1996 International Open

The 1996 International Open (officially the 1996 Sweater Shop International Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 24 February 1996 at the Link Centre in Swindon, England.

John Higgins defended his title by defeating Rod Lawler 9–3 in the final. This was the first time that Lawler reached the final of a ranking event.

Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


 * Winner: £60,000
 * Runner-up: £32,000
 * Semi-final: £16,000
 * Quarter-final: £9,050
 * Last 16: £4,550
 * Last 32: £2,600
 * Last 64: £1,900
 * Last 96: £700


 * Stage one highest break: £1,200
 * Stage two highest break: £2,400
 * Total: £321,400

Century breaks

 * 144, 129, 104, 100 – John Higgins
 * 127, 106 – Dave Harold
 * 124 – John Parrott
 * 123 – Willie Thorne
 * 119 – Ken Doherty
 * 111 – Jim Chambers


 * 108, 103 – Stephen Lee
 * 107 – Wayne Jones
 * 102 – David Finbow
 * 102 – Terry Murphy
 * 101 – Fergal O'Brien
 * 100 – Peter Ebdon