| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Bendigo Stadium |
| Location | Bendigo |
| Country | Australia |
| Established | 1979 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | $500,000 [1] |
| Final year | 2015 |
| Final champion |  John Higgins |
The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015.
Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-profile snooker tournaments and in 1979 the Australian Masters was established. There was an attempt to turn the event into a ranking tournament in 1989 but the sponsorship fell through so it was staged in Hong Kong instead, as the Hong Kong Open, which incidentally became the first ranking tournament to be staged in Asia. The Hong Kong event was discontinued after just one year, but returned to Australia in 1994 as the Australian Open. The tournament reverted to being called the Australian Masters for the following season, but was dropped from the calendar after the 1995 event. In addition, the tournament was also held in 1995 as the Australian Open immediately following the Australian Masters, featuring mostly the same players and the same two players in the final. [2] In 2011 the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association resurrected the event under the Australian Goldfields Open name and added it to the 2011/2012 calendar. The tournament's later incarnation providing the first ranking tournament victories for future World Champion Stuart Bingham and future world finalist Barry Hawkins and arguably resurrected the careers of these two players who had previously been considered journeyman professionals, who had previously hovered between the fringes of the top 16 and top 32.
In 2016, the event was quietly dropped from the calendar.
Doug Mountjoy was a Welsh snooker player from Tir-y-Berth, Gelligaer, Glamorgan, Wales. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 11 consecutive years. He began his professional snooker career by taking the 1977 Masters, which he entered as a reserve player. He won both the 1978 UK Championship and the 1979 Irish Masters. Mountjoy reached the final of the 1981 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to Cliff Thorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16.
Snooker world rankings 1993/1994: The professional world rankings for the top 64 snooker players in the 1993–94 season are listed below.
The 1996–97 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between September 1996 and May 1997. The following table outlines the results of the finals for ranking events and the invitational events.
The Sportingbet.com World Series of Snooker was a series of invitational snooker tournaments set up as a complement to the WPBSA's tour Its first season was played in 2008/2009, consisting of four two-day tournaments in St. Helier, Berlin, Moscow and Warsaw and the three-day Grand Final in Portimão.
The 1992–93 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between August 1992 and May 1993. The following table outlines the results for ranking, minor-ranking and the invitational events.
The 1995–96 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between August 1995 and May 1996. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1997–98 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between August 1997 and May 1998. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events. This was the first season since 1987–88 that Stephen Hendry failed to win at least one Triple Crown title, although he did reach two of the three Triple Crown finals.
The 1998–99 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between June 1998 and May 1999. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 2001–02 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 11 August 2001 and 12 May 2002. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.
The 2002–03 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 27 August 2002 and 22 May 2003. Due to a legal ban, this was the final season to have events sponsored by tobacco companies. The following table outlines the results for the ranking events and the invitational events. Mark Williams remains the last player to have won all three triple crown events in the same season.
The 1983–84 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 4 July 1983 and 19 May 1984. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1984–85 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1984 and May 1985. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1985–86 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1985 and May 1986. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.
The 1988–89 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1988 and May 1989. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and invitational events.
The 1986–87 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1986 and May 1987. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and invitational events.
The 1989–90 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between July 1989 and May 1990. The following table outlines the results for ranking and the invitational events.
The 1982–83 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 7 July 1982 and 27 May 1983. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.
The 1980–81 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 18 June 1980 and 16 May 1981. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1979–80 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 9 July 1979 and 17 May 1980. The following table outlines the results for the ranking and the invitational events.
The 1974–75 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between August 1974 and May 1975. The following table outlines the results for the season's events.
Active professional snooker tournaments | |
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| Ranking events | |
| Non-ranking events | |
| Seniors events |
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| Tours and series | |
| Related lists | |
