Triple Crown (snooker)

The Triple Crown in professional snooker refers to winning the sport's three longest-running and most prestigious tournaments: the World Snooker Championship (first held in 1927 and staged as a knockout tournament continuously since 1969), the invitational Masters (held annually since 1975), and the UK Championship (held annually since 1977). In January 2020, the three tournaments were formally named the Triple Crown Series.

Any player who has won all three Triple Crown tournaments at least once over the course of their career is said to have won a "career Triple Crown", and they gain the right to wear an embroidered crown on their waistcoat to reflect the achievement. As of 2023, eleven players have won a career Triple Crown: Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Stephen Hendry, Alex Higgins, John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, and Mark Williams. O'Sullivan has won the most Triple Crown titles, with 23; Hendry has won 18, and Davis 15.

Davis, Hendry, and Williams are the only three players to have won all three Triple Crown events in a single season (Davis in 1987–88, Hendry in both 1989–90 and 1995–96, and Williams in 2002–03). Hendry is the only player to have accomplished this feat twice.

History


In 1969, the World Snooker Championship became a single elimination tournament, replacing the previous challenge format; this change marks the start of professional snooker's "modern era". Six years later, a non-ranking invitational event, the Masters, was introduced; there were 10 competitors in the inaugural Masters in 1975, later increasing to 16 players. When John Spencer won the 1975 Masters tournament, he became the first person to win two Triple Crown events, having won the world championships in 1969 and 1971. The following year, Ray Reardon won both the Masters and World Championship in the same season.

In 1977, the UK Championship was created. Originally restricted to British residents and passport holders, the tournament was opened to all professionals in 1984 and also became a ranking event. Patsy Fagan won the 1977 UK Championship, in his only Triple Crown final. In the 1980–81 season, Steve Davis won both the UK Championship and the World Championship, and was the first player to complete the career Triple Crown when he won the Masters the following season. Davis was also the first player to complete the season Triple Crown, winning all three events in the 1987–88 season.

The Triple Crown events are sometimes referred to as the "big three BBC events", due to them having been broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation since inception. They are also sometimes called "snooker's majors", or the "big three" events. However, some have questioned the status of the Triple Crown events, arguing that the World Championship is snooker's only major tournament. John Higgins has described the Tour Championship, first held in 2019, as "far bigger than the UK [Championship]".

Triple Crown events are considered the most prestigious snooker titles, and have historically offered the most prize money. However, the total prize money for other events, such as the China Open, has exceeded that of the UK Championship and Masters in recent years. From the 2020 Masters onward, players who have completed the Triple Crown are eligible to have a gold crown embroidered on their playing waistcoats in recognition of the achievement.

In 2023, World Snooker Tour introduced a £147,000 bonus for any player making two maximum breaks during the season's Triple Crown Series. The bonus could be awarded up to three times, for a total of £441,000, if three players each made two maximums. The same player could potentially win £441,000 by making six maximums in the events.

In January 2024, World Snooker Tour introduced a new Triple Crown logo, as part of the new branding of the organisation.

Career Triple Crown winners
Eleven players have completed a career Triple Crown: Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Alex Higgins, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, and Judd Trump. Only Davis, Hendry and Williams have won all three Triple Crown events in the same season. Hendry is the only player to have achieved the feat twice, in the 1989–90 and 1995–96 seasons.

On winning the 1999 Masters, Higgins held all three Triple Crown titles at the same time but his victories spanned two separate seasons. O'Sullivan came close to holding all three titles at once, making the final of all three events in 2014; he won the Masters and UK titles that year but not the World title, despite being the defending champion for the second successive year. Only O'Sullivan and Hendry have managed to successfully defend all three Triple Crown events. In 2013, Robertson became the first player from outside the United Kingdom to complete the career Triple Crown.

Following his win in the 2018 UK Championship, O'Sullivan surpassed Hendry's previous record of 18 Triple Crown titles, and has now won 23. Trump is the latest player to have achieved a career Triple Crown, winning both the Masters and World Championship in the 2018–19 season after having already won the UK Championship in 2011.

Sources: World Championship; UK Championship; Masters.

One win away from Triple Crown
Of those still active on the main professional tour, five players have won two of the three Triple Crown events, leaving them one away from completing a career Triple Crown. Jimmy White, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen have all won the Masters and UK Championship at least once, but all four players need to win the World Championship to complete their Triple Crown. Stuart Bingham has a World title and a Masters title, but is yet to win the UK Championship for his career Triple Crown.

Seven former professional players—Peter Ebdon, John Parrott, Ray Reardon, John Spencer, Dennis Taylor, Doug Mountjoy and Cliff Thorburn—won two of the three Triple Crown events before their retirement. Ebdon and Parrott both won UK and World titles, and Parrott reached the final of the Masters on three occasions between 1989 and 1992 but never won the title. Reardon, Spencer, Taylor and Thorburn won the World Championship and Masters tournaments during their careers, but not the UK Championship. Mountjoy came close to winning the World Championship in 1981, only to lose to Steve Davis in the final.

Tournament winners
A list of all winners of the three Triple Crown events is shown below by season:

Sources: UK Championship; Masters;  World Championship.