British success for White

The British Gold Cup, at Derby Assembly Rooms, was won by Alex Higgins who beat Ray Reardon 5-1 in the final. This event was held only once under that title but the following season it became the Yamaha Organs International Masters and later, the British Open.

At the Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre, Doug Mountjoy won the Woodpecker Welsh Professional Championship for the second time in three years with a 9-8 victory over Terry Griffiths.

For the second year running, John Higgins won the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge title. As in the previous year, he defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final at the Derby Assembly Rooms, this time 9-4. This was the last time this event was held.

At Derby Assembly Rooms, Jimmy White beat James Wattana 10-7 to regain the Pearl Assurance British Open title five years after his previous victory in this event.

At Derby Assembly Rooms, Jimmy White beat Neal Foulds 13-9 to claim the Dulux British Open title for the first time

John Higgins won the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge title at the Derby Assembly Rooms beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the final. It was the second year running that Ronnie had lost in the final in the deciding frame.

Having three times won its predecessor, the Yamaha International Masters, Steve Davis won the Dulux British Open title for the first time beating Willie Thorne 12-7 in the final at Derby Assembly Rooms.

Gary Wilkinson put in a superb effort attempting to win his first ranking title at Derby but Stephen Hendry just managed to win in the deciding frame to claim the Pearl Assurance British Open for the second time with a 10-9 victory.

At the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta, John Higgins beat the defending and three times former champion, John Parrott, 9-5 to win the European Open title.

A world record unbeaten run by Kelly Fisher of 69 matches in Ladies ranking events covering 15 tournaments, came to an end when she lost 1-3 to Maria Catalano in the East Anglian Championship in Cambridge.

The IBSF World Grand Prix at Prestatyn, which replaced the cancelled World Amateur Championship, was won by 14-year-old Welsh schoolboy, Michael White who became the youngest ever winner of a major international event. In the final he beat Scotland’s Mark Boyle 10-5.

South Africa’s Silvino Francisco won his first major title when he beat Kirk Stevens 12-9 at Derby Assembly Rooms to win the inaugural Dulux British Open title.

At the Republic Hall in Valletta, Malta, John Parrott beat Peter Ebdon 9-7 in the final to claim the European Open title for a record third time.

In the final of the China Open at the International Gymnastics Centre in Shanghai, Anthony Hamilton looked all set to claim his first ranking title as he built up an 8-5 lead. However he then seemed to freeze and only scored 35 points in the next three frames as Mark Williams pulled back to level the match and he had good chances in the decider but Mark clinched a 9-8 victory with a run of 63.

March 3, 2004 – TWO AUSTRALIANS MAKE LAST EIGHT
For the first time ever in a ranking event, two Australians reached the quarter finals. Both QuintenHann and Neil Robertson made the last eight in the European Open at Portomaso in Malta.

For the third time in four years, Steve Davis won the Yamaha Organs International Masters at Derby Assembly Rooms. On this occasion the final was played as a three-man round robin with Dave Martin and John Dunning coming second and third. At 56 years and 320 days, John became the oldest player ever to appear in a major professional snooker final.

Canada’s Bob Chaperon, the world number 29, was the surprise winner of the Pearl Assurance British Open at Derby. In the final he defeated Alex Higgins 10-8 in what proved to be The Hurricane’s last appearance in a final.

The fourth running of the Tolly Cobbold Classic at the Corn Exchange in Ipswich resulted in a first win for Steve Davis who beat Dennis Taylor 8-3 in the final.

In his tenth season as a professional, Tony Meo finally won a world ranking title. At Derby Assembly Rooms he beat Dean Reynolds 13-6 to win the Anglian Windows British Open.

After three seasons without a trophy, Stephen Lee captured his fourth ranking title. He won the Welsh Open at the Newport Centre beating Shaun Murphy 9-4 in the final.

Six-times world champion, Ray Reardon, won his last major title when he defeated Jimmy White, nearly 30 years his junior, 9-6 to win the Yamaha Organs International Masters at Derby Assembly Rooms.

Stephen Hendry won the first of his four British Open titles when he defeated Mike Hallett 13-2 in the final of the MIM Britannia sponsored event at Derby.

Seven years after he last won the title, Steve Davis regained the Wickes Home Improvements British Open title. In the final, at Derby Assembly Rooms, he had a 10-2 victory over James Wattana who was runner up for the second year running.

World Amateur champion, Tai Pichit, playing as a wild card, caused a major upset in the Thailand Open when he beat Stephen Hendry 5-2 to reach the last sixteen.

Stephen Maguire won his first ranking title beating Jimmy White 9-3 in the final of the European Open at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso, Malta.