Challenge Tour (snooker)

Challenge Tour
Tournament information
Venue World Snooker Centre
Location Prestatyn
Country United Kingdom
Established 1994/1995
Organisation(s) WPBSA
Format Non-ranking
Final year Active
Final champion(s) England Jamie Cope

The Challenge Tour is a series of professional snooker tournaments immediately below the level of the World Snooker Main Tour.

The tour has been revived for the 2018/2019 season,[1] having previously run between the 1997/1998 season and the end of the 2004/2005 season.[2] The tour was The series was originally known as WPBSA Minor Tour and then UK Tour.

History

The concept of a secondary professional tour was first experimented with in the 1994/1995 season in the form of the WPBSA Minor Tour to provide competition for lower ranked professionals, but only ran for a season.[3] Due to over-subscription of the World Snooker Tour, a two-tiered tour structure was adopted from the 1997/1998 season resulting in the Main Tour and the UK Tour. The Main Tour had an exclusive membership, whereas initially the whole professional membership could compete on the UK Tour and the best performers could earn promotion.[2] From the 1999/2000 season entry was limited to players not competing on the Main Tour,[2] and from the 2001/2002 season the UK Tour itself had an exclusive membership.[4] From the 2000/2001 season it was rebranded the Challenge Tour.[3]

In its first season there were five events, but the number was reduced to four in the following seasons.[3] There were two official maximum breaks at the UK Tour, both being made in the 1998/1999 season. In Event 3 Stuart Bingham made it against Barry Hawkins and in Event 4 Nick Dyson made it against Adrian Gunnell.[2]

The tour was discontinued after 2004/2005 season, but the concept was revived with the introduction of the Pro Challenge Series in 2009/2010.[5] Only four of the planned seven events were played before the series was axed due to low player participation.[6] The 2010/2011 season saw the introduction of the Players Tour Championship, a secondary tour comprising tournaments carrying ranking points, but at a much lower tariff than the major televised tournaments.

The tour has been revived in the 2018/2019 season. The tour now consists of 10 events with prize money offered played at a maximum of 2 days, with a maximum field of 72 players (top 64 of the Q School Order of Merit, plus 8 wildcards). The top 2 players from the Challenge Tour Order of Merit will receive a tour card for the following season.[1]

Event finals

[2][3][7]

Season Event Winner Runner-up Final score
WPBSA Minor Tour (non-ranking)
1994/1995Event 1England Jamie WoodmanEngland Matt Wilson6–2
Event 2Thailand Noppadon NoppachornMalaysia Sammy Chong8–6
Event 3Scotland John LardnerEngland Eddie Manning5–2
Event 4England Colin MortonEngland Matthew Couch6–5
Event 5England David RoeMalta Tony Drago6–3
Event 6Scotland Drew HenryWales Mark Williams6–5
UK Tour (non-ranking)
1997/1998Event 1Scotland Paul McPhillipsEngland Michael Holt6–5
Event 2Wales Mark FentonEngland Antony Bolsover6–4
Event 3England Simon BedfordEngland Robert Milkins6–4
Event 4Northern Ireland Patrick WallaceEngland Shaun Murphy6–4
Event 5England Paul SweenyScotland Hugh Abernethy6–5
1998/1999Event 1England Alfie BurdenWales Anthony Davies6–5
Event 2Northern Ireland Joe SwailEngland Alfie Burden6–1
Event 3England Stuart BinghamEngland Matthew Couch6–1
Event 4Wales James ReynoldsEngland Jason Ferguson6–4
1999/2000Event 1England Matt WilsonEngland Barry Hawkins6–4
Event 2England Andrew HigginsonScotland Scott MacKenzie6–3
Event 3England Simon BedfordEngland Barry Hawkins6–5
Event 4England Barry HawkinsEngland Craig Butler6–1
Challenge Tour (non-ranking)
2000/2001Event 1England Adrian RosaEngland Surinder Gill6–4
Event 2England Andrew NormanEngland Luke Fisher6–3
Event 3England Shaun MurphyEngland Andrew Norman6–3
Event 4England Shaun MurphyEngland Luke Simmonds6–2
2001/2002Event 1Wales James ReynoldsEngland Steve Judd6–5
Event 2Republic of Ireland Leo FernandezWales Ryan Day6–3
Event 3England Lee SpickRepublic of Ireland Joe Delaney6–3
Event 4England David GilbertWales Ryan Day6–3
2002/2003Event 1England Chris MellingEngland Tom Ford6–2
Event 2England Adrian RosaEngland Stuart Mann6–5
Event 3England Michael RhodesEngland Luke Simmonds6–5
Event 4Norway Kurt MaflinEngland James Leadbetter6–2
2003/2004Event 1England Stefan MazrocisEngland Paul Davison6–2
Event 2Scotland Hugh AbernethyEngland Gary Wilson6–0
Event 3England Brian SalmonEngland Steve James6–1
Event 4England Gary WilsonChina Jin Long6–4
2004/2005Event 1England Jamie CopeEngland Chris Norbury6–2
Event 2England James TattonEngland Matthew Barnes6–4
Event 3Scotland James McBainNorthern Ireland Mark Allen6–3
Event 4England Jamie CopeEngland Matthew Couch6–0
Pro Challenge Series (non-ranking)
2009/2010Event 1Scotland Stephen MaguireScotland Alan McManus5–2
Event 2 [a]Republic of Ireland Ken DohertyEngland Martin Gould6–2
Event 3England Robert MilkinsEngland Joe Jogia5–3
Event 4Cancelled
Event 5 [b]England Barry HawkinsEngland Michael Holt5–1
Challenge Tour (amateur)
2018/2019Event 1England Brandon SargeantEngland Luke Simmonds3–1
Event 2England David GraceEngland Mitchell Mann3–0
Event 3England Barry PinchesWales Jackson Page3–2
Event 4England Mitchell MannWales Dylan Emery3–0
Event 5England David LilleyEngland Brandon Sargeant3–1
Event 6England David GraceEngland Ben Hancorn3–0
Event 7England Joel WalkerEngland Jenson Kendrick3–0
Event 8–
Event 9–
Event 10–

Notes

  • a Played under the variant six-red format.
  • b Event 4 was cancelled, so Event 5 ended up being the fourth and final event.

Order of Merit winners

[2]

Season Winner
UK Tour
1997/1998Scotland Paul McPhillips
1998/1999England Alfie Burden
1999/2000England Barry Hawkins
Challenge Tour
2000/2001England Shaun Murphy
2001/2002Wales Ryan Day
2002/2003England Martin Gould
2003/2004England Brian Salmon
2004/2005England Jamie Cope

References

  1. 1 2 "World Snooker Challenge Tour 2018/19". worldsnooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "WPBSA Secondary Professional Tour". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hayton, Eric (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker. Suffolk: Rose Villa Publications. pp. Introduction, 166, 167 & 171–186. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
  4. ↑ "2000 / 2001 Challenge Tour". fcsnooker. Preston, Lancashire: The Frank Callan Suite. 26 April 2002. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Hendon, Dave (30 June 2009). "Pro Challenge Series Launched". Snooker Scene Blog. Snooker Scene. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  6. ↑ Hendon, Dave (2 March 2010). "Pro Challenge Series Axed". Snooker Scene Blog. Snooker Scene. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Pro Challenge Series 2009/10". Global Snooker. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.