Brief History of the World Open
The Grand Prix which had run under various names since 1982 was replaced in the 2010/11 season with the World Open. This was a completely new type of event in which the main tour professionals were joined by 32 others, a mixture of regional qualifiers and invited amateurs. The tournament featured a random draw for all rounds although the top 64 players were seeded into rounds two and three according to their ranking. All matches up to the semi finals were played over the the best of only five frames with a best-of-nine final.
