1990_Shoot-Out
1990 Shoot-Out
Snooker tournament
The 1990 Shoot-Out was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 26 to 28 September 1990 at Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent, England.[1][2]
Darren Morgan won the tournament, defeating Mike Hallett 2–1 in the best of three frames final.[3] All other matches were decided by a single frame,[4][5] and the event featured a randomised draw.[citation needed]
Jimmy White, the fourth seed, withdrew from the tournament at short notice, explaining that he had broken his cue.[6] Bill Oliver was injured in a road traffic incident collision whilst driving to the venue on 27 September and withdrew from the tournament; Hallett, his passenger, was uninjured.[4][7] The reigning world champion, Stephen Hendry, was eliminated by Alan McManus in the first round.[8] Hallett, who was seventh in the Snooker world rankings 1990/1991, was the highest-ranked player to progress through to the third round;[4] only Hallett, Dean Reynolds and Neal Foulds from the top 16 in the rankings progressed into the last-16 round.[9]
Both losing semi-finalists were in their debut season as a professional player. Jason Whittaker, who at 18 was the youngest professional player at the time, was eliminated by Morgan. McManus, the other losing semi-finalist, had progressed after requiring his opponents in both the last-16 and quarter-final to concede penalty points when only the final pink and black were left on the table.[4]
Hallet won the first frame of the final, and led by 22 points in the next frame, but Morgan made a break of 53 and drew level. During the deciding frame, Hallett accidentally foreced the final brown ball off the table; Morgan went on to win the frame 65–32 and take the title. After his victory, Morgan commented that "In a tournament like this, there is a lot of luck involved, and I had mine at exactly the right time."[4]
