WHAT IF WORLD TITLE WAS GIVEN TO THE BEST PLAYER IN SNOOKER (PART 3 - FINAL)
What if instead of having the traditional World Championship at the Crucible in the end of each season, snooker gave the title of world champion to the player who had had the best season on tour?
There are a few sports that actually don't have a world championship and we measure who's the best player in the world by their achievements through the year, usually looking at who leads the world ranking. In snooker, we do have a World Championship and we know how huge it is to the sport and how much players' seasons are measured by their performance at the Crucible. However, here we're going to rebuild snooker history as if the World Championship had never existed and whoever had the best season was World Champion. Note that we're not simply considering who's led the world ranking or won more tournaments - it's about the importance of the titles won and the consistency of the player in reaching finals throughout the season too.
I've been following snooker for about 12 years now, but I've made a lot of research and I'm sure the past winners will be very accurate as well. We've started with season 1977/78 (click here to see part 1 and here to see part 2), because that was the first season the UK Championship was played and the Triple Crown series begun.
PART 3 - FINAL (2010/11 to 2019/20)
If a player has been elected the season's best player for multiple times the amount of times will be in brackets, and if such player eventually won the real world title at the Crucible that season it'll be marked with an asterisk.
2010/11: John Higgins (5) *
John missed the start of this season, but whatever he had done to be suspended, he was sublime when he got back. Five finals and four titles which included the UK Championship and Welsh Open.
2011/12: Judd Trump
As the "PTC" events become more common throughout the season, Ronnie O'Sullivan seems to be getting back to some acceptable form after two poor seasons. The Rocket won a couple PTC tournaments as well as the Premier League and the German Masters. However, that was still not enough to top Judd Trump, who won two PTCs out of three finals and also won the UK Championship.
2012/13: Mark Selby (2)
Ronnie was out for the season but the competition was tough. John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump were great, yet Selby came out on top. He won both the UK Championship and the Masters to settle the argument, but he also won a couple of PTC tournaments out of three finals and was runner-up in the China Open too.
2013/14: Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)
Ronnie is back. O'Sullivan doesn't play a lot of tournaments at this stage in his career but when he does he's dominant. This season he won the Paul Hunter Classic, the Champion of Champions, the Masters and the Welsh Open which were all prestigious events. He also lost a PTC final to Mark Selby this season for the notice.
2014/15: Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)
It's close this time as no one was dominant and Ronnie's second part of the season was below pair to his standards. But the Champion of Champions and UK Championship wins as well as a run to the World Grand Prix final seals the deal.
2015/16: Ronnie O'Sullivan (9)
Ronnie missed the entire first half of this season but the second half did the job. Although we don't mention the "real" World Championship here, Ronnie O'Sullivan arrived in Sheffield that year as "the biggest favourite ever". Ronnie had an amazing spell of form that saw him dominate the Masters and Welsh Open, two BBC tournaments that he breezed through. He also made the final of the Championship League where he played brilliant snooker.
2016/17: Mark Selby (3) *
The most dominant season of Selby's career saw him win the Paul Hunter Classic, International Championship, UK Championship and China Open, and he was also runner-up in the Shanghai Masters. Ronnie had a fine season as well but there was no competition to Selby really.
2017/18: Ronnie O'Sullivan (10)
Although Selby was still in great form it was his turn to not even be seen in the rearview mirror. A career-best 5 ranking titles for O`Sullivan this season saw him win the English Open, Shanghai Masters, UK Championship, World Grand Prix and Players Championship. He also made the finals of the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions.
2018/19: Ronnie O'Sullivan (11)
Another dominant performance from Ronnie. He'd have won four ranking titles this season if the ranking status had not been taken off the Shanghai Masters. As well as defending that title, he also won the Champion of Champions, UK Championship, Players Championship and Tour Championship. He was also finalist at the Masters and Northern Ireland Open.
2019/20: Judd Trump (2)
Despite Trump's poor performances at the UK Championship and Masters, the winners of these tournaments didn't have a great season apart from those wins. As for Judd, a record-breaking 6 ranking titles in a season that he was also runner-up in the Champion of Champions.
Now we've rebuilt the last 43 snooker seasons as if the World Championship at the Crucible had never existed and the title of World Champion was given to the player who had had the best season, let's have a look at what it would've meant to the sport. Here are the players who would've had titles:
Ronnie O'Sullivan, 11 (1993/94, 1997/98, 2000/01*, 2004/05, 2006/07, 2008/09, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2018/19)
Steve Davis, 9 (1980/81*, 1981/82, 1982/83*, 1983/84*, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87*, 1987/88*, 1988/89*)
Stephen Hendry, 7 (1989/90*, 1990/91, 1991/92*, 1994/95*, 1995/96*, 1996/97, 2003/04)
John Higgins, 5 (1998/99, 1999/00, 2001/02, 2005/06, 2010/11*)
Mark Selby, 3 (2007/08, 2012/13, 2016/17*)
Judd Trump, 2 (2011/12, 2019/20)
Alex Higgins, 1 (1977/78)
Doug Mountjoy, 1 (1978/79)
John Virgo, 1 (1979/80)
Jimmy White, 1 (1992/93)
Mark Williams, 1 (2002/03*)
Ding Junhui, 1 (2009/10)
Only 12 different names in 43 seasons, only 14 times our "season World Champion" won the real thing at the Crucible, three players that were never World Champion in the list. It all tells us that there's a huge difference from being a great snooker player and a great Crucible player. A great snooker player don't always deliver at the Crucible and it takes a lot more than talent and even a winning mentality to actually win there.
If snooker was really built like this, Davis would've been more dominant than Hendry and Ronnie would be an 11 times World Champion! There are some really interesting things over this 3-parts series to look at but I'm letting you all to it. Let us know what you thought!
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