Welsh Open (snooker)

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Welsh Open
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Part of the Home Nations Series
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Tournament information
VenueVenue Cymru
LocationLlandudno
CountryWales
Established1992
Organisation(s)World Snooker Tour
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£550,400
Winner's share£100,000
Recent edition2025
Current championFile:Flag of England.svg Mark Selby (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.

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. Mark Selby is the reigning champion.

History

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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 twelve 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 eleventh maximum break was compiled by Gary Wilson in 2024, during the semi-final against Higgins.[22] The most recent maximum break was made by Xu Si in the second round of qualifying of the 2025 tournament against Bulcsú Révész.[23]

Winners

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[3][24][25][26]

Year Winner Runner-up Final score Venue City Season
1992 File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Hendry (SCO)  Darren Morgan (WAL) 9–3 Newport Centre Newport, Wales 1991/92
1993 File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ken Doherty (IRL) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Alan McManus (SCO) 9–7 1992/93
1994 File:Flag of England.svg Steve Davis (ENG) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Alan McManus (SCO) 9–6 1993/94
1995 File:Flag of England.svg Steve Davis (ENG) File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) 9–3 1994/95
1996  Mark Williams (WAL) File:Flag of England.svg John Parrott (ENG) 9–3 1995/96
1997 File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Hendry (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Mark King (ENG) 9–2 1996/97
1998 File:Flag of England.svg Paul Hunter (ENG) File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) 9–5 1997/98
1999  Mark Williams (WAL) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Hendry (SCO) 9–8 Cardiff International Arena Cardiff, Wales 1998/99
2000 File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Stephen Lee (ENG) 9–8 1999/00
2001 File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ken Doherty (IRL) File:Flag of England.svg Paul Hunter (ENG) 9–2 2000/01
2002 File:Flag of England.svg Paul Hunter (ENG) File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ken Doherty (IRL) 9–7 2001/02
2003 File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Hendry (SCO)  Mark Williams (WAL) 9–5 2002/03
2004 File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Steve Davis (ENG) 9–8 Welsh Institute of Sport 2003/04
2005 File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Hendry (SCO) 9–8 Newport Centre Newport, Wales 2004/05
2006 File:Flag of England.svg Stephen Lee (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Shaun Murphy (ENG) 9–4 2005/06
2007 File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson (AUS) File:Flag of England.svg Andrew Higginson (ENG) 9–8 2006/07
2008 File:Flag of England.svg Mark Selby (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 9–8 2007/08
2009 File:Flag of England.svg Ali Carter (ENG)  Joe Swail (NIR) 9–5 2008/09
2010 File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Ali Carter (ENG) 9–4 2009/10
2011 File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire (SCO) 9–6 2010/11
2012[27] File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ding Junhui (CHN) File:Flag of England.svg Mark Selby (ENG) 9–6 2011/12
2013[28] File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Stuart Bingham (ENG) 9–8 2012/13
2014[29] File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ding Junhui (CHN) 9–3 2013/14
2015[30] File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Ben Woollaston (ENG) 9–3 Cardiff International Arena Cardiff, Wales 2014/15
2016[31] File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson (AUS) 9–5 2015/16
2017[32] File:Flag of England.svg Stuart Bingham (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Judd Trump (ENG) 9–8 2016/17
2018[33] File:Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins (SCO) File:Flag of England.svg Barry Hawkins (ENG) 9–7 2017/18
2019[34] File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson (AUS) File:Flag of England.svg Stuart Bingham (ENG) 9–7 2018/19
2020[35] File:Flag of England.svg Shaun Murphy (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Kyren Wilson (ENG) 9–1 2019/20
2021[36]  Jordan Brown (NIR) File:Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 9–8 Celtic Manor Resort Newport, Wales 2020/21
2022[37] File:Flag of England.svg Joe Perry (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Judd Trump (ENG) 9–5 ICC Wales 2021/22
2023[38] File:Flag of England.svg Robert Milkins (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Shaun Murphy (ENG) 9–7 Venue Cymru Llandudno, Wales 2022/23
2024[39] File:Flag of England.svg Gary Wilson (ENG) File:Flag of England.svg Martin O'Donnell (ENG) 9–4 2023/24
2025[40] File:Flag of England.svg Mark Selby (ENG) File:Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire (SCO) 9–6 2024/25

Statistics

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Finalists

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Name Nationality Winner Runner-up
John Higgins File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 5 2
Ronnie O'Sullivan File:Flag of England.svg England 4 2
Stephen Hendry File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 3 2
Steve Davis File:Flag of England.svg England 2 1
Ken Doherty File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland 2 1
Paul Hunter File:Flag of England.svg England 2 1
Mark Williams  Wales 2 1
Neil Robertson File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia 2 1
Mark Selby File:Flag of England.svg England 2 1
Stuart Bingham File:Flag of England.svg England 1 2
Shaun Murphy File:Flag of England.svg England 1 2
Stephen Maguire File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 1 2
Ali Carter File:Flag of England.svg England 1 1
Ding Junhui File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China 1 1
Stephen Lee File:Flag of England.svg England 1 1
Jordan Brown  Northern Ireland 1 0
Joe Perry File:Flag of England.svg England 1 0
Robert Milkins File:Flag of England.svg England 1 0
Gary Wilson File:Flag of England.svg England 1 0
Alan McManus File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 0 2
Judd Trump File:Flag of England.svg England 0 2
Barry Hawkins File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Andrew Higginson File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Mark King File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Darren Morgan  Wales 0 1
John Parrott File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Joe Swail  Northern Ireland 0 1
Ben Woollaston File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Kyren Wilson File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1
Martin O'Donnell File:Flag of England.svg England 0 1

See also

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References

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