page_title: Masters (snooker)
section_title: 2004–present
hierarchical_section_title: Masters (snooker) / History / 2004–present
caption_attribution_description: English: London Masters 2012 Arena in Alexandra PalaceРусский: Арена турнира Мастерс 2012 в Лондоне. Александра Пэлэс
context_page_description: 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 three 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 Stuart Bingham.
  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 three, and Alex Higgins, Mark Williams and John Higgins two. In 2016, the Masters trophy was renamed the Paul Hunter Trophy in honour of the three-time champion, who died in 2006, aged 27. The oldest champion in Masters history is the reigning champion Stuart Bingham, who was aged 43 years and 243 days in 2020.
context_section_description: After 2003, Benson & Hedges ended their sponsorship of the Masters tournament due to UK restrictions on tobacco advertising. The 2004 event was not sponsored. Rileys Club sponsored the event in 2005. There was no separate qualifying competition for the 2005 event, both wild-card places being awarded by the governing body, but the qualifying event returned the following season. SAGA Insurance took over sponsorship of the Masters in 2006 and agreed a deal later the same year to sponsor the event until 2009. The tournament was held at the Wembley Conference Centre for the last time in 2006, before the venue was demolished months later to make way for redevelopment.
  Following the death of Paul Hunter in October 2006, Jimmy White led calls for the Masters trophy or tournament to be renamed in honour of Hunter, who had won the title three times in four years between 2001 and 2004. Hunter's widow Lindsey later expressed her wishes for the trophy to be renamed, claiming that "...everybody expected it. Every player I've spoken to, every fan, thought it would be a definite". The sport's governing body, World Snooker, elected not to rename the trophy, making the following statement: "Our board unanimously agreed that the Paul Hunter Scholarship was the most fitting tribute. Just as Hunter himself rose swiftly through the amateur ranks, the scholarship will give a gifted young player the chance to fulfil his talent through elite training." It would be another nine years before the decision was taken to rename the trophy in honour of Hunter. On 20 April 2016, World Snooker announced the renaming of the trophy for the 2017 event, with chairman Barry Hearn stating that the organisation had "messed up" by not doing so sooner.
  Ronnie O'Sullivan appeared in four successive Masters finals from 2004 to 2007, winning the event in 2005 and 2007. Paul Hunter won the first of these four finals to claim his third Masters title in four years; recovering from 2–7 down, he made five century breaks on the way to a 10–9 victory. O'Sullivan defeated John Higgins in the 2005 final with a decisive 10–3 scoreline. The pair met in the final again the following year, both players producing a very high standard of play throughout the match. O'Sullivan won the second and third frames with back-to-back total clearances of 138 and 139, but lost all of the next five frames. He made a break of 60 in the deciding frame, before Higgins took the opportunity to make a clearance of 64, winning the title on the black. However, O'Sullivan redeemed himself in 2007 by defeating Ding Junhui 10–3 in the final, and then comforting the clearly upset youngster afterwards. A week earlier, Ding had become the second player to compile a maximum break at the Masters, in his match against Anthony Hamilton in the wild-card round.
  The Masters was held at Wembley Arena for the first time in 2007. In a slight change to the format, one extra discretionary wild-card place was awarded, bringing the total number of players up to 19. However, the original format with just two wild-card players was reinstated in 2008. SAGA Insurance pulled out of their sponsorship deal in the summer of 2008, leaving the Masters unsponsored in 2009. PokerStars.com sponsored the event in 2010, and the 2011 sponsor was Ladbrokes Mobile. The separate qualifying competition was not held for the 2011 event, and the use of wild-cards was discontinued at the same time. The 2011 final made history as it was the first to feature two Asian players. Wembley Arena was used as the venue for the last time in 2011, after which the tournament moved to the Alexandra Palace in London. BGC Partners sponsored the Masters in 2012, and the 2013 event was sponsored by Betfair. The tournament has been sponsored by Dafabet since 2014.
  Ronnie O'Sullivan won his seventh Masters title in 2017, overtaking Stephen Hendry's previous record of six. This was O'Sullivan's third Masters title in four years, having also won in 2014 and 2016. He reached the final again in 2019, extending his record number of appearances in the final to 13, in 2
caption: Arena inside the Alexandra Palace during the 2012 event
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