FOR many snooker fans the highlight of the season, the World Championship, begins when the green baize beamed from the Crucible Theatre fills our TV screens as it sets up camp on BBC2.

But for many of the players, the tournament starts weeks earlier in the qualifying stage. 

This is usually a low-key affair at a lower-profile venue away from the Crucible and provides players outside the seeded top 16 a shot at the World Championship (though only three qualifiers have ever gone on to win it).

This season, though, the draw for the qualifiers threw up a match that could have easily eclipsed some of those at the tournament proper — a World Championship legends match-up between Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry.

These are two greats of the game who regularly appeared at the Crucible during snooker’s golden age in the latter decades of the 20th century.

White made it to five consecutive finals between 1990 and 1994, losing to Hendry in four of them.

Prior to that run, another of the game’s greats, Steve Davis, regularly halted White’s progress at various stages of the tournament in 1981, 1986 and 1987 and the 1984 final.

When White eventually defeated Davis in the semi-finals in 1990, the run of final losses against Hendry began, only interrupted by a defeat to John Parrott in 1991.

Perhaps most notable of the battles between Hendry and White was the 1992 final in which White took a 14-8 lead but eventually lost 18-14.

Hendry was in disbelief when the draw for 2021 qualifying was announced live on air during coverage of the Tour Championship last month.

The 52-year-old Scot has regularly worked as a snooker commentator and pundit since retiring in 2012 and was on duty in the ITV studios.

“No, I can’t believe that,” he said. “You’re winding me up? That’s unbelievable, unbelievable.

“All those finals we played and now we’re starting off at rock bottom playing each other in the very first round.”

White has remained on the tour since he turned professional in 1980 while Hendry only recently came out of retirement, returning to action at the Gibraltar Open last month where he lost 4-1 to Matthew Selt.

This meant the meeting with White was only Hendry’s second match since his return.

The pair had met at the World Seniors Championship last year with White coming out on top, but a World Championship match was an altogether different proposition.

This would be a showcase event regardless of the quality of the snooker on show, but many looking to watch the match were hampered by the fact it was only being shown online behind a paywall.

Hendry warned that this game may be a slog, and he wasn’t wrong. It was far from the best snooker either are capable of, and White especially was disappointed with his performance, describing it as “horrendous.”

There was one moment in the sixth frame which was almost a condensed version of that 1992 final.

White’s break of 58 put him ahead but a costly miss let Hendry back in. The Scot’s clearance of 66 was perhaps the most convincing moment of the match and put him 5-1 up.

Hendry eventually went on to win 6-3. It was a classic match in name but not on the table.

Maybe being hidden behind a paywall was a blessing, but many found a way to watch and rekindle those memories from the early ’90s.

Hendry won’t make it back to the Crucible this year either, though, as he was knocked out in the following round by Chinese 23-year-old Xu Si by six frames to one.

“I didn’t contribute anything to the match really,” Hendry said of that defeat. “I hit the ball dreadfully and that really drains your confidence. 

“I didn’t expect to get through the four qualifying matches but I hoped after coming through that match against Jimmy that I would relax into a little bit of form.”

Women’s No 1 and reigning women’s world champion Reanne Evans also entered qualifying along with fellow women’s tour player Rebecca Kenna, but both were knocked out in the first round.

Qualifying continues into the week while the tournament proper begins next weekend when 2020 world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin the defence of his title.

Thanks to the meeting between White and Hendry, interest in the tournament has been piqued much earlier than usual. 

As the quality of the snooker on show improves in the latter stages, spectators return to the Crucible Theatre and millions watch on TV, this could prove to be one of the most popular tournaments since those heady days when White and Hendry first battled it out.