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.
The Australian Masters was initially sponsored by tobacco company Rothmans under their Winfield brand name. Until 1983, matches were of a single frame, like the BBC TV show Pot Black, with the final decided on the aggregate score over three frames. From 1983 the format changed to longer matches. It was mainly filmed in the Channel 10 TV studios in Sydney, although in 1984 the first round was held at the Parmatta Club, and the second round onwards was held in the studio. The 1987 edition was played between 29 June and 8 July 1987 at the North Sydney Anzac Memorial Club in Sydney.
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. 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 Year Winner Runner-up Final score City Season Australian Masters (non-ranking) 1979 Ian Anderson Perrie MansAggregate Score The finals were decided on aggregate score over three frames between 1979 and 1982 and five frames in 1987. Sydney 1979/80 1980 John Spencer Dennis TaylorAggregate Score 1980/81 1981 Tony Meo John SpencerAggregate Score 1981/82 1982 Steve Davis Eddie Charlton254–100 points 1982/83 1983 Cliff Thorburn Bill Werbeniuk 7–3 1983/84 1984 Tony Knowles John Virgo 7–3 1984/85 1985 Tony Meo John Campbell 7–2 1985/86 1986 Dennis Taylor Steve Davis 3–2 1986/87 1987 Stephen Hendry Mike Hallett371–226 points 1987/88 Hong Kong Open (ranking) 1989 Mike Hallett Dene O'Kane 9–8 Hong Kong 1989/90 Australian Open (non-ranking) 1994 John Higgins Willie Thorne 9–5 Melbourne 1994/95 Australian Masters (non-ranking) 1995 Anthony Hamilton Chris Small 8–6 Melbourne 1995/96 Australian Open (non-ranking) 1995 Anthony Hamilton Chris Small 9–7 Melbourne 1995/96 Australian Goldfields Open (ranking) 2011 Stuart Bingham Mark Williams 9–8 Bendigo 2011/12 2012 Barry Hawkins Peter Ebdon 9–3 2012/13 2013 Marco Fu Neil Robertson 9–6 2013/14 2014 Judd Trump Neil Robertson 9–5 2014/15 2015 John Higgins Martin Gould 9–8 2015/16
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