Masters Qualifying Event

Masters Qualifying Event

Tournament information
Venue	World Snooker Centre
Location	Prestatyn
Country	Wales
Established	1990
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Non-ranking event
Final Year	2009
Final champion(s)	Rory McLeod

The Benson & Hedges Championship was a professional snooker tournament, which ran from 1990 to 2002. Each season, the winner of the Benson & Hedges Championship was awarded a wildcard to play at the Benson & Hedges Masters.

In the 1992/1993 season, it was a minor ranking event, earning one-tenth of the ranking points of other tournaments. This was designed to encourage the large number of new professionals, but most of the top players did not enter, so it lost ranking status.

The Masters Qualifying Event replaced the Benson & Hedges Championship in the 2003/04 season, with the winner being awarded a wildcard to play in The Masters. After a season away, the Masters Qualifying Event returned to the calendar in 2005/06, but was not included in the 2010/11 season.

Winners

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

References

• Chris Turner's Snooker Archive: Benson & Hedges Championship, Masters Qualifying Tournament