The Australian Masters, sponsored by
Rothmans under their
Winfield brand name, was established in 1979. It was mainly filmed in the
Channel 10 TV studios in Sydney, although in
1984 the first round was held at the Parmatta Club, and the second round onwards was held in the studio. and all matches were decided on the
aggregate score over five frames. who did not participate in the 1987 event as the players managed by
Barry Hearn were withdrawn from the event because of a dispute with promoter
Eddie Charlton over air fares. The withdrawn players, who were Taylor,
Steve Davis,
Jimmy White,
Willie Thorne,
Terry Griffiths,
Neal Foulds and
Tony Meo, were replaced by Hendry,
Dene O'Kane,
Dean Reynolds,
Mike Hallett,
Eugene Hughes,
Alex Higgins and
John Parrott. Four places were given to specific Australian players.
Paddy Morgan and
Glen Wilkinson won places at the event by qualifying from an elimination tournament consisting of the Australian professional players other than the four who were given automatic places.
Prize fund The total prize fund for was
$200,000, awarded as shown below: • Winner: $50,000 • Runner-up: $30,000 • Third place: $20,000 • Fourth place: $17,000 • Quarter-finalists: $10,000 • Last 16: $5,000 • Highest break: $3,000 ==Summary==