Williams reached his first final of the season at the Liverpool Victoria UK Championships where he was beaten by Stephen Hendry. Another final defeat followed at the Grand Prix in Preston. This time Williams fell to John Higgins. Later on in the season, the Welshman lost the final of the Rothmans Malta Grand Prix to Ken Doherty.

Amends were made, however, when Williams managed to win the UK Championships and the Thailand Masters.

In the 1998/99 season the Welsh player won three ranking tournaments in the same season, namely the Irish Open, the Welsh Open and the Thailand Masters. This made him only the fourth player in history to win three ranking titles in one season. Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and John Higgins are the other three players to have achieved this.

Williams went out of last year's Irish Masters tournament in the first round and at the quarter final stage the year before. This year he will meet John Parrott in the second round.