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Article by Stephen Kent
Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's appearance at The Masters was his first at a major televised tournament this season. Many expected the Rocket to play well at Alexandra Palace, he usually produces his best snooker at our biggest invitational event, but none expected his margin of victory in the final.
Former Australian Open and PTC Grand Finals champion Barry Hawkins was appearing in his first Masters final, having never even won a match at the tournament before 2016, and the nerves showed as the world number eight was unable to follow up on his brilliant win against Judd Trump in the semifinals.
Hawkins won the first frame, but after that it was all one-way traffic as O'Sullivan did what he did best, producing top runs of 70, 136, 52, 77 and 72 to take a commanding 7-1 lead at the end of the afternoon session, before comfortably winning the match and the £200,000 first prize with a break of 82 in the 11th frame.
 As well as equalling the total amount of Masters titles (six) record with Stephen Hendry, O'Sullivan's margin of victory was also a new joint record for a margin of victory in the Masters final, tying Steve Davis' 9-0 win over Mike Hallett in 1988.
Although he criticised how he played, O'Sullivan will no doubt be thrilled with his week's work in London, giving him a confidence boost ahead of the tail-end of the season. There are still many tournaments to go before the end of the season, but many pundits and snooker fans will be now be thinking there is little stopping O'Sullivan from going on to claim a sixth world title at the Crucible in May.
For all the results and frame scores from The Masters, head to snooker.org
The Masters 2016 Final - Frame Scores
Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-1 Barry Hawkins
50-66, 97-8 (70), 136-0 (136), 73-49 (52), 72-28, 64-36, 77-17 (77), 72-13 (72), 58-39, 92-0 (66), 82-0 (82)
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