2011 Australian Goldfields Open Explained

Tournament Name:	Australian Goldfields Open
Venue:	Bendigo Stadium
Location:	Bendigo
Country:	Australia
Organisation:	World Snooker
Format:	Ranking event
Total Prize Fund:	$425,000
Winners Share:	$60,000
Highest Break:	(142)
Score:	9–8
Previous:	1995
Next:	2012

The 2011 Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 and 24 July 2011 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia.

The event was last held in 1995 under the name Australian Masters, where Anthony Hamilton defeated Chris Small 8–6 in the final. However, Hamilton withdrew from the tournament in the qualifying rounds citing personal reasons and therefore did not compete to defend his title.^[1]

Stuart Bingham won the first ranking title of his career by defeating Mark Williams 9–8 in the final.^[2]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[3]

• Winner: $60,000
• Runner-up: $30,000
• Semi-final: $20,000
• Quarter-final: $15,000
• Last 16: $10,000
• Last 32: $7,500
• Last 48: $2,000

• Stage one highest break: $500
• Stage two highest break: $2,500
• Total: $425,000

Main draw

^{[4] [5] [6]}

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Michaela Tabb Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, Australia
Stuart Bingham	9–8	Mark Williams (2)
Afternoon: 139–0 (139),,,,,,, Evening: 7–69 (52), 13–78,,,,,,,
139	Highest break	89
1	Century breaks	0
3	50+ breaks	8

Qualifying

These matches took place between 26 and 30 June 2011 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England.^{[3] [7] [8]} David Gilbert was the only player to go through all four rounds of qualifying to make it to the main stage.

Preliminary roundBest of 9 frames

w/d–w/o

Kurt Maflin

Round 1–4

Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

^[9]

• 141, 101 Ian McCulloch
• 137, 111 Barry Hawkins
• 137 Liu Chuang
• 136, 111, 100 Robin Hull
• 136 Mark Davis
• 134 Dominic Dale
• 126 Mark Joyce
• 125 Barry Pinches
• 123 Ben Woollaston
• 122, 113 David Gilbert
• 122 Adrian Gunnell
• 118 Aditya Mehta

• 117 Jack Lisowski
• 115 Liam Highfield
• 115 Michael Holt
• 114, 100 Matthew Selt
• 114 Passakorn Suwannawat
• 114 Stuart Bingham
• 113, 110, 107, 104 Tian Pengfei
• 112 Kurt Maflin
• 110 Ben Woollaston
• 104 Jamie Burnett
• 103 Michael White
• 100 Liang Wenbo

Televised stage centuries

^{[10] [11] [12]}

• 142, 140, 118, 110, 106 Mark Williams
• 139, 118, 114, 112, 107 Stuart Bingham
• 137 Matthew Selt
• 134 Ali Carter
• 124, 104 Ding Junhui
• 123 Dominic Dale
• 120, 111 Liang Wenbo
• 120 Stephen Hendry
• 111, 101 Neil Robertson
• 102 Jamie Cope
• 101, 100 Mark Allen
• 100 Rory McLeod

Notes

• All prize money were subject to 46% local tax.^[13]
• Originally Matthew Selt was set to play Steve Mifsud in the wildcard round, but after the withdrawal of Ronnie O'Sullivan for medical reasons Selt advanced to the last 32 to play John Higgins and Mifsud played against Dominic Dale.^{[14] [15]}
• Originally David Gilbert was set to play James Mifsud in the wildcard round, but after the withdrawal of Graeme Dott,^[16] their match was moved in the last 32 stage of the draw.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Turner . Chris . Australian Events . Chris Turner's Snooker Archive . https://web.archive.org/web/20120425135341/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Aust.html. 25 April 2012 . 10 November 2011.
2. Web site: Bingham claims maiden ranking title. Eurosport UK. 24 July 2011. 24 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120808120205/http://eurosport.yahoo.com/24072011/58/bingham-claims-maiden-ranking-title.html. 8 August 2012. dead.
3. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open 2011. worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 17 May 2024. 26 June 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110626115749/http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFiles/e0/7a/0,,13165~162528,00.pdf. dead .
4. Web site: 2011 Australian Goldfields Open Main Draw . worldsnooker.com . . 6 July 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110722144852/http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/Drawspage/0%2C%2C13165~2394712%2C00.html . 22 July 2011 .
5. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open (2011). Snooker.org. 21 June 2011.
6. Web site: 2011 Australian Goldfields Open results. Global Snooker. 22 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110722114118/http://www.global-snooker.com/professional-tournaments-australian-open-2011-final-stages.asp. 22 July 2011. dead. dmy-all.
7. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open Qualifiers (2011). Snooker.org. 21 June 2011.
8. Web site: Results and reports from Australian qualifying. worldsnookercom. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 1 July 2011.
9. Web site: Century breaks (Qualifying). livescores.worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 20 June 2011.
10. Web site: Century breaks . worldsnookerdata.com . . 18 July 2011 . 1 August 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110801050846/http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/Centuries.aspx?t=964 . live .
11. Web site: Century breaks. Global Snooker. 22 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110723094746/http://www.global-snooker.com/professional-tournaments-australian-open-2011-century-breaks.asp. 23 July 2011. dead. dmy-all.
12. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open Century Breaks. worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 July 2011.
13. Web site: Hendon. David. Trouble In Paradise. Snooker Scene Blog. 24 October 2011.
14. Web site: O'Sullivan Pulls Out Of Australia Event . worldsnooker.com . . 16 July 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120616064248/http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0%2C%2C13165~2394154%2C00.html . 16 June 2012 .
15. Web site: O'Sullivan pulls out of Australian event. Eurosport UK. 17 July 2011.
16. Web site: Dott Withdraws From Australia Event . worldsnooker.com . . 11 July 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110714062506/http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0%2C%2C13165~2390261%2C00.html . 14 July 2011 .