2008 Grand Prix (snooker)

Royal London Watches Grand Prix

Tournament information
Dates	11–19 October 2008 (2008-10-11 – 2008-10-19)
Venue	S.E.C.C.
City	Glasgow
Country	Scotland
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£523,100
Winner's share	£75,000
Highest break	Marco Fu  (HKG) (139)
Final
Champion	John Higgins  (SCO)
Runner-up	Ryan Day  (WAL)
Score	9–7
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 Royal London Watches Grand Prix was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 11 and 19 October 2008 at the S.E.C.C. in Glasgow, Scotland.

John Higgins won his first ranking event for 18 months by defeating Ryan Day 9–7 in the final. ^[1]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: ^[2]

Winner: £75,000 Runner-up: £35,000 Semi-final: £20,000 Quarter-final: £12,000 Last 16: £9,500 Last 32: £7,100 Last 48: £4,650 Last 64: £2,200

Stage one highest break: £500 Stage two highest break: £4,000 Stage one maximum break: £1,000 Stage two maximum break: £20,000 Total: £523,100

Main draw

Matches on Sunday 12 October were played on a roll on/roll off basis. Play started at the allocated time each day with a 15-minute interval between matches. The third and fourth match did not start before 3pm. The evening session did not start before the time indicated on the format.

The draw for round one was made on completion of the qualifiers on 26 September 2008. The draw from round two up to and including the semi-finals was made on a random basis. The order of play and table numbers for all matches up to the semi-finals were determined once the draw for that round was made and published by the tournament director.

All matches up to and including the quarter-finals were best of 9 frames, semi-finals were best of 11 frames and the final was best of 17 frames. (Seedings in parentheses. All times are BST.) ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Round one

Saturday, 11 October – 12:00 John Higgins (6) 5–0 Anthony Hamilton Joe Perry (13) 5–3 Barry Hawkins Sunday, 12 October – 13:00 Stephen Hendry (7) 5– 4 David Gilbert Neil Robertson (11) 4–5 Steve Davis Sunday, 12 October – not before 15:00 Marco Fu (1) 5–2 Jimmy Michie Mark Allen (16) 1–5 Michael Holt Sunday, 12 October – 19:00 Graeme Dott (14) w/d-w/o Judd Trump Ryan Day (9) 5–4 Ricky Walden

Monday, 13 October – 13:30 Stephen Maguire (3) 1–5 Jamie Cope Ding Junhui (12) 5–0 Jamie Burnett Monday, 13 October – 19:00 Mark Selby (5) 5–0 Andrew Higginson Peter Ebdon (10) 5–1 Simon Bedford Tuesday, 14 October – 13:30 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) 5–2 Liang Wenbo Ali Carter (8) 5–4 Dave Harold Tuesday, 14 October – 19:00 Shaun Murphy (4) 3–5 Adrian Gunnell Mark King (15) 3–5 John Parrott

Round two

Wednesday, 15 October – 14:00 John Higgins (6) 5–2 Stephen Hendry (7) Ding Junhui (12) 5–2 Michael Holt Wednesday, 15 October – 19:00 Adrian Gunnell 4–5 Steve Davis Judd Trump 5–2 Joe Perry (13)

Thursday, 16 October – 13:30 Marco Fu (1) 1–5 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) Jamie Cope 5–4 Peter Ebdon (10) Thursday, 16 October – 19:00 Mark Selby (5) 4–5 Ryan Day (9) John Parrott 0–5 Ali Carter (8)

Quarter-finals

Friday, 17 October – 13:30 Judd Trump 5–4 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) Steve Davis 3–5 Ali Carter (8)

Friday, 17 October – 19:00 Ding Junhui (12) 3–5 John Higgins (6) Ryan Day (9) 5–1 Jamie Cope

Semi-finals

Saturday, 18 October – 13:00 John Higgins (6) 6–4 Judd Trump

Saturday, 18 October – 19:30 Ryan Day (9) 6–5 Ali Carter (8)

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Eirian Williams. S.E.C.C., Glasgow, Scotland, 19 October 2008.
John Higgins (6)   Scotland	9–7	Ryan Day (9)   Wales
Afternoon:77–39, 86–47 (85), 24–89 (64), 90–0 (57), 73–1 (52), 4–119 (82), 69–21 (65) Evening:79–4 (62), 63–52 (Day 52), 8–69 (69), 65–74, 0–89 (89), 46–61, 81–11 (50), 0–83 (83), 74–36 (53)
85	Highest break	89
0	Century breaks	0
7	50+ breaks	6

Qualifying rounds

These matches took place from 22 to 25 September 2008 at the Pontin's Centre, Prestatyn, Wales. ^[6]

