Gary Ponting
 * 138 – Dominic Dale
 * 136, 114 – Gerard Greene
 * 135, 117, 105 – Matthew Stevens
 * 130, 127 – Fergal O'Brien
 * 126 – Jimmy White
 * 118, 111, 104 – Andy Hicks
 * 118 – Michael Holt


 * 116 – Mark Williams
 * 115, 105, 100 – Dave Harold
 * 115 – Chris Small
 * 114 – Patrick Wallace
 * 113 – Anthony Hamilton
 * 111 – Martin Clark
 * 107, 105 – Euan Henderson
 * 102 – Lee Richardson
 * 102 – Peter Ebdon

Qualifying stage centuries

 * 138 – Joe Grech
 * 128 – Barry Pinches
 * 125 – Gary Ponting
 * 124 – Peter McCullagh
 * 120 – Michael Holt
 * 119 – Gerard Greene
 * 119 – Keith E Boon
 * 116 – Mehmet Husnu
 * 114 – John Read
 * 110 – Kristjan Helgason


 * 110 – Leo Fernandez
 * 109 – Phil Williams
 * 107 – Alfie Burden
 * 105 – Ali Carter
 * 105 – John Giles
 * 104, 101 – Lee Richardson
 * 100 – Adrian Gunnell
 * 100 – Euan Henderson
 * 100 – David Roe