Welsh Open (snooker)

Welsh Open

Tournament information
Venue	Newport Centre
Location	Newport
Country	Wales
Established	1992
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£201,500
Current champion(s)	Ding Junhui

The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which started in 1980 and was only open to Welsh players.

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 (known as the Regal Welsh Open), 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, and is currently sponsored by 888真人.

In 1996 at the age of 17 years and 111 days Hunter reached the semi-finals and became the youngest player to reach this stage of a ranking tournament. Stephen Hendry and John Higgins are the only players to win the tournament three times.

Like the Welsh Professional Championship, it was played at the Newport Centre, before moving to the Cardiff International Arena in 1999. It was moved back to Newport in 2005, and will remain there at least until 2014. The tournament currently takes place after the German Masters, and is currently covered by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG (China), Now TV (Hong Kong) and Showtime Arabia.

There have been 4 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 last 147 was made in 2011 by Hendry against Stephen Maguire. This was Hendry's 10th 147 break and with this equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie O'Sullivan, and became the oldest player to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days.

Winners

Year	Winner	Opponent	Final score	Season
1992	Stephen Hendry	Darren Morgan	9–3	1991/92
1993	Ken Doherty	Alan McManus	9–7	1992/93
1994	Steve Davis	Alan McManus	9–6	1993/94
1995	Steve Davis	John Higgins	9–3	1994/95
1996	Mark Williams	John Parrott	9–3	1995/96
1997	Stephen Hendry	Mark King	9–2	1996/97
1998	Paul Hunter	John Higgins	9–5	1997/98
1999	Mark Williams	Stephen Hendry	9–8	1998/99
2000	John Higgins	Stephen Lee	9–8	1999/00
2001	Ken Doherty	Paul Hunter	9–2	2000/01
2002	Paul Hunter	Ken Doherty	9–7	2001/02
2003	Stephen Hendry	Mark Williams	9–5	2002/03
2004	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Steve Davis	9–8	2003/04
2005	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9–8	2004/05
2006	Stephen Lee	Shaun Murphy	9–4	2005/06
2007	Neil Robertson	Andrew Higginson	9–8	2006/07
2008	Mark Selby	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–8	2007/08
2009	Ali Carter	Joe Swail	9–5	2008/09
2010	John Higgins	Ali Carter	9–4	2009/10
2011	John Higgins	Stephen Maguire	9–6	2010/11
2012	Ding Junhui	Mark Selby	9–6	2011/12