The Welsh Open is a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

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 A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan ...

. 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 The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

. Since 2017, the winner of the event has received the

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

Trophy, named after the Welsh six-time world champion. Reardon himself presented the newly named trophy to

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winner

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

. Mark Williams is the only Welsh winner, having captured the title in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. John Higgins holds the record for the most Welsh Open wins, claiming the title five times. Joe Perry is the reigning champion.

History

The tournament began as a ranking tournament in 1992. It is now the third-longest-running ranking event on the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

, after the

and the

. In the 2016–17 season, the event became part of the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the

. The event trophy was renamed the

Trophy; Reardon himself presented the first trophy bearing his name to the

winner

. The event was sponsored by Regal until 2003, 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 was sponsored by

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

. In

, 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. 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 Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

with 4 victories,

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

with 3, and

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

, Paul Hunter, Mark Williams and

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

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 Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and later, for sponsorship reasons, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff) is an indoor exhibition centre and events arena located in Cardiff, Wales, and was ope ...

. It was moved back to Newport in

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, where it remained until

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

. In January 2014, World Snooker chairman

Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, ...

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 Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. The event was held at the Motorpoint Arena in

from 2015 to 2020, before moving back to Newport in 2021 and 2022. The 2023 event will be held in Llandudno, the first time in its history that it has been staged in neither Newport nor Cardiff. The tournament is broadcast by

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

, SMG, Now TV and

Showtime Arabia Showtime Arabia was Showtime Networks' pay television service in the Middle East and North Africa. It was a joint venture between Kuwaiti holding company KIPCO (79% stake) and American media firm Viacom Inc. (21% stake). The company was incorp ...

. In the early days it was televised by both

(in English),

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

(in Welsh) and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. There have been nine

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

s in the history of the tournament. The first was made by Ronnie O'Sullivan in

, 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

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, against Ali Carter. The fourth 147 was made in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

by Stephen 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 at the time to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days. The fifth maximum was made by O'Sullivan in

, in the last frame of the final against

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

. This was O'Sullivan's 12th 147 break, and with it he set the record for most maximums. 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. Two maximum breaks were made at the 2019 event, one by Neil Robertson in the first round, against Jordan Brown, and one by Noppon Saengkham in the third round, against

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

. The most recent maximum break was made in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

by Kyren Wilson on his first visit to the table in his first round match against

Jackson Page Jackson Page (born 8 August 2001 in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is a former European U-21 champion and the former Under-18 World Snooker Champion and in 2017 also became the Under-18 European Snooker C ...

Winners

Statistics

Finalists

* 2022 competitors are shown in bold.

References

{{Snooker tournaments * Recurring sporting events established in 1992 1992 establishments in Wales Snooker ranking tournaments Snooker competitions in Wales Sport in Newport, Wales Sports competitions in Cardiff Winter events in Wales *

History

Winners

Statistics

Finalists

See also

References