Ken Doherty

Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter.

As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur Championship. Turning professional in 1990, Doherty has won a total of 6 ranking tournaments including the 1997 World Snooker Championship where he defeated Stephen Hendry to inflict Hendry's first loss in a world final. This made him the first, and so far the only player to have been World Amateur and World Professional Champion. The following year, he came very close to breaking the Crucible curse, reaching the 1998 final where he lost out to John Higgins. In 2003 he reached a third final, where he was defeated by Mark Williams. In other triple crown events, he is a three-time UK Championship runner-up and a two-time Masters runner-up.

An intelligent tactician and prolific break-builder, Doherty has compiled more than 300 century breaks in professional competition. From 2009 onwards he has combined his playing career with commentating and punditry work.