The 2006 Malta Cup was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 30 January and 5 February 2006 at the Hilton Conference Center in Portomaso, Malta.
Ken Doherty won in the final 9–8 against John Higgins. Higgins had recovered from 2–5 down to lead 8–5 but Doherty won the last four frames to win the title.
This years tournament was also noteworthy for Ronnie O'Sullivan's decision not to compete, which cost him the World Number 1 ranking for the start of the following season and allowed Stephen Hendry to regain the number one position for the first time since 1999.
Wild-card round
Match Score WC1 Mark Allen 5–1 Joe Grech WC2 Robin Hull 5–2 Simon Zammit
Main draw
Final Final: Best of 17 framesHilton Conference Centre, Malta, 5 February 2006. John Higgins (6) 8–9 Ken Doherty (11) Afternoon: 8–86 (67), , , , , , Evening: 67–53 (61), , , , , , , , , 114 Highest break 105 1 Century breaks 1 5 50+ breaks 7
Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 7 and 10 November 2005.
Century breaks
Qualifying stage centuries
137 Jamie Cope 135 Gary Wilkinson 129 Dave Harold 124 Jamie Burnett 120, 101 Robin Hull 116 Nick Dyson 107 Mark Allen 106 Mark Davis
105, 100 David Gilbert 105 Joe Swail 104 Rod Lawler 103 Ali Carter 102 Stuart Mann 101 Judd Trump 100 Liang Wenbo 100 James Wattana
Televised stage centuries
142, 131, 104, 103 Stephen Hendry 135 Barry Hawkins 133, 127, 103 Stephen Maguire 133, 126, 104 Robin Hull 133, 119, 106, 105 Ken Doherty 132, 105 Graeme Dott 129 Stuart Bingham 114, 105, 102 John Higgins 114 Tony Drago
111 Mark King 104 Mark Allen 104 Steve Davis 104 Joe Swail 103 Stephen Lee 100 Alan McManus 100 Gerard Greene 100 Marco Fu
References