Stephen Hendry won the first ranking event of the season, The British Open in style.  He defeated Nick Walker, Stephen Lee and Ronnie O'Sullivan to secure a place in the final against Peter Ebdon.  The final started with Peter Ebdon going 3-1 up and Stephen coming back to take it to 4-3 with the afternoon session finishing with the score 4-4, but in the evening session Stephen didn't look like losing taking the title 9-5.  Stephen managed to make a 147 in the final which is the first maximum to be made in a ranking event final,  it is Hendry's 6th 147 in major competitions.

When interviewed Stephen commented, "The only downside to all this is that it can't possibly get better.  I don't know how I can cap this in the months ahead"

Stephen is also provisionally ranked number 1 in the world, when asked about this Stephen said, "To be back at number 1 again is a great bonus although it's early in the year.  But it is my target for the end of the season."