Snooker Masters
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| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Alexandra Palace |
| Location | London |
| Country | England |
| Established | 1975 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £600,000 |
| Recent edition | 2017 |
| Current champion(s) |
 Ronnie O'Sullivan
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The Masters is a professional invitational snooker tournament. Held every year since 1975, it is the second longest running tournament behind the World Championship. It is one of the Triple Crown events, and although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit. The reigning champion is Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The Masters began as an invitational event for 10 top players. The field was expanded to 12 competitors in 1981, and 16 in 1983. Since 1984, the standard invitees have been the top 16 players in the world rankings, with the addition of two or three wild-card places in tournaments held between 1990 and 2010.
Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for the most Masters titles, having won the tournament seven times. Stephen Hendry has won six titles. Cliff Thorburn, Steve Davis, Mark Selby, and Paul Hunter have each won the Masters three times; in 2016, the Masters trophy was renamed the Paul Hunter Trophy in honour of Hunter, who died in 2006, aged 27.Alex Higgins, Mark Williams, and John Higgins have each won the title twice.
Three maximum breaks have been made in the history of the tournament, all by overseas players. Canada's Kirk Stevens made the first in 1984, China's Ding Junhui made the second in 2007, and Hong Kong's Marco Fu made the third in 2015.
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Wikipedia