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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
Final yearActive
Final championEngland Jamie Cope

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 2018/2019 season,[1] having previously run between the 1997/1998 season and the end of the 2004/2005 season.[2] The tour was 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 1994/1995 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 1997/1998 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 2001/2002 season the UK Tour itself had an exclusive membership.[4] From the 2000/2001 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 being made in the 1998/1999 season. In Event 3 Stuart Bingham made it against Barry Hawkins and in Event 4 Nick Dyson made it against Adrian Gunnell.[2]

The tour was discontinued after 2004/2005 season, but the concept was revived with the introduction of the Pro Challenge Series in 2009/2010.[5] Only four of the planned seven events were played before the series was axed due to low player participation.[6] The 2010/2011 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 tour has been revived in the 2018/2019 season. The tour now consists of 10 events with prize money offered played at a maximum of 2 days, with a maximum field of 72 players (top 64 of the Q School Order of Merit, plus 8 wildcards). The top 2 players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit will receive a tour card for the following season.[1]

Event finals

[2][3][7]

Season Event Winner Runner-up Final score
WPBSA Minor Tour (non-ranking)
1994/1995 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)
1997/1998 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
1998/1999 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)
2000/2001 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
2001/2002 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
2002/2003 Event 1 England Chris Melling England Tom Ford 6–2
Event 2 England Adrian Rosa England Stuart Mann 6–5
Event 3 England Michael Rhodes England Luke Simmonds 6–5
Event 4 Norway Kurt Maflin England James Leadbetter 6–2
2003/2004 Event 1 England Stefan Mazrocis England Paul Davison 6–2
Event 2 Scotland Hugh Abernethy England Gary Wilson 6–0
Event 3 England Brian Salmon England Steve James 6–1
Event 4 England Gary Wilson China Jin Long 6–4
2004/2005 Event 1 England Jamie Cope England Chris Norbury 6–2
Event 2 England James Tatton England Matthew Barnes 6–4
Event 3 Scotland James McBain Northern Ireland Mark Allen 6–3
Event 4 England Jamie Cope England Matthew Couch 6–0
Pro Challenge Series (non-ranking)
2009/2010 Event 1 Scotland Stephen Maguire Scotland Alan McManus 5–2
Event 2 [a] Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty England Martin Gould 6–2
Event 3 England Robert Milkins England Joe Jogia 5–3
Event 4 Cancelled
Event 5 [b] England Barry Hawkins England Michael Holt 5–1
Challenge Tour (amateur)
2018/2019 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 –
Event 9 –
Event 10 –

Notes

  • a Played under the variant six-red format.
  • b Event 4 was cancelled, so Event 5 ended up being the fourth and final event.

Order of Merit winners

[2]

Season Winner
UK Tour
1997/1998 Scotland Paul McPhillips
1998/1999 England Alfie Burden
1999/2000 England Barry Hawkins
Challenge Tour
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

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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  4. ^ "2000 / 2001 Challenge Tour". fcsnooker. Preston, Lancashire: The Frank Callan Suite. 26 April 2002. 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. ^ "Pro Challenge Series 2009/10". Global Snooker. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
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