The tournament began in 1981 as the
International Open at the Assembly Rooms in
Derby, and became the following year the second ranking event after the
World Championship. The event moved to the
Eldon Square in
Newcastle upon Tyne. Until 1984 the event was sponsored by
Jameson Whiskey. In 1985 the event moved to the
Trentham Gardens in
Stoke-on-Trent and was renamed (for this year only) to the
Matchroom Trophy due to sponsorship from
Matchroom and Goya. The International Open name returned the following year and the sponsorship was overtaken by BCE (1986 and 1989) and Fidelity Unit Trusts (1987 and 1988). After 1989 the event went on a two-year hiatus. In 2003 the event was moved to
Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh. For the first time in twelve years no top 16 player reached the final. The event than was renamed to the
Players Championship for 2004, as it became the final event in the LG Electronics Tour. The event was added back to the calendar in the
2012/2013 season as minor-ranking tournament and was known as the
Scottish Open. It was held at
Ravenscraig as the fifth event of the
European Tour. In 2015 Barry Hearn announced that the tournament would return in the 2016/17 season, held in Glasgow, as part of the
Home Nations Series events, which would feature tournaments in the other home nations of snooker and have a one million pound bonus.
Steve Davis was the tournament's most prolific winner, with a record 6 wins from 8 finals. This included a 9–0 whitewash of
Dennis Taylor in the 1981 final. There have been eight
maximum breaks in the history of the tournament, out of which two were made at the 2000 event: one by
Stephen Maguire at the first qualifying round against
Phaitoon Phonbun, and the other by
Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 32 against
Quinten Hann. In 2012
Kurt Maflin achieved a 147 in the last 32 against
Stuart Carrington. In
2017, eventual runner-up
Cao Yupeng made a maximum break in his first round match against
Andrew Higginson, and the
following year,
John Higgins compiled his ninth career 147 in his second round match against
Gerard Greene. In
2020,
Zhou Yuelong made a maximum break in his first round match with
Peter Lines, and in
2021 Xiao Guodong made the first maximum break of his career in his qualifying match against
Fraser Patrick. The most recent maximum break was made in
2022 by
Judd Trump in his second-round match against
Mitchell Mann. ==Winners==