2006 Malta Cup

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.

Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 7 and 10 November 2005.

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