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Australian Goldfields Open

{{EngvarB|date=April 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox Snooker tournament

|tournament_name = Australian Goldfields Open

|image =

|venue = Bendigo Stadium

|location = Bendigo

|country = Australia

|establishment = 1979

|organisation = World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

|format = Ranking event

|prizefund = $500,000{{cite web|last1=Kalb |first1=Rolf |title=Turnier-Infos: Australian Open |url=https://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/australian-open-turnier-infos-australian-open-184738235--spt.html |publisher=Eurosport Deutschland |access-date=30 June 2014 |language=de |date=29 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714203243/https://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/australian-open-turnier-infos-australian-open-184738235--spt.html |archive-date=14 July 2014 }}

|final year = 2015

|Current Champion =

|Final Champion = {{flagicon|SCO}} John Higgins

}}

The Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament. The final champion was John Higgins in 2015.

History

Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championships, as well as several other high-profile snooker tournaments and in 1979 the Australian Masters was established. There was an attempt to turn the event into a ranking tournament in 1989 but the sponsorship fell through so it was staged in Hong Kong instead, as the Hong Kong Open, which incidentally became the first ranking tournament to be staged in Asia. The Hong Kong event was discontinued after just one year, but returned to Australia in 1994 as the Australian Open. The tournament reverted to being called the Australian Masters for the following season, but was dropped from the calendar after the 1995 event. In addition, the tournament was also held in 1995 as the Australian Open immediately following the Australian Masters, featuring mostly the same players and the same two players in the final.{{cite book|last=Hayton|first=Eric|title=Cuesport Book of Professional Snooker|page=167}} In 2011 the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association resurrected the event under the Australian Goldfields Open name and added it to the 2011/2012 calendar.

The tournament's later incarnation providing the first ranking tournament victories for future World Champion Stuart Bingham and future world finalist Barry Hawkins and arguably resurrected the careers of these two players who had previously been considered journeyman professionals, who had previously hovered between the fringes of the top 16 and top 32.

In 2016, the event was quietly dropped from the calendar.

Winners

class="wikitable" style="margin: auto"
style="text-align: center; background-color: #00af00" | Year

! style="text-align: left; background-color: #00af00" | Winner

! style="text-align: left; background-color: #00af00" | Runner-up

! style="text-align: left; background-color: #00af00" | Final score

! style="text-align: left; background-color: #00af00" | City

! style="text-align: left; background-color: #00af00" | Season

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Australian Masters (non-ranking){{Cite web|last=Turner|first=Chris|title=Australian Masters|publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive|url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/AustMas.html|access-date=10 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100930185746/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/AustMas.html|archive-date=30 September 2010}}
1979

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Ian Anderson

| {{Flagicon|South Africa|1928}} Perrie Mans

| style="text-align: center" |Aggregate Score The finals were decided on aggregate score over three frames between 1979 and 1982 and five frames in 1987.

|rowspan=9| {{flagicon|AUS}} Sydney

| 1979/80

1980

| {{flagicon|ENG}} John Spencer

| {{flagicon|NIR}} Dennis Taylor

| style="text-align: center" |Aggregate Score

| 1980/81

1981

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Tony Meo

| {{flagicon|ENG}} John Spencer

| style="text-align: center" |Aggregate Score

| 1981/82

1982

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Steve Davis

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Eddie Charlton

| style="text-align: center" |254–100 points

| 1982/83

1983

| {{flagicon|CAN}} Cliff Thorburn

| {{flagicon|CAN}} Bill Werbeniuk

| style="text-align: center" | 7–3

| 1983/84

1984

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Tony Knowles

| {{flagicon|ENG}} John Virgo

| style="text-align: center" | 7–3

| 1984/85

1985{{cite book|last=Hayton|first=Eric|title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker|year=2004|publisher=Rose Villa Publications|location=Lowestoft|isbn=0-9548549-0-X|page=31}}

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Tony Meo

| {{flagicon|AUS}} John Campbell

| style="text-align: center" | 7–2

| 1985/86

1986

| {{flagicon|NIR}} Dennis Taylor

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Steve Davis

| style="text-align: center" | 3–2

| 1986/87

1987

| {{flagicon|SCO}} Stephen Hendry

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Mike Hallett

| style="text-align: center" |371–226 points

| 1987/88

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Hong Kong Open (ranking)
1989{{Cite web |last=Turner |first=Chris |title=Other Asia Ranking Events |publisher=Chris Turner's Snooker Archive |url=http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Asia.html |access-date=14 June 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110724175039/http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Asia.html| archive-date= 24 July 2011 }}

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Mike Hallett

| {{flagicon|NZL}} Dene O'Kane

| style="text-align: center" | 9–8

| {{flagicon|HKG|1959}} Hong Kong

| 1989/90

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Australian Open (non-ranking)
1994{{Cite book |last=Hayton |first=Eric |title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker |year=2004 |publisher=Rose Villa Publications |location=Suffolk |isbn=978-0-9548549-0-4 |pages=165–167}}

| {{flagicon|SCO}} John Higgins

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Willie Thorne

| style="text-align: center" | 9–5

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Melbourne

| 1994/95

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Australian Masters (non-ranking)
1995

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Anthony Hamilton

| {{flagicon|SCO}} Chris Small

| style="text-align: center" | 8–6

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Melbourne

| 1995/96

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Australian Open (non-ranking)
1995

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Anthony Hamilton

| {{flagicon|SCO}} Chris Small

| style="text-align: center" | 9–7

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Melbourne

| 1995/96

colspan=6 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Australian Goldfields Open (ranking){{cite web|title=Hall of Fame|url=http://snooker.org/trn/hof.asp?pEvent=Australian|publisher=Snooker.org|access-date=22 June 2013}}
2011{{Cite news|title=Stuart Bingham beats Mark Williams 9–8 to win Australian Open |date=24 July 2011 |publisher=BBC Sport |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/snooker/14267221.stm |access-date=10 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501001551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/14267221 |archive-date=1 May 2012 |url-status=live }}

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Stuart Bingham

| {{flagicon|WAL}} Mark Williams

| style="text-align: center" | 9–8

|rowspan=5| {{flagicon|AUS}} Bendigo

| 2011/12

2012{{cite web | url=http://snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=177 | title=Australian Goldfields Open (2012) | publisher=Snooker.org | access-date=4 June 2012}}

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Barry Hawkins

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Peter Ebdon

| style="text-align: center" | 9–3

| 2012/13

2013{{cite web|url=http://snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=258|title=Australian Goldfields Open (2013)|publisher=Snooker.org|access-date=22 May 2012}}

| {{flagicon|HKG}} Marco Fu

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Neil Robertson

| style="text-align: center" | 9–6

| 2013/14

2014{{cite web|url=http://snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=333|title=Australian Goldfields Open (2014)|publisher=Snooker.org|access-date=23 May 2014}}

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Judd Trump

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Neil Robertson

| style="text-align: center" | 9–5

| 2014/15

2015{{cite web|url=http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=396|title=Australian Goldfields Open (2015)|publisher=Snooker.org|access-date=6 April 2015}}

| {{flagicon|SCO}} John Higgins

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Martin Gould

| style="text-align: center" | 9–8

| 2015/16

Notes

{{reflist|group=n}}

See also

{{Portal|Australia|Cue sports}}

References

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Australian Goldfields Open}}

{{snooker tournaments}}

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1979

Category:1979 establishments in Australia

Category:Snooker ranking tournaments

Category:Snooker competitions in Australia

Category:Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2015

Category:2015 disestablishments in Australia

Category:Defunct snooker competitions

Category:Defunct sports competitions in Australia