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Q Tour

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"UK Tour" redirects here. For the Thin Lizzy album, see UK Tour '75.
Challenge Tour
Tournament information
VenueWorld Snooker Centre
LocationPrestatyn
CountryUnited Kingdom
Established1994/1995
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatNon-ranking (1994–2005)
Amateur (2018–
Final yearActive

The Challenge Tour is a series of professional snooker tournaments immediately below the level of the World Snooker Main Tour.

The tour has been revived for the 2018–19 season,[1] having previously run between the 1997–98 season and the end of the 2004–05 season.[2] The series was originally known as WPBSA Minor Tour and then UK Tour.

History

The concept of a secondary professional tour was first experimented with in the 1994–95 season in the form of the WPBSA Minor Tour to provide competition for lower ranked professionals, but only ran for a season.[3] Due to over-subscription of the World Snooker Tour, a two-tiered tour structure was adopted from the 1997–98 season resulting in the Main Tour and the UK Tour. The Main Tour had an exclusive membership, whereas initially the whole professional membership could compete on the UK Tour and the best performers could earn promotion.[2] From the 1999–2000 season, entry was limited to players not competing on the Main Tour,[2] and from the 2001–02 season the UK Tour itself had an exclusive membership.[4] From the 2000–01 season it was rebranded the Challenge Tour.[3]

In its first season there were five events, but the number was reduced to four in the following seasons.[3] There were two official maximum breaks at the UK Tour, both in the 1998–99 season; the first was made by Stuart Bingham against Barry Hawkins in Event 3, and the second by Nick Dyson against Adrian Gunnell in Event 4.[2]

The tour was discontinued after 2004–05 season, but the concept was revived with the introduction of the Pro Challenge Series in 2009–10.[5] Only four of the planned seven events were played before the series was axed due to low player participation.[6] The 2010–11 season saw the introduction of the Players Tour Championship, a secondary tour comprising tournaments carrying ranking points, but at a much lower tariff than the major televised tournaments.

The Challenge Tour was revived in the 2018–19 season, consisting of ten events each played over one or two days, with prize money offered and a maximum field of 72 players (top 64 of the Q School Order of Merit, plus eight wildcards). The top two players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit received a tour card for the following season.[1] From the 2020–21 season, the Challenge Tour was rebranded as the Q Tour.[7]

Event finals

[2][3]

