Daily Mail Gold Cup
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | mostly at Thurston's Hall |
| Location | London |
| Country | England |
| Established | 1935 |
| Organisation(s) | BACC |
| Format | Round-robin handicap |
| Final year | 1939/40 |
| Final champion(s) |
 Alec Brown
|
The Daily Mail Gold Cup was an important professional cue sports tournament from 1935 to 1940. In the first two tournaments it was contested as an billiards event before becoming a snooker event. It was sponsored by the Daily Mail. The tournament was suspended following the 1939/40 event and not played again. The concept of a handicap snooker tournament was revived for the 1948 Sunday Empire News Tournament.
The tournament was always played as a round-robin handicap event. Most matches were played at Thurston's Hall in London, England, although, in most seasons, a few matches were played in other major cities. Matches lasted a week (Monday to Saturday) and generally followed each other, week after week, so that the tournament ran for an extended period of about 3 months.
The first two tournaments were billiards events. In the first tournament in early 1935 there were 5 competitors: Joe Davis, Tom Newman, Willie Smith, Melbourne Inman and Tom Reece. The event was a "sealed handicap" in which the handicap for each match was determined before the event started but was not disclosed to the players until after the tournament finished. Tom Newman won the Gold Cup, winning all his four matches, ahead of Willie Smith who had three wins.
The second event had the same format as the first and was played in early 1936. There were 7 competitors. Willie Smith did not play but there were three new players: Claude Falkiner, Horace Lindrum and Sidney Smith. With 5 wins Melbourne Inman won the tournament, winning five of his six matches, ahead of Sidney Smith who had four wins.
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