2006 Welsh Open (snooker)

The 2006 Welsh Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 27 February and 5 March at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he lost his last 32 match against Ian McCulloch.

Stephen Lee won his fourth ranking title by defeating World Champion Shaun Murphy 9–4.

Tournament summary
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion Shaun Murphy seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.

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

Winner: £35,000 Runner Up: £17,500 Semi Finalist: £8,750 Quarter Finalist: £6,500 Last 16: £4,275 Last 32: £2,750 Last 48: £1,725 Last 64: £1,325

Stage two highest break: £2000 Stage two maximum break: £20,000

Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales between 24 January and 26 January 2006.

Qualifying stage centuries

 * 139 – Michael Judge
 * 135, 125 – Scott MacKenzie
 * 135, 104 – Lee Spick
 * 131, 106, 104 – Ding Junhui
 * 130, 124, 100 – Dave Gilbert
 * 130 – Matthew Couch
 * 124 – Dominic Dale
 * 124 – Ricky Walden


 * 119 – Fergal O'Brien
 * 112, 108 – Stuart Bingham
 * 111, 102 – Jamie Cope
 * 111 – Patrick Wallace
 * 106 – Dave Harold
 * 103 – Andrew Norman
 * 102 – Mark Allen
 * 100 – David Roe

Televised stage centuries

 * 144 – Robert Milkins
 * 141 – Dave Harold
 * 138 – Matthew Stevens
 * 135, 122, 113, 100 – Ryan Day
 * 134, 120, 106, 102 – Shaun Murphy
 * 133 – Stephen Hendry
 * 131 – Steve Davis
 * 128, 104, 102 – Barry Hawkins


 * 122, 110 – Ian McCulloch
 * 120, 100 – Stephen Lee
 * 120 – Joe Perry
 * 111 – Neil Robertson
 * 107 – Liang Wenbo
 * 103 – Scott MacKenzie
 * 100 – Anthony Hamilton
 * 100 – John Higgins