Masters (snooker)
Masters |
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Tournament status | |||
Ranking tournament: | - | ||
Minor ranking tournament: | - | ||
Invitation tournament: | since 1975 | ||
Current tournament dates | |||
Defending champion: | Stuart Bingham | ||
Attendees: | 16 | ||
Venue: | Alexandra Palace , London | ||
Prize money (total): | £ 725,000 | ||
Prize money (winner): | £ 250,000 | ||
Frames in the final: | Best of 19 | ||
Records | |||
Most wins: | Ronnie O'Sullivan (7 ×) | ||
Highest Break: | 147 ( Maximum Break ) Kirk Stevens (1984) Ding Junhui (2007) Marco Fu (2015) |
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Venue (s) on the map | |||
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The Masters is an invitation-only snooker tournament held annually in London . The tournament is part of the main tour , but does not bring any points for the world rankings .
For reasons of prestige and above all because of the prize money (at the moment it is about £ 725,000 , of which £ 250,000 for the winner), the world's best is usually all at the start. The prize money for the winner is the second highest after the World Cup. Not least because of this, the Masters is counted among the 3 most important snooker tournaments (together with the World Championship and the UK Championship), the so-called Triple Crown .
history
The Masters was first held in 1975, then called the Benson & Hedges Masters . John Spencer won in 1975 the first title when the tournament the only time in the West Center Hotel in London district of Fulham took place. The New London Theater played for the next three years . From 1979 to 2006 the tournament took place at London's Wembley Conference Center . From 1990 there was the Benson & Hedges Championship, a tournament in which you could win prize money and also a wildcard for the Masters.
The last time the tournament was held at the Wembley Conference Center was in 2006 , as the building was subsequently demolished. The nearby Wembley Arena was the new venue . Alexandra Palace in London has been the venue for the tournament since 2012 .
After the tobacco advertising ban in Great Britain , Benson & Hedges had to withdraw as main sponsor in 2004. The Benson & Hedges Championship was also discontinued and replaced by a regular qualifying tournament for which there was only a starting place for the Masters, but no more prize money. In 2005, Riley's club sponsored the tournament. From 2006 to 2008 the invitation tournament was called SAGA Insurance Masters . Thereafter the sponsor changed annually until 2013. Dafabet has been sponsoring the tournament since 2014 .
The most successful player at the Masters is Ronnie O'Sullivan with seven wins. Stephen Hendry won the tournament six times and went undefeated five times in a row from 1989 to 1993. Three players have managed a maximum break at the Masters so far : Kirk Stevens in 1984 (in the game against Jimmy White ), Ding Junhui in 2007 (against Anthony Hamilton ) and Marco Fu in 2015 (in the round of 16 against Stuart Bingham ).
The trophy of the tournament has been named after the three-time Masters winner Paul Hunter, who died in 2006, since 2017 .
winner
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Joe Perry to win record seventh Masters title in: The Guardian , January 22, 2017, accessed January 23, 2017