History
The tournament began as a ranking tournament in 1992 initially in February after the Masters, but later took the spot of the Classic in January. The event was sponsored by Regal until 2003 (known as the Regal Welsh Open), but UK restrictions on tobacco advertising meant that it was without a sponsor until 2009. The tournament was sponsored by Totesport.com in 2010, by Wyldecrest Park Homes in 2011, and is currently sponsored by 888真人.
In 1996 at the age of 17 years and 111 days Paul Hunter reached the semi-finals and became the youngest player to reach this stage of a ranking tournament. Stephen Hendry and John Higgins are the only players to win the tournament three times.
Like the Welsh Professional Championship, it was played at the Newport Centre, before moving to the Cardiff International Arena in 1999. It was moved back to Newport in 2005, and will remain there at least until 2014. The tournament currently takes place after the German Masters, and is currently covered by BBC Wales, Eurosport, CCTV, SMG (China), Now TV (Hong Kong) and Showtime Arabia.
There have been 4 maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. The first was made by Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1999 against James Wattana. The second was made at the qualifying stage of the 2000 event by Barry Pinches against Joe Johnson. The third was made by Andrew Higginson in 2007 against Ali Carter. The last 147 was made in 2011 by Hendry against Stephen Maguire. This was Hendry's 10th 147 break and with this equalled the record for most maximums with Ronnie O'Sullivan, and became the oldest player to compile a maximum break at the age of 42 years and 35 days.
Read more about this topic: Welsh Open (snooker)
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