Masters Qualifying Event

The Masters Qualifying Event was a professional snooker tournament, which ran from 1990 to 2009. Each season, the winner of the event was awarded a wild-card to play at the Masters.

History

At the 1990 Masters two wild-cards were added to the tournament and the following season a qualifying tournament was established for one of these wild-cards. The tournament was named Benson & Hedges Championship. The event was held in Glasgow and Alan McManus became the inaugural champion.<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 1992/1993 season it became one of the minor-ranking events along with the three Strachan Challenge events. These events carried one-tenth of the ranking points of other tournaments.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but most of the top players did not enter, so it lost ranking status from the next season. The event was then moved to Edinburgh in 1994/1995 for three years, to Malvern in 1997/1998 for four years and to Mansfield in 2001/2002 for two years.<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/>

In 2003/2004 the event was renamed to Masters Qualifying Event due to restrictions on tobacco advertising in the United Kingdom. The event was held in Prestatyn; the top 16 players were excluded from the event and other non-participating Main Tour members were replaced by top players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit. After a season away, the Masters Qualifying Event returned to the calendar in 2005/2006, and was moved to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield next season for three years. The event was last held in Prestatyn during the 2009/10 season.<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/>

There has been five official maximum breaks during the history of the tournament. Karl Burrows made the first against Adrian Rosa in 1999. The second was made in 2000 by David McLellan against Steve Meakin, the third in 2001 by Shaun Murphy against Adrian Rosa and the fourth in 2002 by Tony Drago against Stuart Bingham. The last came at the 2005 event by Bingham against Marcus Campbell.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There was one further maximum break by Terry Murphy against Robert Thallon but it was not officially ratified due to the match being played on one of the outside non-templated tables.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Winners

<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/>

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Season
Benson & Hedges Championship (Non-ranking)
1990	Template:Flagicon Alan McManus	Template:Flagicon James Wattana	9–5	1990/91
1991	Template:Flagicon Ken Doherty	Template:Flagicon Darren Morgan	9–3	1991/92
Benson & Hedges Championship (Minor-ranking)
1992	Template:Flagicon Chris Small	Template:Flagicon Alan McManus	9–1	1992/93
Benson & Hedges Championship (Non-ranking)
1993	Template:Flagicon Ronnie O'Sullivan	Template:Flagicon John Lardner	9–6	1993/94
1994	Template:Flagicon Mark Williams	Template:Flagicon Rod Lawler	9–5	1994/95
1995	Template:Flagicon Matthew Stevens	Template:Flagicon Paul McPhillips	9–3	1995/96
1996	Template:Flagicon Brian Morgan	Template:Flagicon Drew Henry	9–8	1996/97
1997	Template:Flagicon Andy Hicks	Template:Flagicon Paul Davies	9–6	1997/98
1998	Template:Flagicon David Gray	Template:Flagicon Dave Harold	9–6	1998/99
1999	Template:Flagicon Ali Carter	Template:Flagicon Simon Bedford	9–4	1999/00
2000	Template:Flagicon Shaun Murphy	Template:Flagicon Stuart Bingham	9–7	2000/01
2001	Template:Flagicon Ryan Day	Template:Flagicon Hugh Abernethy	9–5	2001/02
2002	Template:Flagicon Mark Davis	Template:Flagicon Mehmet Husnu	9–6	2002/03
Masters Qualifying Event (Non-ranking)
2003	Template:Flagicon Neil Robertson	Template:Flagicon Dominic Dale	6–5	2003/04
2005	Template:Flagicon Stuart Bingham	Template:Flagicon Ali Carter	6–3	2005/06
2006	Template:Flagicon Stuart Bingham	Template:Flagicon Mark Selby	6–2	2006/07
2007	Template:Flagicon Barry Hawkins	Template:Flagicon Kurt Maflin	6–4	2007/08
2008	Template:Flagicon Judd Trump	Template:Flagicon Mark Joyce	6–1	2008/09
2009	Template:Flagicon Rory McLeod	Template:Flagicon Andrew Higginson	6–1	2009/10

References

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