Doherty - easy win in Bangkok.

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Ken Doherty celebrated St Patrick's Day in style by trouncing Stephen Hendry 9-3 in the final of the Thailand Masters in Bangkok on Saturday.

The in-form Irishman became only the eighth player to collect back-to-back world ranking titles, following his success at the Regal Welsh Open in January and pocketed a first prize of 44,000.

By completing this rare double, Doherty - who had never previously won two such events in the same season - joined the select group of Hendry, Steve Davis, John Parrott, Jimmy White, Doug Mountjoy, Mark Williams and John Higgins.

"I'm really chuffed," said Doherty.

"To beat Stephen 9-3 in any final is fantastic. Results like this make all the hard work I've put into my game worthwhile. It's what competing is all about.

"It'll be a double St Patrick's Day celebration now, that's for sure. I've got a couple of pals over with me from Ireland, so maybe we'll put on our own parade around the streets of Bangkok," he joked.

Doherty laid the foundation for his runaway success by rattling through four straight frames in only 40 minutes during an opening-session purple patch.

Trailing 2-1 after a somewhat nervy start, he fired in breaks of 105, 85, 72, and a 132 total clearance to take the contest by the scruff of the neck.

That latter effort was the highest break of the tournament - eclipsing 131's from Dave Finbow and Doherty himself - and earned the 31-year-old Dubliner a 2,500 bonus.

During that spectacular burst of scoring, Doherty totalled 322 points without reply and once again exhibited the fluency that carried him to a 5-1 victory over Parrott in the semi-finals last night.

Hendry took the closing frame of the afternoon session with a run of 71 and was poised to add the first of the evening when he established a 63 point advantage.

But the seven-time world champion, bidding for his first ranking event success since the British Open of September 1999, overcut an awkward red with the spider - and Doherty produced a telling 71 clearance to pink.

That broke Hendry's resistance, and - assisted by additional runs of 51, 48, 91 and 49 - Doherty arrived at the winning line without further loss.

Hendry, who had high hopes after convincingly beating John Higgins 5-1 in the semi-finals, could not hide his disappointment.

"I was terrible, and Ken was very impressive all day long," said the Scot.

"It was a very bad performance from me, and that's disappointing after what I did against John yesterday. I didn't have any spark, and Ken played the best I've ever seen him. The two together made it a recipe for a drubbing."

The extent of Doherty's domination can be gauged by the overall match points total. Doherty, who dropped only eight frames in five outings on the way to lifting the fifth world ranking event trophy of his career, outscored Hendry 904-347.

Doherty leapfrogs Hendry into fourth on the provisional world ranking list and has now secured £192,260 in prize money this season.

Even so, there is no likelihood of Doherty resting on his laurels, especially with the Irish Masters - always one of his priorities every season - only 10 days away.

"I've won two tournaments this year. In fact it's probably the best season I've ever had, but I'm not going to get too carried away and celebrate like in previous years. As soon as I get home I'll get back down to practice," he insisted.