2002–03 snooker season

The 2002–03 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 27 August 2002 and 22 May 2003. Due to a legal ban, this was the final season to have events sponsored by tobacco companies (apart from Embassy, who would continue to sponsor the World Championship for another two years). The following table outlines the results for the ranking events and the invitational events. Mark Williams won all three triple crown events (UK Championship, Masters, World Championship) - the last player to do so in a single season.

2002–03 snooker season

Details
Duration	27 August 2002 – 22 May 2003 (2002-08-27 – 2003-05-22)
Tournaments	19 (8 ranking events)
Triple Crown winners
UK Championship	Mark Williams
Masters	Mark Williams
World Championship	Mark Williams
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Calendar

World Snooker Tour

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
24 Sep	29 Sep	SCO	Scottish Masters	Thistle Hotels	Glasgow	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9–4	[1]
5 Oct	13 Oct	ENG	LG Cup	Guild Hall	Preston	Chris Small	Alan McManus	9–5	[2]
21 Oct	31 Oct	ENG	Benson & Hedges Championship	Towers Snooker Club	Mansfield	Mark Davis	Mehmet Husnu	9–6	[3]
9 Nov	17 Nov	ENG	British Open	Telford International Centre	Telford	Paul Hunter	Ian McCulloch	9–4	[4]
2 Dec	15 Dec	ENG	UK Championship	Barbican Centre	York	Mark Williams	Ken Doherty	10–9	[5]
22 Jan	26 Jan	WAL	Welsh Open	Cardiff International Arena	Cardiff	Stephen Hendry	Mark Williams	9–5	[6]
2 Feb	9 Feb	ENG	Masters	Wembley Conference Centre	London	Mark Williams	Stephen Hendry	10–4	[7][8]
11 Mar	16 Mar	ENG	European Open	Palace Hotel	Torquay	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9–6	[9][10]
25 Mar	30 Mar	IRL	Irish Masters	Citywest Hotel	Dublin	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	10–9	[11]
5 Apr	13 Apr	SCO	Scottish Open	Royal Highland Centre	Edinburgh	David Gray	Mark Selby	9–7	[12][13]
19 Apr	5 May	ENG	World Snooker Championship	Crucible Theatre	Sheffield	Mark Williams	Ken Doherty	18–16	[14]
11 Jan	11 May	ENG	Premier League	Crowtree Leisure Centre	Sunderland	Marco Fu	Mark Williams	9–5	[15]

Ranking event

Non-ranking event

Challenge Tour

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
2 Nov	7 Nov	WAL	Challenge Tour 1	Towers Snooker Club	Mansfield	Chris Melling	Tom Ford	6–2	[16]
15 Feb	20 Feb	ENG	Challenge Tour 2	Jesters Snooker Club	Swindon	Adrian Rosa	Stuart Mann	6–5	[17]
15 Mar	20 Mar	WAL	Challenge Tour 3	Jesters Snooker Club	Swindon	Michael Rhodes	Luke Simmonds	6–5	[18]
16 May	22 May	WAL	Challenge Tour 4	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Kurt Maflin	James Leadbetter	6–2	[19]

Other events

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
1 Oct	8 Oct	KOR	Asian Games	Dongju College Gymnasium	Busan	Ding Junhui	Supoj Saenla	3–1	[20]
20 Feb	22 Feb	NIR	Irish Open	Millennium Forum	Derry	Joe Swail	Fergal O'Brien	10–3	[21]
19 Feb	23 Feb	THA	Thailand Masters	Rajamangala National Stadium	Bangkok	Noppadon Noppachorn	Rom Surin	5–4	[22][23]

Official rankings

Main article: Snooker world rankings 2002/2003

The top 16 of the world rankings, these players automatically played in the final rounds of the world ranking events and were invited for the Masters.^{[24][25][26][27]}

No.	Player	Points 2000/01	Points 2001/02	Total
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	25399	24625	50024
2	Mark Williams	21735	25050	46785
3	Peter Ebdon	20777	23875	44652
4	John Higgins	22034	22300	44334
5	Ken Doherty	22079	21400	43479
6	Stephen Hendry	17478	24650	42128
7	Stephen Lee	13944	25725	39669
8	Matthew Stevens	14879	18000	32879
9	Paul Hunter	15809	15500	31309
10	Jimmy White	12009	16925	28934
11	Mark King	11895	15537	27432
12	Graeme Dott	11397	15762	27159
13	Joe Perry	9269	17700	26969
14	Quinten Hann	11395	14837	26232
15	Alan McManus	12190	13550	25740
16	Joe Swail	12117	12762	24879

Notes