World Series of Snooker

World Series of Snooker logo

John Higgins at the 2008 Warsaw tournament

The World Series of Snooker was a series of snooker tournaments that were not part of the Main Tour . The competition took place in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons. Before that there was a World Series organized by Matchroom Sport , which took place in 1987/88 and between 1990 and 1993. The tournament series should make the snooker sport popular in countries that are not visited by the Main Tour . However , there were no world ranking points .

World Series

1987

The first World Series was hosted by Barry Hearns Matchroom Sport in 1987. Mainly players under contract with Matchroom were invited, but wild cards were also given to other players.

Period	Surname	venue	winner	finalist	Result
1987	Tokyo Masters	Tokyo	Dennis Taylor	Terry Griffiths	6: 3
1987	Hong Kong Masters	Hong Kong	Steve Davis	Stephen Hendry	9: 3
1987	Canadian Masters	Toronto	Dennis Taylor	Jimmy White	9: 7

1990

In 1990 the World Series was revived after a three-year hiatus.

Period	Surname	venue	winner	finalist	Result
1990	Hong Kong Challenge	Hong Kong	James Wattana	Jimmy White	9: 3
1990	Scottish Masters	Motherwell	Stephen Hendry	Terry Griffiths	10: 6
1990	Humo Masters	Antwerp	John Parrott	Jimmy White	9: 6

1991

The number of tournaments doubled compared to the previous year.

Period	Surname	venue	winner	finalist	Result
1991	Thailand Masters	Bangkok	Steve Davis	Stephen Hendry	6: 3
1991	Hong Kong Challenge	Hong Kong	Stephen Hendry	James Wattana	9: 1
1991	Indian Challenge	Delhi	Stephen Hendry	John Parrott	9: 5
1991	Scottish Masters	Motherwell	Mike Hallett	Steve Davis	10: 6
1991	Humo Masters	Antwerp	Mike Hallett	Neal Foulds	9: 7
1991	Belgian Challenge	Antwerp	Steve Davis	Stephen Hendry	10: 9

1992

Of the six tournaments of the 1991 World Series, four were kicked out of the tour, only the Scottish Masters and the Humo Masters remained on the tour. The Kent Challenge was added.

Period	Surname	venue	winner	finalist	Result
1992	Kent Classic	Beijing	John Parrott	Stephen Hendry	6: 5
1992	Scottish Masters	Motherwell	Neal Foulds	Gary Wilkinson	10: 8
1992	Humo Masters	Antwerp	James Wattana	John Parrott	10: 5

World Series of Snooker

The World Series of Snooker was organized by FSTC Sports Management, whose CEO Pat Mooney was the then manager of John Higgins , and Eurosport . The semi-finals and finals were televised by Eurosport.

In each pre-tournament eight players played against each other in a knockout system . Four professional players each played against four wildcard players , most of whom were awarded to players from the host country. In the final tournament 16 (instead of eight players as in the previous tournaments) met in the knockout system. Some of the wildcards went to professional players as well as local players or players who performed surprisingly well as wildcard players in the preliminary tournaments.

On June 16 and 17, 2007 a pilot event took place in Warsaw. In the 2008/09 season, four pre-tournaments and a final tournament took place. After two events in the following 2009/10 season , no further tournaments were organized. The reasons given are the John Higgins and Pat Mooney betting scandal and the introduction of the Players Tour Championship .

2008/09

→ Main article : World Series of Snooker 2008-09

Period	venue	winner	finalist
21./22. June 2008	Fort Regent, St. Helier	John Higgins	Mark Selby
12./13. July 2008	Tempodrom , Berlin	Graeme Dott	Shaun Murphy
25./26. October 2008	EXPO XXI, Warsaw	Ding Junhui	Ken Doherty
22./23. November 2008	Krylya Sovetov, Moscow	John Higgins	Ding Junhui
May 8-10, 2009	Pavilhão Arena, Portimão	Shaun Murphy	John Higgins

The winner of the 2008/09 final in Portimão received prize money of 50,000 euros.

2009/10

→ Main article : World Series of Snooker 2009/10

Period	venue	winner	finalist	Result
16./17. May 2009	INEC, Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney	Shaun Murphy	Jimmy White	5: 1
17./18. October 2009	Aréna Sparta Podvinný Mlýn, Prague	Jimmy White	Graeme Dott	5: 3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Turner: Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events - First held 1980-1989. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on May 11, 2018 (English).  
2. ↑ Chris Turner: Canadian Open, Canadian Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on May 11, 2018 (English).  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Chris Turner: Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events - First held 1990-1999. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on May 11, 2018 (English).  
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Chris Turner: Scottish Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on May 11, 2018 .  
5. ↑ Chris Turner: Thailand Open, Thailand Classic, Thailand Masters. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; accessed on November 5, 2018 .  
6. ^ Clive Everton : Higgins backs new world series. The Guardian January 15, 2008; archived from the original on November 14, 2012 ; accessed on November 5, 2018 .  
7. ^ ^{A b} New Snooker World League for 2008. sportbusiness.com, January 15, 2008, archived from the original on August 24, 2012 ; accessed on November 5, 2018 .  
8. ↑ Higgins relishing World Series. Eurosport , June 17, 2008, archived from the original on October 10, 2008 ; accessed on November 5, 2018 .  

Web links

• World Series of Snooker Official Homepage (Archived)