Ken Doherty has been relegated from the World Snooker Tour after a 10-5 defeat to Patrick Whelan in the World Snooker Championship qualifiers.
The Dubliner, who has been participating in recent years through an invitational tour card, had only infrequently played this season and needed a deep run in Sheffield to break into the top 64.
Failure to do so means that the 1997 world champion will definitely finish the 2025/26 campaign outside the cut-off point for tour survival.
Doherty has been competing on the pro circuit since 1990 and reached a career high of number two in the world rankings.
The 56 year-old’s crowning achievement came when he overcame then dominant force Stephen Hendry to lift the coveted world title.
He became only the second player from outside the UK to land the sport’s blue-riband prize in the Crucible era.
Doherty triumphed six times in ranking events and had near misses in numerous other major finals, including two other World Championship title deciders, three UK Championship finals, and two Masters finals.
In 2017, 2020, 2022, and 2024, the “Darlin’ of Dublin” dropped off the main tour in similar fashion but was immediately awarded an invitational card akin to how legend Jimmy White has survived for the last number of years.
It’s unclear, however, whether this option will be available again and whether Doherty would even accept the invitation if it were.
Against Whelan, Doherty won the opening frame and also led 2-1 early on, but the amateur then seized control by taking the next four frames.
Doherty managed to stay in touch with breaks of 75 and 116 helping him to a 5-4 deficit at the end of the first session, but Whelan dominated the second session to pull away for a 10-5 win.
What the future holds for one of Ireland’s greatest sporting heroes on the green baize remains to be seen.
Doherty will participate in the World Seniors Championship at the Crucible Theatre in May, but his future on the main tour could be over.
Elsewhere, the first round at the 2026 World Snooker Championship qualifiers continued on Tuesday with several more results at the English Institute of Sport.
Former Crucible semi-finalist Marco Fu powered his way through to the next round with a 10-1 destruction of Mink Nutcharut.
There was a tough loss for another former women’s world champion, with Reanne Evans bowing out through a 10-7 reverse to Vladislav Gradinari.
Among the others to advance was Liam Pullen, who edged Snooker Shoot Out champion Alfie Burden on the final blue in their deciding frame.
There was a 10-9 victory too for Ashley Carty, who consigned Cheung Ka Wai to Q School, while Haris Tahir was similarly relegated amid a 10-6 loss to Connor Benzey.
On Wednesday, the first round of the World Championship qualifiers will conclude with Jamie Clarke, who reached the last 16 in 2020 and topped the Q Tour rankings this season, among those in action.
The second round also commences in the afternoon as familiar names Mark Davis, Michael Holt, and Scott Donaldson enter the fray.
More information on the draw, including the schedule and results, is available by clicking here.
Tuesday’s Results
Ashley Carty 10–9 Cheung Ka Wai
Ross Muir 10–5 Mykhailo Larkov
Connor Benzey 10–6 Haris Tahir
Vladislav Gradinari 10–7 Reanne Evans
Patrick Whelan 10–5 Ken Doherty
Dylan Emery 10–9 Anton Kazakov
Mateusz Baranowski 10–5 Florian Nüßle
Liam Pullen 10–9 Alfie Burden
Marco Fu 10–1 Mink Nutcharut
Prin Ratmukda w/o Alexander Ursenbacher
Ian Burns 10–6 Sahil Nayyar
Chris Totten 10–5 Daniel Boyes
Xu Yichen 10–4 Stuart Carrington
Steven Hallworth 10–6 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Oliver Sykes 10–4 Liam Graham
Bulcsu Revesz 10–6 Craig Steadman
Featured photo credit: WST
A good question, crafty ken has looked more and more comfortable away from the table in the last couple of years. He might get the chance to play fellow veteran Ronnie O’Sullivan at the world championship, the senior version; maybe that’s a better playing forum for him at this stage?
Nice to see another old stager Marco Fu building a tad of winning momentum however.