Player Profile - Ken Doherty
DOB: 17 Sep 1969
Lives: Ranelagh, Dublin
Provisional Ranking: 32nd (Main Tour) Ranking Points this Season
Last 5 Seasons: 4-2-11-7-6
Turned Pro: 1990
Ranking Tournament Victories: 6 - Welsh Open 1993, 2001; World Championship 1997; Malta Grand Prix 2000; Thailand Masters 2001; Malta Cup 2006
Last Seasons Prize Money: £107,150
Career Prize Money: (up to start of 2008/09 season): £3,236,510
Highest Tournament Break: 145 – Daily Record Players Championship 2004

Going into the 888.com World Snooker Championship in 2007, Ken Doherty looked in with a great chance of taking the official world No 1 spot.
But so sharp was his subsequent decline in his results and performances that he dropped out of the top 16 at the end of the following season.
Doherty reached the last 16 of just three ranking tournaments during the 2007/08 campaign, losing his opening match in the other four.
A 10-5 defeat to Liang Wenbo at the Crucible confirmed his relegation from the elite for the first time in 16 years.
The Dubliner did fare much better in invitation tournaments. He beat Shaun Murphy in the final of Pot Black, snooker’s ever-popular one-frame knockout tournament, and reached the semi-finals of the SAGA Insurance Masters. Doherty beat Mark Williams and Murphy at Wembley before being denied a place in the final by Mark Selby.
He went one step further at the Malta Cup, making his way through the group phase and beating John Higgins before losing to Murphy.
His last silverware came at the same location as he won the Malta Cup in 2006 – his first ranking success in five years. Wins over Joe Swail, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott put Doherty through to the final at the luxurious Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso. In a see-saw final, he led John Higgins 5-2 but then lost six frames in succession and looked sure to lose 9-5 until Higgins missed a simple red at a crucial point of the 14th frame. Seizing his chance, Doherty stormed back to 8-8 then snatched a memorable victory with a tremendous break of 63 in the deciding frame.
"This is my most important tournament win since the (1997) World Championship," he said. "I never doubted my ability and that I would win a title again, but I’m not getting any younger and the longer time goes on the harder it gets.”
The crowning glory of his career to date came in 1997 when he ended Stephen Hendry’s five-year unbeaten stint at the Crucible with an 18-12 victory in the final. He became the first player to win the world title at junior, amateur and professional level as well as the only overseas player other than Cliff Thorburn to lift the famous trophy.
He was welcomed home by some 250,000 fans on the streets of Dublin, voted Ireland’s Sports Personality of the Year and given the chance to parade the trophy at Old Trafford, home of his beloved Manchester United.
Doherty was back in the Crucible final the following year but lost 18-12 to Higgins. His third final was in 2003 when he made a remarkable comeback against Paul Hunter in the semis, winning 17-16 from 15-9 down, only to go down 18-16 to Mark Williams.
Doherty is married to Sarah, an Australian psychiatrist, and they have a son called Christian, born in December 2007. His hobbies include visiting art galleries and watching opera.

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