Jimmy White and Ken Doherty set to renew remarkable 34-year rivalry at Saudi Arabia Masters with £500,000 first prize on the line
By Desmond Kane
Published 20/07/2025 at 23:01 GMT+1
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Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White and Ken Doherty are set to compete in a battle of the ages in the first round of the Saudi Arabia Masters in Jeddah next month. The £2,302,000 ranking event is the richest in snooker beyond the World Championship with a first prize of £500,000, the same sum that Zhao Xintong earned with his Crucible victory in May. White and Doherty first met in a ranking event in 1991.
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Jimmy White and Ken Doherty are set to face each other in a major ranking event for the first time in 15 years in the first round of the Saudi Arabia Masters next month.
The 1997 world champion Doherty, who defeated Stephen Hendry 18-12 to conquer the Crucible, and six-time world finalist White last met in the last 64 of the 2010 World Championship with Doherty emerging a 10-3 winner.
The old foes and friends, with a combined age of 118, first met in the quarter-finals of the 1991 Classic with White running out a 5-3 winner before White edged the Irishman 10-9 in the final of the 1992 Grand Prix.
On matches played over the course of their elite careers on the professional circuit, both players have won 12 apiece.
They are scheduled to meet in the opening round in a best-of-seven frame joust on Friday, August 8 at 6pm after the draw details were announced on Sunday.
Doherty recently praised White's achievements, but feels his fondness for a slice of the good life in his peak years perhaps deprived him of the chance to lift the sport's biggest prize in Sheffield.
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"I remember Jimmy back in the early 1990s, think it was my first year at the World Championship, and I lost and he took me out around Sheffield," said the Dubliner, who went out 13-10 to White in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Championship before White lost 18-17 to Hendry in the final.
"He was still in the tournament. He was second favourite at the time. He said to me, 'come on, and I'll take you out around Sheffield to forget about it'.
"We got absolutely smashed. He took me to parts of Sheffield that were drinking dens open until 3am in the morning.
"He knew them all. Stephen would have been tucked up in bed with a glass of milk. That was Jimmy White.
"He would have got to the final that year too.
"He was a great character, and still is."
The Saudi Arabia Masters runs between August 8-16 with the world's top 16 not entering the event until the last 32, when the match length increases to the best-of-nine frames.
World No. 1 Judd Trump is defending the title following his 10-9 win over Mark Williams that saw him produce a 72 clearance after Williams broke down leading 62-0 on the cusp of victory.
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