Australian Goldfields Open 2011 - preview

Hello there my dearest readers from all corners of the world! It's been quite a month, with the Wuxi Classic from China and the recently ended World Cup from Thailand, but the fun has only just begun.


The Australian Goldfields Open is about to start, in Bendigo and for the next seven days we shall experience the true delight of classical snooker. This means that we won't see any of those tricky, long and sometimes boring doubles frame from the World Cup and we'll focus on good old snooker.
The Australian tournament is at its first edition and will run from 18 of July until the 24th of the same month, bringing the best players together in the first major ranking event of this season (PTC Event 1 is a minor one if you were asking).


Down Under snooker has been calling for a tournament for years and now its wish has came true, the Australian Goldfields Open standing as a testimony of how much this fine country has involved in snooker. Neil Robertson, its best export so far, won the 2010 World Championship to raise his beloved country's flag in the Crucible and that has had a huge impact for the birth of this new competition.


Sadly we won’t see the likes of Graeme Dott and Ronnie O'Sullivan, both of them pulling out of this event due to medical reasons, but we will see Mark Williams, John Higgins, the mighty Stephen Hendry and the "Darling of Dublin” Ken Doherty, who's qualified for the event. Big names will appear on your TV screens these days, so you better keep an eye on them.


There isn't really too much to say about this tournament since this is its first edition, but here's my tip: it will be a great opportunity to see the rustiness disappear. You know ... the rustiness that comes after a season ended and a new one has begun. So, I'm sure we’ll see some really cracking matches, some spectaculars defeats and some pretty entertaining cue battles.


The champion will go home with $60,000 in his pocket, which for many won’t be too much, but keep in mind this is an inaugural edition, that this year will have a lot of tournaments all over the world and that the economic crises hasn't left us. Also, the winner will cash 5,000 ranking points that will definitely have a value for his position in the "snooker charts".


Here's is Day 1 list of matches:


04:00 (UK time)
followed by


10:30 (UK time)


TV coverage:


The players will perform under the rule of "best of 9" up to and including the quarter-finals, the semis being played as "best of 11", while for the big final "the best of 17" rule will be applied.


Best of luck to all the players and see you at the end of the day for the first impressions. :-)