The British Open is a professional snooker tournament, established in 1980 and held as a ranking tournament from 1985. Originally known as the British Gold Cup, the event has had various sponsors and venues over the early years, until the 2005–06 season where it was initially dropped. The "FA Cup-like" flat draws format was introduced in 1990 from the last 32 stage of the event The reigning champion is Shaun Murphy who won his first title in 2025. The record for the most titles is held by Englishman Steve Davis with five, one ahead of Scots Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.
History
The tournament began in 1980 as the British Gold Cup in the Derby Assembly Rooms. It was a sixteen-man invitation event and was played on a round robin basis with the group winners advancing to the semi-finals. The next year Yamaha took over sponsorship and the tournament was renamed the Yamaha Organs Trophy. The next year the tournaments name was changed to International Masters. The top eight of the first round robin stage played in two further groups and the winners advanced to the final. For 1984 the field of the tournament was increased to 27 and nine three-man groups were organised. The winners played in three semi-final groups and the winners played in a three-man round robin final. The revived 2021 event recorded two maximum breaks. Higgins made one in the first frame of his first round win over Alexander Ursenbacher, while Ali Carter made his during the second frame of his fourth round match against Elliot Slessor. The ninth maximum was made in 2022 by Mark Selby in the third round against Jack Lisowski. The most recent maximum break was compiled in 2024 by Mark Allen in his third round match against Ben Mertens.
Winners
|
|
| style="text-align: center" | 5–1
| Assembly Rooms
| Derby, England
| 1979/80
|-
| colspan=7 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | Yamaha Organs Trophy (non-ranking, 1981)
|-
| 1981
|
|
| style="text-align: center" | 9–6
| Assembly Rooms
| Derby, England
| 1980/81
|-
| colspan=7 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | International Masters (non-ranking, 1982–1984)
|-
| 1982
|
|
| style="text-align: center" | 9–7
| rowspan=3 | Assembly Rooms
| rowspan=3 | Derby, England
| 1981/82
|-
| 1983
| 1983/84
|-
| colspan=7 style="text-align: center; background-color: #c0ffc0" | British Open (ranking, 1985–2004)
|-
| 1985