2016 Paul Hunter Classic

The 2016 Paul Hunter Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 28 August 2016 at the Stadthalle in Fürth, Germany. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2016/2017 season.

Named in honour of former professional snooker player Paul Hunter, this was the first time for which the event was a ranking tournament, having previously been a minor-ranking event of the Players Tour Championship. It was also the first of the two ranking events of the season, along with the Gibraltar Open (also a former European Tour event), which would be open to amateurs and would form the new Amateur Order of Merit.

Ali Carter was the defending champion, but he was defeated 3–4 by Yan Bingtao in the last 32.

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made the 119th official maximum break in the second frame of his last 32 match against Kurt Maflin. It was Un-Nooh's first professional maximum break, having missed the final black on two occasions the previous season.

Mark Selby won his 8th ranking title, defeating Tom Ford 4–2 in the final.

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


 * Winner: €25,000
 * Runner-up: €12,000
 * Semi-final: €6,000
 * Quarter-final: €4,000
 * Last 16: €2,300
 * Last 32: €1,200
 * Last 64: €700


 * Non-televised highest break: €
 * Televised highest break: €
 * Total: €125,000

The "rolling 147 prize" for a maximum break stood at £40,000.

Amateur pre-qualifying
These matches were played in Fürth on 24–25 August 2016. All matches were best of 7 frames.

Amateur pre-qualifying stage centuries

 * 119 – Kishan Hirani
 * 109 – Gerard Greene
 * 106, 104 – Andy Hicks


 * 106 – Ashley Hugill
 * 105 – Ian Glover

Televised stage centuries

 * 147, 141, 120 – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
 * 136, 128, 120, 102, 101 – Tom Ford
 * 136, 106 – Michael Holt
 * 132, 116 – Liang Wenbo
 * 132 – Zhou Yuelong
 * 127 – Mark Selby
 * 123 – Zhao Xintong
 * 121 – Ali Carter
 * 120, 101, 100 – Mark Allen
 * 120 – Matthew Stevens
 * 118, 110 – Kurt Maflin
 * 118, 105 – David Gilbert


 * 112 – Joe Swail
 * 111 – Li Hang
 * 110 – Dominic Dale
 * 109 – Andrew Higginson
 * 107 – Zack Richardson
 * 104 – Robbie Williams
 * 104 – Jack Lisowski
 * 104 – Martin O'Donnell
 * 104 – Mark Davis
 * 101 – Mei Xiwen
 * 100 – Fergal O'Brien