Welsh Open (snooker)

Last updated

Welsh Open
BetVictor Welsh Open Logo.png
Tournament information
Venue Venue Cymru
Location Llandudno
CountryWales
Established 1992
Organisation(s) World Snooker Tour
Format Ranking event
Total prize fund £405,000
Recent edition 2024
Current championFlag of England.svg  Gary Wilson  (ENG)

The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament that has been held annually since 1992. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which ran annually from 1980 to 1991 and was open only to Welsh players. The Welsh Open is now the longest running ranking event after the World Championship and the UK Championship. Since the 2016–17 season, it has been one of four tournaments in the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the English Open. Since 2017, the winner of the event has received the Ray Reardon Trophy, named after the Welsh six-time world champion. Reardon himself presented the newly named trophy to 2017 winner Stuart Bingham.

Contents

Mark Williams is the only Welsh winner, having captured the title in 1996 and 1999. John Higgins holds the record for the most Welsh Open wins, claiming the title five times.

Gary Wilson is the reigning champion.

History

The tournament began as a ranking tournament in 1992. It is now the third-longest-running ranking event on the World Snooker Tour, after the World Championship and the UK Championship. [1] In the 2016–17 season, the event became part of the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the English Open. The event trophy was renamed the Ray Reardon Trophy; Reardon himself presented the first trophy bearing his name to the 2017 winner Stuart Bingham. [2]

The event was sponsored by Regal until 2003, but UK restrictions on tobacco advertising meant that it was without a sponsor until 2009. [3] The tournament was sponsored by Totesport.com in 2010, [4] by Wyldecrest Park Homes in 2011, [5] by 888真人 in 2012, [6] and by BetVictor from to 2013 to 2016. [7] [8] In 2017 the tournament was sponsored by Coral.

In 1996, Paul Hunter reached the semi-finals at the age of 17 years and 111 days, becoming the youngest player to reach this stage of a ranking tournament. [3]

John Higgins holds the record for the most Welsh Open titles, having won the event on 5 occasions. The other multiple winners are Ronnie O'Sullivan with 4 victories, Stephen Hendry with 3, and Steve Davis, Ken Doherty, Paul Hunter, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson with 2 wins each.

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, [3] where it remained until 2014. [9] 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. [10] The event was held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff from 2015 to 2020, before moving back to Newport in 2021 and 2022. The 2023 event was held in Llandudno, the first time in its history that it has been staged in neither Newport nor Cardiff. [11] The tournament is broadcast by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG, Now TV and Showtime Arabia. In the early days it was televised by both BBC Wales (in English), S4C (in Welsh) and Sky Sports.

There have been ten 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 Stephen Hendry, against Stephen Maguire. [12] This was Hendry's 10th 147 break, and with this he equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie O'Sullivan. [13] He also became the oldest player at the time to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. [14] The fifth maximum was made by O'Sullivan in 2014, in the last frame of the final against Ding Junhui. This was O'Sullivan's 12th 147 break, and with it he set the record for most maximums. [15] It was also the last maximum to be compiled before the event moved to Cardiff. Ding Junhui made the sixth at the quarter-finals of the 2016 tournament, against Neil Robertson. [16] Two maximum breaks were made at the 2019 event, one by Neil Robertson in the first round, against Jordan Brown, [17] and one by Noppon Saengkham in the third round, against Mark Selby. [18] The ninth maximum was made in 2020 by Kyren Wilson on his first visit to the table in his first round match against Jackson Page. [19] [20] Shaun Murphy made the tenth maximum break in 2023 in his third round match against Daniel Wells. [21] The most recent maximum break was compiled by Gary Wilson in 2024, during the semi-final against Higgins. [22]

Winners

[3] [23] [24] [25]

