Hendry was the first to reach this unbelievable milestone. It then took over twenty years for someone to reach this mantle once again. Since then, only three others have etched their names in ranking title history. During a season where there were only eight ranking events, Stephen Hendry had a near 2/3 success rate as he claimed five of these for his own.
This five title performance was produced following the first of Hendry’s dominant seasons where in 1989/90 he initiated his decade-long era of brilliance. Equally as impressive, Hendry won four ranking titles and the Masters as he completed the Triple Crown in the same season – something that only been done by Davis a couple seasons before him.
But as we all very well know…Hendry didn’t stop there. Before the 1990/91 season commenced, he was already a 2-time Masters Champion, as well as World and UK Champion. Brimming with confidence and a temperament that just won’t quit, it was clear that Hendry’s intentions were far beyond what he had just achieved. And that was evident as he won the first four ranking events of the 1990/91 season.
October and November 1990 all belonged to Hendry. Travelling from Reading, to China, then to Dubai, he was able to sweep the Grand Prix, Asian Open and Dubai Classic with confident victories over seasoned professionals, Bond, Taylor and Davis. It wasn’t until mid-November at the UK Championship where Hendry would face a real test against finalist, Davis.
This was the performance that Davis regarded as the passing of the guard; where he realised that perhaps there wasn’t much he could do against a player of Hendry’s kind. Hendry stormed into a 5-0 and 7-2 lead but Davis, the competitive force that he is, kept the match alive and kicking as he ran it close and managed to overturn it to 15-14 with one frame from victory.
Although, a 21 year old Hendry, as on many occasions, managed to win the last two frames of the match to claim his fourth ranking title of the season. The penultimate frame which included one of Hendry’s best counter clearances, after missing a handful of long and middle distance pots, only to lead to one of the best blues you could hope to see. Unless you were Davis.
Following Hendry winning the Masters that season in addition to his four ranking titles, in February he ran his fifth victory to a decider against former professional and rank No. 5, Gary Wilkinson. This win cemented Hendry’s name further in the snooker record books as he became the first player to win five ranking events in a single season.
Formerly, the record for most ranking titles in a season was held by Davis in the 1987/88. Unfortunately, Hendry wasn’t able to finish the season at the World Championship as strongly as he started, but we can blame that one on the Crucible Curse. The most astonishing part of this achievement is that even though he turned professional in 1985, in the couple of years he really started flowing (1989 onwards), Hendry had accumulated 11 ranking titles already!
Not only did Hendry win five out of eight ranking events that season, but he also won a further four non-ranking events, including his third consecutive Masters title. And this was still in the infancy of his career. Even more impressive was the continuation of the string of titles that followed. When compared with the other players that have accomplished the five ranking titles feat, their forms have dipped in the following seasons (although that is yet to be determined with Trump).
Hendry hit the ranking title record early and continued his wave as he reached 36 total ranking titles and 18 Triple Crowns. No one was able to replicate his achievement in the 1990/91 season in the decades before or the decade afterwards. Considering how well Hendry did during the 1990s, it’s hard to pick his best season – especially when two of them consisted of a clean sweep of the Triple Crowns (another record held) – but this season has to be right up there, particularly when you look at how young he was in age and career.
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