‘The great Paul Hunter’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and John Higgins on snooker’s timeless young Master 20 years after his death

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'The great Paul Hunter' - Ronnie O'Sullivan, Jimmy White and John Higgins on snooker's timeless young Master 20 years after his death

Wu reminds me so much of the late Paul Hunter – Higgins

Video credit: TNT Sports

Paul Hunter’s snooker legacy was assured long before his tragic death at the age of only 27 in October 2006, but it was fitting to see it officially recognised a decade ago.

The celebrated Masters trophy was renamed the Paul Hunter Trophy in 2016 in recognition of the Leeds-born professional’s achievements in carrying it off three times at the iconic Wembley Conference Centre.

The flamboyant multiple title winner, nicknamed ‘Beckham of the Baize’ due to his dashing play and contemporary appearance, remains one of only four men to successfully defend the Masters title since the tournament was first staged in 1975.

Cliff Thorburn, Canada’s 1980 world champion, became the first man to win back-to-back Masters in 1985 and 1986, before Stephen Hendry claimed five straight titles between 1989 and 1993 and a sixth in 1996.

Hunter was the first man this century to achieve the feat in 2001 and 2002, and captured his third in 2004 to emulate Thorburn and Steve Davis as one of only six three-time winners.

Four-time world champion Mark Selby later joined them with his victories in London in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Hunter remarkably won all his Masters crowns 10-9 in final-frame deciders against Fergal O’Brien (2001), Mark Williams (2002) and Ronnie O’Sullivan (2004).

“I’m so happy to have won the match, especially to retain the title,” said Hunter after defeating Williams.

“Only Stephen Hendry and Cliff Thorburn have won it in successive years. So I’m up there with them.”

Despite winning a record eight titles between 1995 and 2024 as the youngest and oldest Masters champion, O’Sullivan’s only back-to-back successes curiously came in 2016 and 2017 at Alexandra Palace – host venue since 2012 after a five-year stay at Wembley Arena.

When Wu Yize secured his maiden ranking title with a 10-6 win over John Higgins in the final of the International Championship in Nanjing in November, the two-time Masters winner compared his attacking style to Hunter.

“Wu reminds me so much of the late, great Paul Hunter, the way he plays the game. He’s a new superstar,” said the world No. 5.

Hunter also won two Welsh Opens, defeating Higgins 9-5 for his maiden ranking title in 1998, and the British Open after turning professional in 1995.

A heavy scorer, he produced 114 centuries and a top competitive break of 146 in only 11 years, but the likeable Leeds lad was denied the chance to mount a sustained assault on the sport by ill health.

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“I’ve always said that snooker enjoyed a golden era when Hendry, Higgins, Williams, Stevens, the great Paul Hunter and myself were battling it out. I truly believe that was the best top six ever,” said O’Sullivan about the world rankings two decades ago.

Hunter was 7-3 down to Fergal O’Brien in 2001, 5-0 behind against Williams in 2002 and 7-2 down to O’Sullivan in 2004 – yet won them all.

He made five centuries in his final victory over O’Sullivan, sweeping up the last three frames to celebrate a famous victory against the snooker GOAT.

“He won three Masters titles, but for illness and sadly passing away, who knows what he could have gone onto achieve,” said 1984 Masters champion Jimmy White.

The closest he came to reaching the final of the World Championship was in 2003 when Ken Doherty mounted a comeback from 15-9 behind to edge a semi-final thriller 17-16.

He could easily have been a world champion when you consider the amount of attempts he could have had at conquering the Crucible over the past 20 years, tragically passing away only five days before he turned 28. “It’s hard to talk about Paul Hunter without getting a bit emotional because who knows how far he could have gone with his game,” said former world No. 2 Neal Foulds in recalling his epic win over O’Sullivan that saw him produce breaks of 127, 117, 110, 109 and 102.

“He won three Masters, and he won them all from behind. He was one of these guys who wasn’t a very good frontrunner, strangely.

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“I looked at all those Masters wins and almost every match went to the last frame. Even an easy win would be a 6-3 or 6-4 to get him to the final.

“Against Ronnie, he was 7-2 down. Who beats Ronnie from 7-2 down? Especially at the Conference Centre. But you can also look at other stats in that match, there’s a very revealing one there.

“Paul Hunter made five centuries in that final, Ronnie didn’t make any. So that tells you this guy was not somebody from yesteryear.”

Jimmy White was close friends with Hunter, defeating him 9-7 to win the last of his 10 ranking titles at the 2004 Players Championship in Glasgow, but continues to celebrate the golden memory of his trend-setting final with O’Sullivan in the same year.

“The thing I remember about that final is that they both had headbands on,” said the six-time world finalist. “It was all about Paul Hunter being the new David Beckham of snooker.

“He was well behind in his previous two matches and for him to win a third one 10-9 from 7-2 behind with Ronnie O’Sullivan was an unbelievable feat.

“As Neal said, we do really miss Paul Hunter, and who knows how many tournaments he would have won?”