The Masters Qualifying Tournament was a professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

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 Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

became the inaugural champion. 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. 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 Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1994/1995 for three years, to

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

in 1997/1998 for four years and to

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

in 2001/2002 for two years. In 2003/2004 the event was renamed to Masters Qualifying Tournament due to restrictions on tobacco advertising in the United Kingdom. The event was held in

Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that the ...

; 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 The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

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 The English Institute of Sport (EIS), established in May 2002, is an organisation which provides sport science and medical support services to elite athletes through a nationwide network of expertise and facilities, working with Olympic and Pa ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

next season for three years. The event was last held in Prestatyn during the 2009/10 season. There has been five official

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

s during the history of the tournament. Karl Burrows made the first against

Adrian Rosa Adrian Rosa (born 17 January 1971) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Born in 1971, Rosa turned professional in 1991. He first progressed beyond the pre-qualifying rounds of any event at the 1991 Grand Prix, where he won ...

in 1999. The second was made in 2000 by David McLellan against Steve Meakin, the third in 2001 by

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

against Adrian Rosa and the fourth in 2002 by

Tony Drago Tony Drago (born 22 September 1965) is a Maltese former professional snooker and pool player. Known for his speed around the table, during his snooker career he won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 G ...

against

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

. The last came at the 2005 event by Bingham against

Marcus Campbell Marcus Campbell (born 22 September 1972) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He was ranked within the world's top 64 for 15 consecutive seasons. Career Campbell is most famous for whitewashing Stephen Hendry 9–0 in the 1998 ...

. 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.

Winners

References

{{Snooker tournaments Snooker minor-ranking tournaments Snooker non-ranking competitions Qualifiers Snooker competitions in the United Kingdom Recurring sporting events established in 1990 Recurring events disestablished in 2009 1990 establishments in Scotland 2009 disestablishments in Wales Defunct snooker competitions Defunct sports competitions in the United Kingdom