Season Event Winner Runner-up Final score
WPBSA Minor Tour (non-ranking)
1994–95 Event 1 England Jamie Woodman England Matt Wilson 6–2
Event 2 Thailand Noppadon Noppachorn Malaysia Sammy Chong 8–6
Event 3 Scotland John Lardner England Eddie Manning 5–2
Event 4 England Colin Morton England Matthew Couch 6–5
Event 5 England David Roe Malta Tony Drago 6–3
Event 6 Scotland Drew Henry Wales Mark Williams 6–5
UK Tour (non-ranking)
1997–98 Event 1 Scotland Paul McPhillips England Michael Holt 6–5
Event 2 Wales Mark Fenton England Antony Bolsover 6–4
Event 3 England Simon Bedford England Robert Milkins 6–4
Event 4 Northern Ireland Patrick Wallace England Shaun Murphy 6–4
Event 5 England Paul Sweeny Scotland Hugh Abernethy 6–5
1998–99 Event 1 England Alfie Burden Wales Anthony Davies 6–5
Event 2 Northern Ireland Joe Swail England Alfie Burden 6–1
Event 3 England Stuart Bingham England Matthew Couch 6–1
Event 4 Wales James Reynolds England Jason Ferguson 6–4
1999–2000 Event 1 England Matt Wilson England Barry Hawkins 6–4
Event 2 England Andrew Higginson Scotland Scott MacKenzie 6–3
Event 3 England Simon Bedford England Barry Hawkins 6–5
Event 4 England Barry Hawkins England Craig Butler 6–1
Challenge Tour (non-ranking)
2000–01 Event 1 England Adrian Rosa England Surinder Gill 6–4
Event 2 England Andrew Norman England Luke Fisher 6–3
Event 3 England Shaun Murphy England Andrew Norman 6–3
Event 4 England Shaun Murphy England Luke Simmonds 6–2
2001–02 Event 1 Wales James Reynolds England Steve Judd 6–5
Event 2 Republic of Ireland Leo Fernandez Wales Ryan Day 6–3
Event 3 England Lee Spick Republic of Ireland Joe Delaney 6–3
Event 4 England David Gilbert Wales Ryan Day 6–3
2002–03 Event 1 [1] England Chris Melling England Tom Ford 6–2
Event 2 [2] England Adrian Rosa England Stuart Mann 6–5
Event 3 [3] England Michael Rhodes England Luke Simmonds 6–5
Event 4 [4] Norway Kurt Maflin England James Leadbetter 6–2
2003–04 Event 1 [5] England Stefan Mazrocis England Paul Davison 6–2
Event 2 [6] Scotland Hugh Abernethy England Gary Wilson 6–0
Event 3 [7] England Brian Salmon England Steve James 6–1
Event 4 [8] England Gary Wilson China Jin Long 6–4
2004–05 Event 1 [9] England Jamie Cope England Chris Norbury 6–2
Event 2 [10] England James Tatton England Matthew Barnes 6–4
Event 3 [11] Scotland James McBain Northern Ireland Mark Allen 6–3
Event 4 [12] England Jamie Cope England Matthew Couch 6–0
Challenge Tour (amateur)
2018–19 Event 1 England Brandon Sargeant England Luke Simmonds 3–1
Event 2 England David Grace England Mitchell Mann 3–0
Event 3 England Barry Pinches Wales Jackson Page 3–2
Event 4 England Mitchell Mann Wales Dylan Emery 3–0
Event 5 England David Lilley England Brandon Sargeant 3–1
Event 6 England David Grace England Ben Hancorn 3–0
Event 7 England Joel Walker England Jenson Kendrick 3–0
Event 8 England Simon Bedford England David Lilley 3–1
Event 9 England Adam Duffy England Matthew Glasby 3–1
Event 10 England George Pragnell Wales Callum Lloyd 3–2
2019–20 Event 1 Hong Kong Ka Wai Cheung England Oliver Brown 3–1
Event 2 England Jake Nicholson Wales Andrew Pagett 3–1
Event 3 Wales Andrew Pagett Northern Ireland Robbie McGuigan 3–0
Event 4 England Ashley Hugill Republic of Ireland Aaron Hill 3–1
Event 5 England Allan Taylor Scotland Michael Collumb 3–1
Event 6 England Oliver Brown England Ashley Hugill 3–1
Event 7 Scotland Dean Young Wales Andrew Pagett 3–1
Event 8 Germany Lukas Kleckers Wales Tyler Rees 3–1
Event 9 England Ashley Hugill England Sydney Wilson 3–1
Event 10 England Adam Duffy England Kuldesh Johal 3–1
Tour Playoff England Allan Taylor England Adam Duffy 4–0

Order of Merit winners

[2]

Season Winner
UK Tour (non-ranking)
1997/1998 Scotland Paul McPhillips
1998/1999 England Alfie Burden
1999/2000 England Barry Hawkins
Challenge Tour (non-ranking)
2000/2001 England Shaun Murphy
2001/2002 Wales Ryan Day
2002/2003 England Martin Gould
2003/2004 England Brian Salmon
2004/2005 England Jamie Cope
Challenge Tour (amateur)
2018/2019 England Brandon Sargeant
2019/2020 England Ashley Hugill

References

  1. ^ a b "World Snooker Challenge Tour 2018/19". worldsnooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "WPBSA Secondary Professional Tour". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Suffolk: Rose Villa Publications. pp. Introduction, 166, 167 & 171–186. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
  4. ^ "2000 / 2001 Challenge Tour". fcsnooker. Preston, Lancashire: The Frank Callan Suite. 26 April 2002. Archived from the original on 2010-10-10. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  5. ^ Hendon, Dave (30 June 2009). "Pro Challenge Series Launched". Snooker Scene Blog. Snooker Scene. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  6. ^ Hendon, Dave (2 March 2010). "Pro Challenge Series Axed". Snooker Scene Blog. Snooker Scene. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  7. ^ https://wpbsa.com/wpbsa-q-tour-launched/
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