Welsh Open 2004

Welsh Open 2004
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Venue:	Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff , Wales
Opening:	January 15, 2004
Endgame:	January 25, 2004
Winner:	Ronnie O'Sullivan
Finalist:	Steve Davis
Highest Break:	139 ( Ronnie O'Sullivan )
← 2003   2005 →

The 2004 Welsh Open was a snooker tournament of the 2003/04 season that was held from January 15 to 25, 2004 in the Welsh capital, Cardiff . After five years in the International Arena , the tournament took place at the Welsh Institute of Sport (also National Sports Center ) for the first time .

Last year's winner Stephen Hendry was eliminated this time in the quarter-finals. Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis played the final . Two-time tournament winner Davis had won his last rankings title at the Welsh Open 9 years earlier. O'Sullivan won just under 9-8 and took his first title in Wales.

Prize money / world ranking points

Prize money plummeted from just under £ 600,000 in 2003 to under £ 450,000. Last year £ 82,500 went to the winner and £ 1,450 to the final 96, this time remaining £ 52,000 and £ 1,100 respectively. However, this did not change the value of the tournament, the points for the world rankings remained unchanged.

	Prize money	World ranking points a
winner	£ 52,000	4,000
finalist	£ 26,000	3,000
Semi-finalist	£ 13,000	2,500
Quarter finalist	£ 9,500	2,050
Round of 16	£ 7,450	1,750
Last 32	£ 5,600	1,450
Last 48	£ 3,900	1,150
Last 64	£ 2,750	900
Last 80	£ 1,750	650
Last 96	£ 1,100	400
Last 128	-	200
Highest Break (Final Round)	£ 5,000
Highest Break (Qualification)	£ 1,800
All in all	£ 446,100

^a Seeded players who lost their first game in qualifying only received half the number of points.

Final round

Unlike in the previous three years, not 32, but 48 players started in the main tournament, with the top 16 in the world rankings already set for round 2.

