Australian Goldfields Open Explained

Tournament Name:Australian Goldfields Open
Venue:Bendigo Stadium
Location:Bendigo
Country:Australia
Establishment:1979
Organisation:World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format:Ranking event
Prizefund:$500,000[1]
Final Year:2015
Final Champion: John Higgins

The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015.

History

Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-profile snooker tournaments and in 1979 the Australian Masters was established. There was an attempt to turn the event into a ranking tournament in 1989 but the sponsorship fell through so it was staged in Hong Kong instead, as the Hong Kong Open, which incidentally became the first ranking tournament to be staged in Asia. The Hong Kong event was discontinued after just one year, but returned to Australia in 1994 as the Australian Open. The tournament reverted to being called the Australian Masters for the following season, but was dropped from the calendar after the 1995 event. In addition, the tournament was also held in 1995 as the Australian Open immediately following the Australian Masters, featuring mostly the same players and the same two players in the final.[2] In 2011 the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association resurrected the event under the Australian Goldfields Open name and added it to the 2011/2012 calendar.The tournament's later incarnation providing the first ranking tournament victories for future World Champion Stuart Bingham and future world finalist Barry Hawkins and arguably resurrected the careers of these two players who had previously been considered journeyman professionals, who had previously hovered between the fringes of the top 16 and top 32.

In 2016, the event was quietly dropped from the calendar.

Winners

YearWinnerRunner-upFinal scoreCitySeason
Australian Masters (non-ranking)[3]
1979 Ian Anderson Perrie MansAggregate Score [4] Sydney1979/80
1980 John Spencer Dennis TaylorAggregate Score 1980/81
1981 Tony Meo John SpencerAggregate Score 1981/82
1982 Steve Davis Eddie Charlton254–100 points 1982/83
1983 Cliff Thorburn Bill Werbeniuk7–31983/84
1984 Tony Knowles John Virgo7–31984/85
1985[5] Tony Meo John Campbell7–21985/86
1986 Dennis Taylor Steve Davis3–21986/87
1987 Stephen Hendry Mike Hallett371–226 points 1987/88
Hong Kong Open (ranking)
1989[6] Mike Hallett Dene O'Kane9–8 Hong Kong1989/90
Australian Open (non-ranking)
1994[7] John Higgins Willie Thorne9–5 Melbourne1994/95
Australian Masters (non-ranking)
1995 Anthony Hamilton Chris Small8–6 Melbourne1995/96
Australian Open (non-ranking)
1995 Anthony Hamilton Chris Small9–7 Melbourne1995/96
Australian Goldfields Open (ranking)[8]
2011[9] Stuart Bingham Mark Williams9–8 Bendigo2011/12
2012[10] Barry Hawkins Peter Ebdon9–32012/13
2013[11] Marco Fu Neil Robertson9–62013/14
2014[12] Judd Trump Neil Robertson9–52014/15
2015[13] John Higgins Martin Gould9–82015/16

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kalb . Rolf . Turnier-Infos: Australian Open . Eurosport Deutschland . 30 June 2014 . de . 29 June 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140714203243/https://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/australian-open-turnier-infos-australian-open-184738235--spt.html . 14 July 2014 .
  2. Book: Hayton, Eric. Cuesport Book of Professional Snooker. 167.
  3. Web site: Turner. Chris. Australian Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. 10 November 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20100930185746/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/AustMas.html. 30 September 2010.
  4. The finals were decided on aggregate score over three frames between 1979 and 1982 and five frames in 1987.
  5. Book: Hayton, Eric. The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. 2004. Rose Villa Publications. Lowestoft. 0-9548549-0-X. 31.
  6. Web site: Turner . Chris . Other Asia Ranking Events . Chris Turner's Snooker Archive . 14 June 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110724175039/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Asia.html. 24 July 2011 .
  7. Book: Hayton, Eric . The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker . 2004 . Rose Villa Publications . Suffolk . 978-0-9548549-0-4 . 165–167.
  8. Web site: Hall of Fame. Snooker.org. 22 June 2013.
  9. News: Stuart Bingham beats Mark Williams 9–8 to win Australian Open . 24 July 2011 . . 10 November 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120501001551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/14267221 . 1 May 2012 . live .
  10. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open (2012) . Snooker.org . 4 June 2012.
  11. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open (2013). Snooker.org. 22 May 2012.
  12. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open (2014). Snooker.org. 23 May 2014.
  13. Web site: Australian Goldfields Open (2015). Snooker.org. 6 April 2015.