The Australian Goldfields Open is a snooker

Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

 ranking

Snooker world rankings

The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. They are maintained by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association...

 tournament. Australia had previously hosted the 1971 and 1975 World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship

The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...

s, as well as several other high profile snooker tournaments and in 1979 the Australian Masters was established. 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 2011 the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, often abbreviated to the WPBSA, founded in 1968 and based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards...

 resurrected the event under the Australian Goldfields Open name and added it to the 2011/2012 calendar

Snooker season 2011/2012

The 2011/12 snooker season is a series of snooker tournaments played during 2011 and 2012. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :-New professional players:...

.

Winners

Year	Winner	Opponent	Final score	Season
Australian Masters (non-ranking)
1979	South Africa Perrie Mans Perrie Mans Pierre "Perrie" Mans is a retired professional snooker player from South Africa, who first won the South African professional championship in 1965, and went on to win it 19 times in total.-Career:...	Ian Anderson	The finals were decided on aggregate score over three frames (between 1979–1982) and five frames (in 1987)	1979/80
1980	John Spencer John Spencer (snooker player) John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition...	Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor is a retired snooker player, and current BBC snooker commentator. Winner of two ranking events, he is best known for winning the 1985 World Championship, beating World number one Steve Davis on the final black in one of the sport's most memorable finals...		1980/81
1980	Tony Meo	John Spencer John Spencer (snooker player) John Spencer was an English professional snooker player who won the World Professional title at his first attempt, was the first winner at the Crucible Theatre, was the inaugural winner of the Masters and Irish Masters and was the first player to make a 147 break in competition...		1981/82
1982	Steve Davis Steve Davis Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...	Eddie Charlton Eddie Charlton Edward Francis Charlton AM was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title...		1982/83
1983	Cliff Thorburn Cliff Thorburn Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn CM, known as Cliff Thorburn is a retired professional Canadian snooker player...	Bill Werbeniuk Bill Werbeniuk William Alexander "Bill" Werbeniuk was a Canadian professional snooker and pool player. Recognisable for his girth, he was nicknamed "Big Bill"...	7–3	1983/84 Snooker season 1983/1984 The snooker season 1983/1984 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1983 and 1984. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1984	Tony Knowles Tony Knowles (snooker player) Anthony Knowles is an English professional snooker player. He was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s.-Career:...	John Virgo John Virgo John Virgo is an English former professional snooker player and more recently a snooker commentator and TV personality.- Career :...	7–3	1984/85 Snooker season 1984/1985 The snooker season 1984/1985 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1984 and 1985. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1985	Tony Meo	John Campbell John Campbell (snooker player) John Campbell is a former Australian professional snooker player, who was over 6 feet tall, who consistently reached the last 16 of many ranking tournaments, peaking at number 18 in the world rankings in 1986...	3–2	1985/86 Snooker season 1985/1986 The snooker season 1985/1986 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1985 and 1986. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1986	Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor Dennis Taylor is a retired snooker player, and current BBC snooker commentator. Winner of two ranking events, he is best known for winning the 1985 World Championship, beating World number one Steve Davis on the final black in one of the sport's most memorable finals...	Steve Davis Steve Davis Steve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...	3–2	1986/87 Snooker season 1986/1987 The snooker season 1986/1987 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1986 and 1987. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
1987	Stephen Hendry Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...	Mike Hallett Mike Hallett Mike Hallett is an English professional snooker player and television sports commentator.-Career:Hallett was a consistently solid snooker player, but never achieved the very top ranks...	371–226	1987/88 Snooker season 1987/1988 The snooker season 1986/1987 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1986 and 1987. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
Hong Kong Open (ranking)
1989	Mike Hallett Mike Hallett Mike Hallett is an English professional snooker player and television sports commentator.-Career:Hallett was a consistently solid snooker player, but never achieved the very top ranks...	Dene O'Kane Dene O'Kane Dene O'Kane is a professional snooker player from New Zealand. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships in 1987 and 1992. He made his World Championship debut in 1985, losing to David Taylor in the first round. He appeared in the world championships six times, but never in...	9–8	1989/90 Snooker season 1989/1990 The snooker season 1989/1990 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1989 and 1990. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
Australian Open (non-ranking)
1994	John Higgins	Willie Thorne Willie Thorne William Joseph "Willie" Thorne , is a former English professional snooker player and now a sports commentator.Thorne became national under-16 champion at both snooker and English billiards in 1970...	9–5	1994/95 Snooker season 1994/1995 The snooker season 1994/1995 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1994 and 1995. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
Australian Masters (non-ranking)
1995	Anthony Hamilton Anthony Hamilton (snooker player) Anthony Hamilton is an English professional snooker player noted for his strong break-building technique and distinctive appearance. He has spent five seasons ranked among the game's top 16, and fifteen in the top 32, reaching a career-high at number #10 in the world in the 1999/2000 season...	Chris Small Chris Small Christopher "Chris" Small is a retired Scottish professional snooker player. His career was ended by the spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis.-Career:...	8–6	1995/96 Snooker season 1995/1996 The snooker season 1995/1996 was a series of snooker tournaments played during the years 1995 and 1996. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events.-Calendar:...
Australian Goldfields Open (ranking)
2011 2011 Australian Goldfields Open -Final:-Qualifying:These matches took place between 26 and 30 June 2011 at the World Snooker Academy, Sheffield, England. David Gilbert was the only player to go through all four rounds of qualifying to make it to the main stage.-Preliminary round:...	Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player. He was the 1996 English Amateur and World Amateur champion, but for many years was something of a journeyman professional. He had a run of strong results in late 2005, to earn him a top 32 world rankings place he has yet to lose...	Mark Williams Mark Williams (snooker player) Mark James Williams, MBE is a Welsh professional snooker player who has been World Champion twice, in 2000 and 2003. Often noted for his single-ball potting, he has earned the nickname, The Welsh Potting Machine...	9–8	2011/12 Snooker season 2011/2012 The 2011/12 snooker season is a series of snooker tournaments played during 2011 and 2012. The following table outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.- Calendar :-New professional players:...