Round 1

In Prestatyn , 16 players had qualified for the tournament in three rounds. They competed in round 1 against the world ranking players from 17th to 32nd.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 Mark Selby  35 : 35  James Wattana 2 Joe Swail  25 : 25  Mark Davis 3 Marco Fu  35 : 35  Liu Song 4th Robin Hull  50: 50  Michael Holt 5 Tony Drago  54: 54th  Barry Pinches 6th Robert Milkins  25 : 25  Paul Davies 7th Mark King  35 : 35  Nick Dyson 8th Dave Harold  kl.  Marcus Campbell 9 Anthony Davies  52: 52  Michael Judge 10 Ian McCulloch  53: 53  Mike Dunn 11 Anthony Hamilton  35 : 35  Bjorn Haneveer 12 Drew Henry  15 : 15  Darren Morgan 13 Chris Small  4th5 : 45  Stephen Maguire 14th John Parrott  25 : 25  Patrick Wallace 15th Dominic Dale  35 : 35  Barry Hawkins 16 Ali Carter  52: 52  Stuart Pettman kl. = without a fight Top 32 to the final   Round 1 best of 9 frames Round of 16 best of 9 frames Quarterfinals Best of 9 Frames Semi-final best of 11 frames Final Best of 17 frames                                                 1   Stephen Hendry 5                 29   Mark Selby 1   1   Stephen Hendry 5   15th   Jimmy White 3   15th   Jimmy White 5 27   Joe Swail 2   1   Stephen Hendry 4th   19th   Marco Fu 5   9   Matthew Stevens 2     19th   Marco Fu 5   19th   Marco Fu 5   6th   Ken Doherty 1   6th   Ken Doherty 5 39   Michael Holt 3   19th   Marco Fu 3   11   Steve Davis 6th   5   Stephen Lee 5 36   Barry Pinches 3   5   Stephen Lee 1   21st   Robert Milkins 5   12   David Gray 2 21st   Robert Milkins 5   21st   Robert Milkins 4th   11   Steve Davis 5   11   Steve Davis 5     22nd   Mark King 3   11   Steve Davis 5   4th   John Higgins 1   4th   John Higgins 5 56   Marcus Campbell 1   11   Steve Davis 8th 3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 9 3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5 37   Michael Judge 0   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5   16   Joe Perry 2   16   Joe Perry 5 58   Mike Dunn 1   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5   8th   Paul Hunter 2   14th   Quinten Hann 2     20th   Anthony Hamilton 5   20th   Anthony Hamilton 0   8th   Paul Hunter 5   8th   Paul Hunter 5 25th   Drew Henry 1   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 6th   28   Dominic Dale 1   7th   Peter Ebdon 5 18th   Chris Small 4th   7th   Peter Ebdon 4th   10   Alan McManus 5   10   Alan McManus 5 30th   John Parrott 3   10   Alan McManus 4th   28   Dominic Dale 5   13   Graeme Dott 1     28   Dominic Dale 5   28   Dominic Dale 5   2   Mark Williams 3   2   Mark Williams 5 47   Stuart Pettman 3   final The 46-year-old Steve Davis had not been in a final in more than five years, and for Ronnie O'Sullivan it was the second final of the season. The old master had the better start and was already leading 3: 0 and 4: 1, but with two century breaks O'Sullivan equalized to 4: 4 at halftime. The world number third came into the game badly in the second session and was 4: 6 and 5: 8 behind. With his back to the wall he showed his best performance, with another Century he started the race to catch up and with four frames in a row he turned the match to 9: 8 victory. For O'Sullivan it was the 14th ranking win, so by then he had won exactly half as many titles as Steve Davis. Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: Paul Collier Welsh Institute of Sport,  Cardiff , Wales , January 25, 2004 Steve Davis 8: 9 Ronnie O'Sullivan Afternoon : 78 : 30, 74 : 0 (74), 72 : 30, 9: 76 (58), 67 : 65, 45: 84 , 12: 129 (125), 0: 139 (139); Evening : 68 : 63 (62 O'Sullivan), 71 : 25 (66), 4: 103 (103), 79 : 42 (53), 53 : 48, 0: 118 (118), 40: 81 (77) , 55: 74 , 26: 92 74 Highest break 139 - Century breaks 4th 3 50+ breaks 7th qualification The qualifiers took place from December 9th to 13th, 2003 at the Pontin's Center in Prestatyn . In round 1, places 65 to 128 in the world rankings played against each other. From round 2, 32 players played against each other, with places 49 to 64 being set for round 3 and numbers 33 to 48 for round 4. Round 1 game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 Craig Butler  4th5 : 45  Supoj Saenla 2 Joe Johnson  kl.  Joe Delaney 3 Ryan Day  35 : 35  Chris Melling 4th Adrian Gunnell  50: 50  Kurt Maflin 5 Luke Fisher  50: 50  Liu Song 6th Kwan Poomjang  52: 52  Paul Sweeny 7th Colm Gilcreest  54: 54th  Steve Mifsud 8th Jamie Cope  kl.  