World Open. Snooker's 4th major?

[Where's Willie?]

When the BBC showed 4 events per season I always felt that snooker, like tennis and golf, had 4 obvious 'majors': World Championship, UK Championship, Masters and the Grand Prix.

Last year the Grand Prix was re-named World Open but still played at the same time of year and still shown on the BBC.

Now it's moved to March and played in China with no BBC coverage I was just wondering, is this still snooker's 4th major or just another ranking event? It would be interesting to know if the players would place this above the China Open or Shanghai Masters in terms of importance.

Do we now have to accept that snooker only has 3 majors?

Also, does anyone know if they've ditched the unpopular best of 5s from 2010 World Open?

[LittleMissAlexa]

When the BBC showed 4 events per season I always felt that snooker, like tennis and golf, had 4 obvious 'majors': World Championship, UK Championship, Masters and the Grand Prix.

Last year the Grand Prix was re-named World Open but still played at the same time of year and still shown on the BBC.

Now it's moved to March and played in China with no BBC coverage I was just wondering, is this still snooker's 4th major or just another ranking event? It would be interesting to know if the players would place this above the China Open or Shanghai Masters in terms of importance.

Do we now have to accept that snooker only has 3 majors?

Also, does anyone know if they've ditched the unpopular best of 5s from 2010 World Open?

very anglocentric to believe it has to be on bbc to be a major

actually not all the golf majors are on the bbc just the masters and open

[Where's Willie?]

I don't think events have to be on the BBC to be considered majors. Nor do I think they have to be played in the UK.

I just think the players have always elevated the BBC events over the non-BBC events. They used to talk about winning "all 4 majors"
quite often. Now it is the triple crown (worlds, uk & masters). This makes me think that the world open/grand prix has lost some of
its prestige. Almost like it's been downgraded.

[Odrl]

The prize money and format is the same as China Open, so I wouldn't say it's in any way more prestigious. You can't realistically consider this tournament as the successor to the Grand Prix, as they have nothing in common. The Grand Prix is part of history now, it was effectively cancelled last season.

This event isn't even the same World Open from last season, as far as I'm concerned. You can't just re-use the same name for a new tournament and expect to keep all of its history and prestige. It's a new season, new venue, new country, new format, new slot on the calendar. The only link is the same organizer, because World Snooker organizes all of the events anyway. ;)

[FOXMULDER]

I never considered the Grand Prix to be a 'major'.
To me, snooker only ever had three majors - UK, Masters, World. And that remains the case.

[Where's Willie?]

The prize money and format is the same as China Open, so I wouldn't say it's in any way more prestigious. You can't realistically consider this tournament as the successor to the Grand Prix, as they have nothing in common. The Grand Prix is part of history now, it was effectively cancelled last season.

This event isn't even the same World Open from last season, as far as I'm concerned. You can't just re-use the same name for a new tournament and expect to keep all of its history and prestige. It's a new season, new venue, new country, new format, new slot on the calendar. The only link is the same organizer, because World Snooker organizes all of the events anyway. ;)

Fair point. I think they still use the same trophy as the Grand Prix though (certainly did for 2010 World Open anyway) and I'm sure they'll still refer to Neil Robertson as defending champion. You could even argue he's going for 3 in a row as he won 2009 Grand Prix as well.

Maybe it was just me that thought of the Grand Prix as a major!