The 2019 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament, that took place from 15 to 18 August 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the first event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour. It was the tenth World Seniors Championship, first held in 1991. The event had a total prize fund of £63,500 up from £18,000 the previous year, with £15,000 more for the winner, at £25,000.
Aaron Canavan was the defending champion, having won the 2018 edition with a 4–3 victory against Patrick Wallace in the final. However, he lost 3–1 to Leo Fernandez in the quarter finals. Jimmy White won the title, defeating Darren Morgan 5–3 in the final.
Overview
The World Seniors Championship is a snooker tournament that first took place in 1991. The event is open to players over 40 who are not in the top 64 of the world rankings. The 2019 event took place from 15 to 18 August 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the first event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour and the 10th edition of the World Seniors Championship. The event featured 20 participants, with matches being contested as the best-of-5 , until the final, which was a best-of-9. Aaron Canavan was the defending champion, having won the 2018 edition with a 4–3 victory against Patrick Wallace in the final.
Prize fund
The breakdown of the tournament prizes is shown below: Winner: £25,000 Runner-up: £10,000 Semi-finalist: £7,500 Quarter-finalist: £3,000 Highest break: £1,500 Total: £63,500
Participants
Fourteen players were invited to play at the event, ten by the WPBSA and four by continental governing bodies:
Aaron Canavan (defending champion) Jimmy White Joe Johnson Stephen Hendry John Parrott Cliff Thorburn Dennis Taylor Tony Drago Tony Knowles Willie Thorne James Wattana Darren Morgan (European Billiard Snooker Association nomination) Wael Talaat (Asian Billiard Snooker Federation nomination) Replaced by Mohammed Abdelkader Chen Gang (Chinese Billiard Snooker Association nomination) Dene O'Kane (Oceanic Billiard Snooker Federation nomination) In addition, six qualifying events took place during the World Seniors Tour 2018–19, with winners receiving a place at the event.
WSC Q1 2–4 November: Crucible Sports Club, Newbury, England
Qualifier: Rhydian Richards
WSC Q2 16–18 November: Route es Nouaux, Jersey
Qualifier: Stuart Watson
WSC Q3 7–9 December: Corner Bank Sports Bar & Grill, Toronto, Canada
Qualifier: Joris Maas
WSC Q4 14–16 December: Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey, England
Qualifier: Leo Fernandez
WSC Q5 12–14 January: CBSA World Snooker Academy, Beijing, China
Qualifier: Au Chi-wai
WSC Q6 25–27 January: Q Ball Snooker and Pool, Houston, Texas, United States
Qualifier: Igor Figueiredo
Summary
The first two rounds were played on 15 and 16 August 2019 as the best of 5 frames. Four matches were held as qualifiers to reach the last 16. Both James Wattana and Darren Morgan won their matches 3–0, with Wattana making the only century break of the tournament, a 113 in the opening frame. Chinese player Chen Gang and Maltese player Tony Drago also qualified after 3–1 and 3–2 victories. Three of the four would also win their second round match, with Chen defeating Cliff Thorburn, Morgan defeating John Parrott and Wattana completing a whitewash over Joe Johnson. Leo Fernandez and Stephen Hendry also completed second round 3–0 whitewash victories over Joris Maas and Drago, respectively.
The quarter-finals were held on 17 August as the best of five frames. Fernandez completed a 3–1 victory over defending champion Canavan, White defeated Stuart Watson 3–2 whilst Wattana defeated Gang and Morgan defeated Hendry 3–1. The quarter-finals were prefaced by a women's exhibition four player tournament, won by Reanne Evans. The semi-finals, played on 18 August were held between White and Wattana, and Morgan and Fernandez. White won his match 3-1 before Morgan completed a 3-0 victory in the second semi-final.
The final was played on 19 August as the best of nine frames. Morgan won the opening frame, before White made a break of 55 to win the second. White took a 3-2 lead after a break of 53 in frame five. Morgan took frame six to tie the match before White made the highest break of the final, an 86. White took the next frame to complete a 5-3 victory and win the event for the second time. Having lost the World Snooker Championship final at the venue six times, this was the first tournament that White had won at the Crucible Theatre.
Main draw
The draw for the event is shown below. Players in bold denote match winners.