2005–06 snooker season

The 2005–06 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 17 May 2005 and 10 May 2006. There were six ranking tournaments, and the British Open and Irish Masters tournaments were removed from calendar.^[1][2] The Northern Ireland Trophy was held for the first time as non-ranking tournament,^[3] and the Pot Black was held again after a 12-year hiatus.^[4]

2005–06 snooker season

Details
Duration	17 May 2005 – 10 May 2006 (2005-05-17 – 2006-05-10)
Tournaments	24 (6 ranking events)
Triple Crown winners
UK Championship	Ding Junhui
Masters	John Higgins
World Championship	Graeme Dott
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

New professional players

Countries

•  Bahrain
•  China
•  England
•  Malaysia
•  Malta
•  Northern Ireland
•  Scotland

Note: new in this case means that these players were not on the 2004/2005 professional Main Tour.

International champions[5] IBSF World Snooker Championship winner: Mark Allen IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship winner: Gary Wilson EBSA European Snooker Championships winner: Alex Borg EBSA European Under-19 Snooker Championships winner: Chris Norbury ACBS Asian Snooker Championship winner: Jin Long ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship winner: Moh Keen Ho WPBSA Wildcard[5] Judd Trump Habib Subah Liang Wenbo

From Challenge Tour[5][6] Jamie Cope Lee Spick Justin Astley Matthew Couch Chris Norbury James Tatton Stuart Mann David Gilbert James McBain

Calendar

The following table outlines the results and dates for the ranking and major invitational events that took place.^[7]

World Snooker Tour

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
17 Aug	21 Aug	NIR	Northern Ireland Trophy	Waterfront Hall	Belfast	Matthew Stevens	Stephen Hendry	9–7	[8][9]
8 Oct	16 Oct	ENG	Grand Prix	Guild Hall	Preston	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–2	[10]
29 Oct		ENG	Pot Black	Royal Automobile Club	London	Matthew Stevens	Shaun Murphy	1–0	[11]
20 Nov	23 Nov	WAL	Masters Qualifying Event	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Stuart Bingham	Ali Carter	6–3	[12]
15 Sep	4 Dec	ENG	Premier League	G-Mex Centre	Manchester	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Hendry	6–0	[13]
5 Dec	18 Dec	ENG	UK Championship	Barbican Centre	York	Ding Junhui	Steve Davis	10–6	[14]
15 Jan	22 Jan	ENG	Masters	Wembley Conference Centre	London	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	10–9	[15][16]
30 Jan	5 Feb	MLT	Malta Cup	Hilton Conference Center	Portomaso	Ken Doherty	John Higgins	9–8	[17]
27 Feb	5 Mar	WAL	Welsh Open	Newport Centre	Newport	Stephen Lee	Shaun Murphy	9–4	[18][19]
20 Mar	26 Mar	CHN	China Open	Beijing University Students' Gymnasium	Beijing	Mark Williams	John Higgins	9–8	[20][21]
15 Apr	1 May	ENG	World Championship	Crucible Theatre	Sheffield	Graeme Dott	Peter Ebdon	18–14	[22]

Ranking event

Non-ranking event

World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
24 Sep	25 Sep	ENG	British Open	Savoy Snooker Centre	Snodland	June Banks	Reanne Evans	4–0	[23]
29 Oct	29 Oct	ENG	UK Ladies Championship	Landywood Snooker Hall	Walsall	Reanne Evans	Maria Catalano	4–0	[24]
26 Nov	26 Nov	ENG	East Anglian Championship	Cambridge Snooker Centre	Cambridge	June Banks	Reanne Evans	4–3	[25]
4 Feb	4 Feb	ENG	Northern Championship	Regal Snooker Centre	Preston	Maria Catalano	June Banks	4–1	[26]
25 Feb	25 Feb	ENG	Connie Gough Memorial	Rileys Snooker Club	Luton	Maria Catalano	Reanne Evans	4–3	[27]
1 Apr	6 Apr	ENG	World Women's Championship	Cambridge Snooker Centre	Cambridge	Reanne Evans	Emma Bonney	5–3	[28]

