Welsh Open (snooker)


The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament, a part of the Home Nations Series. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which started in 1980 and was only open to Welsh players.
Since the tournament's creation in 1992, Mark Williams has been the only Welsh player to win the championship. John Higgins holds the record for the most wins, with five Welsh Open titles. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won four titles, while Stephen Hendry has won the tournament three times.
Shaun Murphy is the reigning champion.

History

The tournament began as a ranking tournament in 1992 initially in February after the Masters, but later took the spot of the Classic in January. The event was sponsored by Regal until 2003, but UK restrictions on tobacco advertising meant that it was without a sponsor until 2009. The tournament was sponsored by Totesport.com in 2010, by Wyldecrest Park Homes in 2011, by 888真人 in 2012, and by BetVictor from to 2013 to 2016. In 2017 the tournament will be sponsored by
In 1996 at the age of 17 years and 111 days Paul Hunter reached the semi-finals and became the youngest player to reach this stage of a ranking tournament.
John Higgins hold the record for the most Welsh Open titles – 5, Ronnie O'Sullivan having won the event on 4 occasions.
Like the Welsh Professional Championship, it was played at the Newport Centre in Newport, before moving to the Cardiff International Arena in 1999. It was moved back to Newport in 2005, where it remained until 2014. In January 2014, World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn announced that the 2014 tournament would be the last held in Newport, and that he would open negotiations to move the event to a larger venue, most likely in Cardiff. In June 2014, it was then announced that the 2015 event will be held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The tournament currently takes place after the German Masters, and is broadcast by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG, Now TV and Showtime Arabia.
There have been nine maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. The first was made by Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1999 against James Wattana. The second was made at the qualifying stage of the 2000 event by Barry Pinches against Joe Johnson. The third was made by Andrew Higginson in 2007 against Ali Carter. The fourth 147 was made in 2011 by Hendry against Stephen Maguire. This was Hendry's 10th 147 break and with this he equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie O'Sullivan. He also became the oldest player to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. The fifth was made by O'Sullivan in 2014 against Ding Junhui. This was O'Sullivan's 12th 147 break, it was the last visit to the table in the tournament - beating Ding Junhui 9-3 - before the event moved to Cardiff, and with it he set the record for most maximums. Ding Junhui made the sixth at the quarter-finals of the 2016 tournament, against Neil Robertson. Two maximum breaks were made at the 2019 event, one by Neil Robertson in the first round match against Jordan Brown and one by Noppon Saengkham in the third round against Mark Selby. The most recent maximum break was made in 2020 by Kyren Wilson on his first visit to the table in the first round match against Jackson Page.

Winners

YearWinnerRunner-upFinal scoreVenueSeason
19929–3Newport Centre1991/92
1993 Ken Doherty Alan McManus9–7Newport Centre1992/93
1994 Steve Davis Alan McManus9–6Newport Centre1993/94
1995 Steve Davis John Higgins9–3Newport Centre1994/95
1996 Mark Williams John Parrott9–3Newport Centre1995/96
1997 Stephen Hendry Mark King9–2Newport Centre1996/97
1998 Paul Hunter John Higgins9–5Newport Centre1997/98
1999 Mark Williams9–8Cardiff International Arena1998/99
2000 John Higgins Stephen Lee9–8Cardiff International Arena1999/00
2001 Ken Doherty Paul Hunter9–2Cardiff International Arena2000/01
2002 Paul Hunter Ken Doherty9–7Cardiff International Arena2001/02
2003 Stephen Hendry Mark Williams9–5Cardiff International Arena2002/03
2004 Ronnie O'Sullivan Steve Davis9–82003/04
2005 Ronnie O'Sullivan Stephen Hendry9–8Newport Centre2004/05
2006 Stephen Lee Shaun Murphy9–4Newport Centre2005/06
2007 Neil Robertson Andrew Higginson9–8Newport Centre2006/07
2008 Mark Selby Ronnie O'Sullivan9–8Newport Centre2007/08
2009 Ali Carter Joe Swail9–5Newport Centre2008/09
2010 John Higgins Ali Carter9–4Newport Centre2009/10
2011 John Higgins Stephen Maguire9–6Newport Centre2010/11
2012 Ding Junhui Mark Selby9–6Newport Centre2011/12
2013 Stephen Maguire Stuart Bingham9–8Newport Centre2012/13
2014 Ronnie O'Sullivan Ding Junhui9–3Newport Centre2013/14
2015 John Higgins Ben Woollaston9–32014/15
2016 Neil Robertson9–52015/16
2017 Stuart Bingham Judd Trump9–82016/17
2018 John Higgins Barry Hawkins9–72017/18
2019 Neil Robertson Stuart Bingham9–72018/19
2020 Shaun Murphy Kyren Wilson9–12019/20

Statistics

Finalists