YearWinnerRunner-upFinal scoreVenueCitySeason
1992 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Darren Morgan  (WAL)9–3 Newport Centre Newport, Wales 1991/92
1993 Flag of Ireland.svg  Ken Doherty  (IRL)Flag of Scotland.svg  Alan McManus  (SCO)9–7 1992/93
1994 Flag of England.svg  Steve Davis  (ENG)Flag of Scotland.svg  Alan McManus  (SCO)9–6 1993/94
1995 Flag of England.svg  Steve Davis  (ENG)Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)9–3 1994/95
1996 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Mark Williams  (WAL)Flag of England.svg  John Parrott  (ENG)9–3 1995/96
1997 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Mark King  (ENG)9–2 1996/97
1998 Flag of England.svg  Paul Hunter  (ENG)Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)9–5 1997/98
1999 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Mark Williams  (WAL)Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)9–8 Cardiff International Arena Cardiff, Wales 1998/99
2000 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)9–8 1999/00
2001 Flag of Ireland.svg  Ken Doherty  (IRL)Flag of England.svg  Paul Hunter  (ENG)9–2 2000/01
2002 Flag of England.svg  Paul Hunter  (ENG)Flag of Ireland.svg  Ken Doherty  (IRL)9–7 2001/02
2003 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Mark Williams  (WAL)9–5 2002/03
2004 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Steve Davis  (ENG)9–8 Welsh Institute of Sport 2003/04
2005 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)9–8 Newport Centre Newport, Wales 2004/05
2006 Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)9–4 2005/06
2007 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of England.svg  Andrew Higginson  (ENG)9–8 2006/07
2008 Flag of England.svg  Mark Selby  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)9–8 2007/08
2009 Flag of England.svg  Ali Carter  (ENG)Ulster Banner.svg  Joe Swail  (NIR)9–5 2008/09
2010 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Ali Carter  (ENG)9–4 2009/10
2011 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)9–6 2010/11
2012 [26] Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Ding Junhui  (CHN)Flag of England.svg  Mark Selby  (ENG)9–6 2011/12
2013 [27] Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Stuart Bingham  (ENG)9–8 2012/13
2014 [28] Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Ding Junhui  (CHN)9–3 2013/14
2015 [29] Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Ben Woollaston  (ENG)9–3 Cardiff International Arena Cardiff, Wales 2014/15
2016 [30] Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)9–5 2015/16
2017 [31] Flag of England.svg  Stuart Bingham  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)9–8 2016/17
2018 [32] Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Barry Hawkins  (ENG)9–7 2017/18
2019 [33] Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of England.svg  Stuart Bingham  (ENG)9–7 2018/19
2020 [34] Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Kyren Wilson  (ENG)9–1 2019/20
2021 [35] Ulster Banner.svg  Jordan Brown  (NIR)Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)9–8 Celtic Manor Resort Newport, Wales 2020/21
2022 [36] Flag of England.svg  Joe Perry  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)9–5 ICC Wales 2021/22
2023 [37] Flag of England.svg  Robert Milkins  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)9–7 Venue Cymru Llandudno, Wales 2022/23
2024 [38] Flag of England.svg  Gary Wilson  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Martin O'Donnell  (ENG)9–4 2023/24

Statistics

Finalists

NameNationalityWinnerRunner-up
John Higgins Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 52
Ronnie O'Sullivan Flag of England.svg  England 42
Stephen Hendry Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland32
Steve Davis Flag of England.svg England21
Ken Doherty Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 21
Paul Hunter Flag of England.svg England21
Mark Williams Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 21
Neil Robertson Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 21
Stuart Bingham Flag of England.svg England12
Shaun Murphy Flag of England.svg England12
Ali Carter Flag of England.svg England11
Ding Junhui Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 11
Stephen Lee Flag of England.svg England11
Stephen Maguire Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland11
Mark Selby Flag of England.svg England11
Jordan Brown Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland 10
Joe Perry Flag of England.svg  England 10
Robert Milkins Flag of England.svg England10
Gary Wilson Flag of England.svg England10
Alan McManus Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland02
Judd Trump Flag of England.svg England02
Barry Hawkins Flag of England.svg England01
Andrew Higginson Flag of England.svg England01
Mark King Flag of England.svg England01
Darren Morgan Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales01
John Parrott Flag of England.svg England01
Joe Swail Ulster Banner.svg Northern Ireland01
Ben Woollaston Flag of England.svg England01
Kyren Wilson Flag of England.svg England01
Martin O'Donnell Flag of England.svg England01

See also

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References

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  38. ↑ "2024 Welsh Open". snooker.org. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
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