The 2006 Masters (officially the 2006 SAGA Insurance Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 15 to 22 January 2006 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. It was the 32nd edition of the tournament, and the last time that the tournament was held at this venue. The tournament was part of the 2005/2006 season.
John Higgins won his 2nd Masters title by defeating defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–9 in a reverse of last year's final.
Field
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion Shaun Murphy seeded 2. Places were allocated to the leading players in the world rankings. With Murphy having a ranking of 21, Ian McCulloch, ranked 16, was not an automatic invitation. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Stuart Bingham (ranked 37), and McCulloch, who was the wild-card selection. Stuart Bingham and Ian McCulloch were making their debuts in the Masters.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Qualifying stage
Winner: £2,000
Runner-up: £680
Semi-final: £250
Quarter-final: £105
Total: £3,600
Televised stage
Winner: £125,000
Runner Up: £60,000
Semi-final: £30,000
Quarter-final: £15,000
Last 16: £10,000
Last 18 (seeded): £10,000
Last 18 (wild-cards): £2,000
Highest break: £10,000
Maximum break: £25,000
Wild-card round
In the preliminary "wild-card round", the two wild-card players were drawn against the players seeded 15th and 16th:
Main draw
Final
Qualifying
The 2005 Masters Qualifying Event was held between 20 and 23 November 2005 at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales. The winner who qualified for the tournament, was Stuart Bingham.
Century breaks
Televised stage centuries
Total: 11
139, 138, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan
138, 100 Peter Ebdon
116, 102 Graeme Dott
115, 101 Shaun Murphy
110 John Higgins
101 Stephen Lee
Qualifying stage centuries
147, 114, 109, 101 Stuart Bingham
140, 106, 100 Fergal O'Brien
132, 120, 116, 116 Ding Junhui
132, 106, 101 Barry Hawkins
130, 100 Ryan Day
127, 105 Judd Trump
127 Jamie Cope
125, 117, 114, 111 Robin Hull
125, 102, 101 Joe Swail
122 Michael Judge
120 Ricky Walden
114 Patrick Wallace
112, 100 Alfie Burden
111 James Tatton
110 Lee Spick
107 Ali Carter
References
Masters (snooker) Masters Masters (snooker) Masters (snooker)