	Round 1 Best of 9 frames				Round 2 Best of 9 frames				Round 3 Best of 9 frames				Round 4 Best of 9 frames
	Paul Davison	4			Martin Gould	2			John Parrott	5			Ken Doherty	0
	Atthasit Mahitthi	5			Atthasit Mahitthi	5			Atthasit Mahitthi	4			John Parrott	5
	James McBain	5			Mark Joyce	5			Ricky Walden	5			Joe Swail	3
	Andrew Pagett	4			James McBain	0			Mark Joyce	1			Ricky Walden	5
	Jimmy White	5			David Gray	3			Michael Holt	5			Michael Judge	2
	Michael Georgiou	1			Jimmy White	5			Jimmy White	3			Michael Holt	5
	Lewis Roberts	2			Barry Pinches	4			Jimmy Michie	5			Dominic Dale	4
	Andy Lee	5			Andy Lee	5			Andy Lee	2			Jimmy Michie	5
	Lee Spick	3			Robert Milkins	3			Gerard Greene	4			Dave Harold	5
	Jin Long	5			Jin Long	5			Jin Long	5			Jin Long	0
	Peter Lines	5			David Roe	2			Tom Ford	5			Steve Davis	5
	Declan Hughes	1			Peter Lines	5			Peter Lines	2			Tom Ford	4
	Simon Bedford	5			Andy Hicks	4			Mike Dunn	2			Mark Williams	4
	Liu Chuang	2			Simon Bedford	5			Simon Bedford	5			Simon Bedford	5
	Scott MacKenzie	5			Paul Davies	5			Alan McManus	5			Anthony Hamilton	5
	Robert Stephen	1			Scott MacKenzie	2			Paul Davies	1			Alan McManus	4
	Rodney Goggins	2			Stuart Pettman	1			Adrian Gunnell	5			Stuart Bingham	4
	Vincent Muldoon	5			Vincent Muldoon	5			Vincent Muldoon	4			Adrian Gunnell	5
	Matthew Selt	5			Joe Delaney	1			David Gilbert	5			Matthew Stevens	2
	Wayne Cooper	4			Matthew Selt	5			Matthew Selt	4			David Gilbert	5
	Daniel Wells	4			Andrew Norman	5			Jamie Burnett	5			Ian McCulloch	3
	Stefan Mazrocis	5			Stefan Mazrocis	3			Andrew Norman	1			Jamie Burnett	5
	Patrick Wallace	3			David Morris	4			Judd Trump	5			Stephen Lee	2
	Aditya Mehta	5			Aditya Mehta	5			Aditya Mehta	1			Judd Trump	5
	Jamie Jones	3			Rod Lawler	4			Liang Wenbo	5			Nigel Bond	0
	David Grace	5			David Grace	5			David Grace	3			Liang Wenbo	5
	Supoj Saenla	5			Liu Song	4			Rory McLeod	5			Barry Hawkins	5
	Chris McBreen	3			Supoj Saenla	5			Supoj Saenla	1			Rory McLeod	2
	Kuldesh Johal	3			Ian Preece	4			Marcus Campbell	5			Jamie Cope	5
	Li Hang	5			Li Hang	5			Li Hang	3			Marcus Campbell	4
	Matthew Couch	2			Mark Davis	5			Andrew Higginson	5			Fergal O'Brien	2
	Stephen Craigie	5			Stephen Craigie	4			Mark Davis	4			Andrew Higginson	5

Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

^[6]

140 – Aditya Mehta 135 – Peter Lines 128 – David Grace 121 – Anthony Hamilton 116 – Alan McManus 114, 102 – James McBain 114 – Jin Long 114 – David Gilbert 113, 100 – Adrian Gunnell 113 – Supoj Saenla 113 – Rory McLeod

112 – Jimmy White 109 – Paul Davies 109 – Liang Wenbo 105, 102 – Michael Holt 104, 102 – Simon Bedford 104 – Andrew Higginson 103 – Andrew Pagett 102 – Scott MacKenzie 101 – Rodney Goggins 100 – Tom Ford

Televised stage centuries

^[3]

139, 116 – Marco Fu 135, 102, 100 – Mark Selby 134, 127 – John Higgins 129, 120, 115, 112, 104 – Ryan Day 129 – Ding Junhui 126 – Shaun Murphy 123 – David Gilbert 122, 100 – Peter Ebdon

111, 107, 107 – Ali Carter 105 – Michael Holt 105 – Adrian Gunnell 104 – Dave Harold 104 – Stephen Hendry 104, 103 – Ronnie O'Sullivan 103 – Ricky Walden

References

1. "Higgins resists Day to take title". BBC Sport . 2008-10-19. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
2. "Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008 – Prize Money". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 2011-07-05. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
3. "Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008 – Results". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
4. "Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
5. "Grand Prix". Snooker Scene. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
6. "Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008 – Qualifying". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 20 March 2011.