Alain Robidoux 9 Ricky Walden  54: 54th  Philip Williams 10 Jason Prince  53: 53  James Leadbetter 11 Paul Davies  15 : 15  Steven Bennie 12 Jason Ferguson  51: 51  Mehmet Husnu 13 Kristjan Helgason  kl.  Michael Wild 14th Wayne Brown  15 : 15  Tom Ford 15th Atthasit Mahitthi  53: 53  Darryn Walker 16 Johl Younger  15 : 15  Ian Sargeant game Player 1 Result Player 2 17th Martin Dziewialtowski  05 : 05  Stephen Croft 18th Paul Wykes  35 : 35  Andy Neck 19th Matthew Couch  4th5 : 45  Ian Preece 20th Andrew Norman  15 : 15  Carlo Giagnacovo 21st Peter Lines  4th5 : 45  Ding Junhui 22nd David Gilbert  kl.  Michael Rhodes 23 Tony Jones  54: 54th  Scott MacKenzie 24 Leo Fernandez  25 : 25  Garry Hardiman 25th Lee Walker  15 : 15  Stuart Mann 26th Bradley Jones  35 : 35  Ian Brumby 27 Simon Bedford  15 : 15  Joe Meara 28 Munraj Pal  53: 53  Luke Simmonds 29 Andrew Higginson  25 : 25  Neil Robertson 30th Terry Murphy  54: 54th  Martin Gould 31 Rory McLeod  4th5 : 45  Adrian Rosa 32 Billy Snaddon  50: 50  Gary Thomson kl. = without a fight   Round 2 best of 9 frames   Round 3 (Top 64) Best of 9 frames   Round 4 (Top 48) Best of 9 frames                          Craig Butler 5    Dave Finbow 5    James Wattana 5  Joe Delaney 3    Craig Butler 2    Dave Finbow 4th  Ryan Day 5    Alfie Burden 5    Mark Davis 5  Kurt Maflin 3    Ryan Day 1    Alfie Burden 1  Liu Song 5    Andy Hicks 2    Fergal O'Brien 4th  Paul Sweeny 4th    Liu Song 5    Liu Song 5  Steve Mifsud 2    Jimmy Michie 5    Michael Holt 5  Jamie Cope 5    Jamie Cope 3    Jimmy Michie 0  Philip Williams 5    Shokat Ali 5    Barry Pinches 5  James Leadbetter 0    Philip Williams 2    Shokat Ali 3  Paul Davies 5    Rod Lawler 1    Jamie Burnett 0  Mehmet Husnu 3    Paul Davies 5    Paul Davies 5  Michael Wild 1    Nick Dyson 5    Stuart Bingham 4th  Wayne Brown 5    Wayne Brown 4th    Nick Dyson 5  Darryn Walker 5    Marcus Campbell 5    Nigel Bond 3  Johl Younger 4th    Darryn Walker 4th    Marcus Campbell 5  Martin Dziewialtowski 4th    David Roe 5    Michael Judge 5  Paul Wykes 5    Paul Wykes 1    David Roe 3  Matthew Couch 4th    Mike Dunn 5    Gerard Greene 4th  Andrew Norman 5    Andrew Norman 2    Mike Dunn 5  Peter Lines 3    Bjorn Haneveer 5    Gary Wilkinson 1  David Gilbert 5    David Gilbert 3    Bjorn Haneveer 5  Scott MacKenzie 5    Darren Morgan 5    Johnathan Birch 2  Leo Fernandez 2    Scott MacKenzie 1    Darren Morgan 5  Lee Walker 1    Nick Walker 5    Stephen Maguire 5  Bradley Jones 5    Bradley Jones 3    Nick Walker 3  Simon Bedford 3    Patrick Wallace 5    Brian Morgan 1  Luke Simmonds 5    Luke Simmonds 4th    Patrick Wallace 5  Andrew Higginson 5    Sean Storey 3    Barry Hawkins 5  Martin Gould 4th    Andrew Higginson 5    Andrew Higginson 1  Rory McLeod 1    Shaun Murphy 3    Stuart Pettman 5  Gary Thomson 5    Gary Thomson 5    Gary Thomson 4th Century breaks 21 players scored 37 breaks of at least 100 points in the main tournament, Ronnie O'Sullivan only played four of his six highest breaks in the final. There were 16 Centurys in the qualification divided between 14 players. Main tournament Ronnie O'Sullivan 139, 125, 118, 116, 107, 103 Stuart Pettman 137, 100 John Higgins 133, 101 Barry Pinches 133 a Anthony Hamilton 131 a Joe Perry 128 Stephen Lee 127 Stephen Hendry 123, 102 Robert Milkins 123, 117, 107 Peter Ebdon 123, 119, 105 Ali Carter 123 a Mark Selby 122 a Patrick Wallace 119 a , 107 a Marco Fu 119 Bjorn Haneveer 116 a Steve Davis 105, 102 Tony Drago 103 a , 101 a Mark Williams 103 Alan McManus 103, 100 Mark King 102 Chris Small 100 a a scored in round 1 (round of the last 48 without the top 16 players) qualification Barry Pinches 141 Philip Williams 139 Mark Davis 124 Liu Song 122 Andrew Higginson 118 Mehmet Husnu 117 Ding Junhui 117 Darren Morgan 117 Ryan Day 115, 108 Bjorn Haneveer 114 David Gilbert 113 James Wattana 110 Scott MacKenzie 106, 100 Chris Melling 100 swell ↑ a b 2004 Welsh Open - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed November 20, 2017 .  ↑ 2004 Welsh Open. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 20, 2017 .  ↑ Welsh Open 2004. snooker.org, accessed on November 20, 2017 (English).  ↑ 2003-4 Welsh Open. Global Cue Sports Ltd., archived from the original on December 11, 2006 ; accessed on November 20, 2017 (English).  ↑ Rankings - 2003-2004. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed November 20, 2017 .