Editing Ken Doherty (section)

{{Short description|Irish snooker player}}
{{for|the American decathlon champion|Ken Doherty (track and field)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox snooker player
| name              = Ken Doherty
| image             = Ken Doherty PHC 2012-3.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = Doherty at the [[2012 Paul Hunter Classic]]
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1969|9|17}}
| birth_place       = [[Ranelagh]], [[County Dublin]], Ireland
| Sport country     = {{IRL}}
| Professional      = 1990–
| High ranking      = 2 ([[Snooker world rankings 2006/2007|2006/07]])
| Official maximums = 1
| Ranking wins      = 6
| World champ       = [[1997 World Snooker Championship|1997]]
}}

'''Kenneth Doherty''' (born 17 September 1969), better known as '''Ken Doherty''' is an Irish professional [[snooker]] player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From [[Ranelagh]] in [[Dublin]], he is the sport's only [[World Snooker Championship|world champion]] from the [[Republic of Ireland]], having won the title in 1997, and one of only five players from outside the United Kingdom to have won the title in the modern era. He is the only player to have won the world amateur and world professional title, having also been world U-21 champion.

After moving from Dublin to London to pursue his snooker career, Doherty won the [[IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship|World Under-21 Amateur Championship]] and the [[IBSF World Snooker Championship|World Amateur Championship]] in 1989. He turned professional the following year and reached the first of his 17 [[Snooker world rankings|ranking]] finals at the [[1992 Grand Prix (snooker)|1992 Grand Prix]], losing 9–10 to [[Jimmy White]]. He won the first of his six ranking titles several months later at the [[1993 Welsh Open (snooker)|1993 Welsh Open]], beating [[Alan McManus]] 9–7 in the final, which helped him enter the top 16 for the first time in the [[1993–94 snooker world rankings|1993–94 world rankings]]. At the [[1997 World Snooker Championship]], he ended [[Stephen Hendry]]'s record 29-match winning streak at the Crucible with an 18–12 victory in the final.

Doherty has been runner-up at two other World Championships. As defending champion at the [[1998 World Snooker Championship|1998 event]], he had an opportunity to break the [[Crucible curse]] but lost the final 12–18 to [[John Higgins]]. Facing [[Mark Williams (snooker player)|Mark Williams]] in the [[2003 World Snooker Championship|2003 final]], Doherty recovered from 2–10 behind to tie the scores at 11–11 but lost 16–18. In other [[Triple Crown (snooker)|Triple Crown]] events, he has been [[UK Championship]] runner-up three times (losing 5–10 to Hendry in [[1994 UK Championship|1994]], 1–10 to [[Ronnie O'Sullivan]] in [[2001 UK Championship|2001]] and 9–10 to Williams in [[2002 UK Championship|2002]]), and [[Masters (snooker)|Masters]] runner-up twice (losing 8–10 to Higgins in [[1999 Masters (snooker)|1999]] and by the same score to [[Matthew Stevens]] in [[2000 Masters (snooker)|2000]]). 

Doherty won his most recent ranking title at the [[2006 Malta Cup]], where he defeated Higgins 9–8 in the final. He achieved his career highest ranking of second in the [[Snooker world rankings 2006/2007|2006/2007 rankings]]. After 15 consecutive seasons within the top 16, he fell to 18th place in the [[Snooker world rankings 2008/2009|2008/2009 rankings]] and 44th place in the [[Snooker world rankings 2009/2010|2009/2010 rankings]], after which he has never regained his top-16 standing. Since the end of the [[2016–17 snooker season|2016–17 season]], he has finished outside the top 64 in the world rankings multiple times; he has remained on the professional tour though invitational tour cards, the most recent of which was issued in June 2024 for the [[2024–25 snooker season|2024–25]] and [[2025–26 snooker season|2025–26]] seasons.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-06-24 |title=Doherty Awarded Invitational Tour Card |url=https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/june/24/doherty-awarded-invitational-tour-card/ |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=World Snooker Tour |language=en}}</ref> Doherty also competes on the [[World Seniors Tour]], where he won the [[2018 UK Seniors Championship]] and has twice been runner-up at the [[World Seniors Championship]], in [[2020 World Seniors Championship|2020]] and [[2024 World Seniors Championship|2024]]. Since 2012, he has been a director of the [[World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association]]; he also served from 2021 to 2024 as inaugural chair of the WPBSA Players organisation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 May 2024 |title=WPBSA PLAYERS STATEMENT - MAY 18TH |url=https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/may/18/wpbsa-players-statement---may-18th/ |access-date=19 May 2024 |website=World Snooker Tour}}</ref>