Pontin's International Open Series

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
17 May	21 May	WAL	PIOS I	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Tian Pengfei	Martin Gould	6–3	[29][30]
17 Jun	21 Jun	WAL	PIOS II	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Mark Joyce	James Leadbetter	6–3	[31][32]
2 Sep	7 Sep	WAL	PIOS III	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Liu Song	Stephen Rowlings	6–1	[33][34]
14 Oct	19 Oct	WAL	PIOS IV	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Colm Gilcreest	Mark Joyce	6–3	[35][36]
28 Nov	1 Dec	WAL	PIOS V	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Chris Melling	Paul Davison	6–5	[37][38]
17 Feb	20 Feb	WAL	PIOS VI	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Liu Song	Paul Davison	6–3	[39][40]
6 Mar	9 Mar	WAL	PIOS VII	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Tian Pengfei	Liu Song	6–3	[41]
8 May	10 May	WAL	PIOS VIII	Pontin's	Prestatyn	Andrew Higginson	Jamie O'Neill	6–3	[42]

Other events

Start	Finish	Country	Tournament name	Venue	City	Winner	Runner-up	Score	Ref.
20 Jul	24 Jul	GER	World Games	Saalbau Bottrop	Duisburg	Gerard Greene	Ding Junhui	4–3	[43][44]
1 Oct	3 Oct	GER	Fürth German Open	Stadthalle	Fürth	Mark King	Michael Holt	4–2	[45]
22 Oct	26 Oct	IRL	Irish Professional Championship	Spawell Sport & Leisure Complex	Templeogue	Joe Swail	Ken Doherty	9–7	[46]
25 Nov	27 Nov	SUI	Swiss Open	Billard Center Im Funken	Zofingen	Ricky Walden	Ken Doherty	5–3	[47]
17 Dec	18 Dec	NED	Dutch Open	De Dieze	's-Hertogenbosch	Bjorn Haneveer	Michael Holt	6–1	[48]

Official rankings

Main article: Snooker world rankings 2005/2006

The top 16 of the world rankings, these players automatically played in the final rounds of the world ranking events and were invited for the Masters.^[49][50][51]

No.	Ch.	Player	Points 2003/04	Points 2004/05	Total
1		Ronnie O'Sullivan	26650	23162	49812
2		Stephen Hendry	20800	21337	42137
3		Stephen Maguire	14025	19725	33750
4		Matthew Stevens	18450	19725	33712
5		Paul Hunter	18925	13200	32125
6		John Higgins	16212	15812	32024
7		Peter Ebdon	15525	15650	31175
8		Jimmy White	18175	12787	30962
9		Mark Williams	16912	12837	29749
10		Stephen Lee	14025	15625	29650
11		Ken Doherty	13237	15887	29124
12		Alan McManus	12825	15975	28800
13		Graeme Dott	14812	13500	28312
14		Joe Perry	15900	11250	27150
15		Steve Davis	11212	15775	26987
16		Ian McCulloch	12075	14537	26612

World ranking points

Main article: Snooker world rankings 2006/2007

The rankings for the 2006–07 season were based on the total points from the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. There were 6 ranking events during the 2005–06 season.

Points distribution

2005/2006 Points distribution for world ranking events:^[52]

Tournament	Round →	L96	L80	L64	L48	L32	L16	QF	SF	F	W
Grand Prix[53]	Unseeded loser	400	–	900	–	1400	1900	2500	3200	4000	5000
	Seeded loser	250	–	450	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
UK Championship[54][55]	Unseeded loser	600	975	1350	1725	2100	2850	3750	4800	6000	7500
	Seeded loser	300	488	675	863	1050	–	–	–	–	–
Malta Cup[56][57]	Unseeded loser	400	650	900	1150	1400	1900	2500	3200	4000	5000
	Seeded loser	200	325	450	575	700	–	–	–	–	–
Welsh Open[58]	Unseeded loser	400	650	900	1150	1400	1900	2500	3200	4000	5000
	Seeded loser	200	325	450	575	700	–	–	–	–	–
China Open[59][60]	Unseeded loser	400	650	900	1150	1400	1900	2500	3200	4000	5000
	Seeded loser	200	325	450	575	700	–	–	–	–	–
World Championship[61][62]	Unseeded loser	800	1300	1800	2300	2800	3800	5000	6400	8000	10000
	Seeded loser	400	650	900	1150	1400	–	–	–	–	–

Notes