The Pro Challenge Series was a series of non-ranking

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

tournaments held during the

2009–10 snooker season The 2009–10 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 16 May 2009 and 8 May 2010. There were six ranking events, two less than in the previous season. The Bahrain Championship was not held again, and the Nor ...

. The events were open to all players on the main tour and were intended to give tour players more playing opportunities. Seven events were planned but only four took place before the series was cancelled, due to low player participation. The series was not repeated and was replaced by the

Players Tour Championship The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Players Championship Grand Final, ...

, which started the following season.

Prize fund

Except for event 2, events had a prize fund of £15,000 with the winner receiving £5,000. Event 2, which was played using the

six-red Six-red snooker (sometimes spelled six-reds, 6-red, and also known as super 6s), is a variant of snooker, but with only six initially on the table as opposed to the standard fifteen. Overview In Six-red snooker, the traditional game of snooker ...

format, had a prize fund of £10,000 with the winner receiving £3,000. In event 2 the £500 break prize went to the player with the fastest

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a onefourseven) is the highest possible in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of . A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, fo ...

Schedule

The schedule for the Events 1 to 5 is listed below. Event 4 was cancelled and event 5 was the final tournament played. Event 2 was played using the

format. Events 6 and 7 were cancelled.

Event 1

Prize fund

* Winner: £5,000 * Runner-up: £2,500 * Semi-final: £1,500 * Quarter-final: £500 * Last 16: £250 * High break: £500 The first event took place at the Northern Snooker Centre in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, from 28 to 30 July 2009.

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in ...

beat

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player, and a current commentator and pundit for ITV and Eurosport on snooker coverage. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has wo ...

5–2 in the final.

Dave Harold David William Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his prof ...

made the highest break of 128. Results are given below.

Preliminary round

* 0–4 * 2–4 * 3–4 * 4–0 * w/o–w/d * 4–1 * 1–4 * 3–4

Century breaks

*128

*127

Ken Doherty Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...

*126

Andrew Norman Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio '' The Companion Guide to Rome'' (2010), was a runn ...

*115

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

*107 Mark Boyle *107

*106 Matthew Couch *100

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched Tom Ford (brand), his eponymous brand in 2005, having previously been the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves Sai ...

*100

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cham ...

Event 2

Prize fund

* Winner: £3,000 * Runner-up: £1,500 * Semi-finals: £800 * Quarter-Finals: £400 * Last 16: £225 * Fastest maximum break (x75): £500 The second event took place at

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at reso ...

Prestatyn Prestatyn (; ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085. Origin of name The name Prestatyn d ...

, on 31 August and 1 September 2009, using the

format.

beat

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English former professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began ...

6–2 in the final. Stuart Pettman took the prize for the fastest maximum break. Results are given below.

Preliminary round

* 2–5 * 4–5 * 3–5 * w/o-w/d * 2–5 * 5–2 * 5–0 * w/d–w/o * 4–5 * 4–5 * 1–5 * 4–5 * 1–5 * 3–5 * 2–5

Maximum breaks

Note: a

snooker is 75 points. * Stuart Pettman (2 min 31 sec) *

(3 min 16 sec) *

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish retired professional snooker player who competed on the World Snooker Tour from 1991 to 2024. He won one ranking title during his career, defeating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final of the 1999 ...

(4 min 30 sec) * Ryan Day (no time)

Event 3

Prize fund

* Winner: £5,000 * Runner-up: £2,500 * Semi-final: £1,500 * Quarter-final: £500 * Last 16: £250 * High break: £500 The third event took place at the Willie Thorne Snooker Centre in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, from 9 to 11 November 2009.

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player known for quick play. Milkins has been a member of snooker's main tour since regaining a tour card in 1998. Milkins reached a career high rank of 12 in 2014 and 2023, ...

beat Joe Jogia 5–3 in the final.

made the highest break of 140. Results are given below.

Preliminary round

* 3–4 * 1–4 * 4–0 * 3–4 * w/d–w/o * 4–2 * 4–2 * 4–0 * w/d–w/o * 1–4 * 4–3 * 4–1 * 1–4 * 2–4 * 3–4 * 2–4 * 4–2 * 2–4 * 4–2 * 4–3

Century breaks

* 140, 105, 103, 102, 102, 100

* 137, 118

* 137 Simon Bedford * 137

Craig Steadman Craig Steadman (born 14 July 1982) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Early career Steadman began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached the ...

* 129

Jamie Cope Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player. A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his h ...

* 125, 104

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

* 123, 116, 102

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and the current List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He is currently in ...

* 121

Rod Lawler Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English retired professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tourna ...

* 120

* 113, 103 Sam Baird * 113

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern dynasties (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasti ...

* 110 Mark King * 107 Matthew Couch * 102 Joe Jogia

Event 5

Prize fund

* Winner: £5,000 * Runner-up: £2,500 * Semi-final: £1,500 * Quarter-final: £500 * Last 16: £250 * High break: £500 Event 5 took place at the George Scott Snooker Club in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, from 16 to 18 February 2010.

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship, ...

beat Michael Holt 5–1 in the final.

made the highest break of 138. Results are given below.

Preliminary round

* 4–2 * 2–4 * 1–4 * 1–4 * w/d–w/o * 0–4 * 2–4

Century breaks

* 138

* 137

* 135, 129, 121

Liang Wenbo Liang Wenbo ( zh, s=梁文博; born 5 March 1987) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. During his playing career, he won one ranking title at the 2016 English Open, twice won the World Cup for China in 2011 and 2017 with teammate ...

* 134

* 132, 128, 104

* 131

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship ...

* 130

* 128, 105

* 125

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English retired professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 ...

* 124 Mark Joyce * 123, 106

* 122

Adrian Gunnell Adrian Gunnell (born 24 August 1972) is an English former professional snooker player from Telford. He reached the last-16 in four world ranking events (three in Asia, in three different seasons, and at the 2008 Grand Prix). While practising ...

* 109, 102 Michael Holt * 106 Simon Bedford * 104, 100 Daniel Wells

References

{{Snooker season 2009/2010 Snooker non-ranking competitions Snooker competitions in the United Kingdom Snooker tours and series 2009 in snooker 2010 in snooker 2009 in English sport 2009 in Welsh sport 2010 in English sport