Welsh Open (snooker) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Welsh Open

Tournament information
Venue	Celtic Manor Resort
Location	Newport
Country	Wales
Established	1992
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£405,000
Current champion(s)	Jordan Brown

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

Since the tournament's creation in 1992, Mark Williams has been the only Welsh player to win the championship (in 1996 and 1999). John Higgins holds the record for the most wins, with five Welsh Open titles. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won four titles, while Stephen Hendry has won the tournament three times.

Jordan Brown is the reigning champion.

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, by 888真人 in 2012, and by BetVictor from to 2013 to 2016. In 2017 the tournament will be sponsored by Coral.

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

John Higgins holds the record for the most Welsh Open titles – 5, Ronnie O'Sullivan having won the event on 4 occasions.

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, where it remained until 2014. 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. In June 2014, it was then announced that the 2015 event will be held at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The tournament currently takes place after the German Masters, and is broadcast by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG, Now TV and Showtime Arabia.

There have been nine 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 Hendry against Stephen Maguire. This was Hendry's 10th 147 break and with this he equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie O'Sullivan. He also became the oldest player to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. The fifth was made by O'Sullivan in 2014 against Ding Junhui. This was O'Sullivan's 12th 147 break, it was the last visit to the table in the tournament - beating Ding Junhui 9-3 - before the event moved to Cardiff, and with it he set the record for most maximums. Ding Junhui made the sixth at the quarter-finals of the 2016 tournament, against Neil Robertson. Two maximum breaks were made at the 2019 event, one by Neil Robertson in the first round match against Jordan Brown and one by Noppon Saengkham in the third round against Mark Selby. The most recent maximum break was made in 2020 by Kyren Wilson on his first visit to the table in the first round match against Jackson Page.

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Venue	Season
1992	Stephen Hendry	Darren Morgan	9–3	Newport Centre	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	Cardiff International Arena	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	Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff	2003/04
2005	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	9–8	Newport Centre	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
2013	Stephen Maguire	Stuart Bingham	9–8		2012/13
2014	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Ding Junhui	9–3		2013/14
2015	John Higgins	Ben Woollaston	9–3	Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff	2014/15
2016	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Neil Robertson	9–5		2015/16
2017	Stuart Bingham	Judd Trump	9–8		2016/17
2018	John Higgins	Barry Hawkins	9–7		2017/18
2019	Neil Robertson	Stuart Bingham	9–7		2018/19
2020	Shaun Murphy	Kyren Wilson	9–1		2019/20
2021	Jordan Brown	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–8	Celtic Manor Resort in Newport	2020/21

Statistics

Finalists

Name	Nationality	Winner	Runner-up
Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins	Scotland	5	2
O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan	England	4	2
Hendry, StephenStephen Hendry	Scotland	3	2
Davis, SteveSteve Davis	England	2	1
Doherty, KenKen Doherty	Ireland	2	1
Hunter, PaulPaul Hunter	England	2	1
Williams, MarkMark Williams	Wales	2	1
Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson	Australia	2	1
Bingham, StuartStuart Bingham	England	1	2
Carter, AliAli Carter	England	1	1
Ding JunhuiDing Junhui	China	1	1
Lee, StephenStephen Lee	England	1	1
Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire	Scotland	1	1
Selby, MarkMark Selby	England	1	1
Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy	England	1	1
Brown, JordanJordan Brown	Northern Ireland	1	0
McManus, AlanAlan McManus	Scotland	0	2
Hawkins, BarryBarry Hawkins	England	0	1
Higginson, AndrewAndrew Higginson	England	0	1
King, MarkMark King	England	0	1
Morgan, DarrenDarren Morgan	Wales	0	1
Parrott, JohnJohn Parrott	England	0	1
Swail, JoeJoe Swail	Northern Ireland	0	1
Trump, JuddJudd Trump	England	0	1
Woollaston, BenBen Woollaston	England	0	1
Wilson, KyrenKyren Wilson	England	0	1

• 2021 competitors are shown in bold.

See also

In Spanish: Abierto de Gales para niños