The 2003 European Open was a professional snooker tournament and the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2002/2003 season, following the Welsh Open. It was held from 11 to 16 March 2003 at the Palace Hotel in Torquay, England. This marked the first and only time when any of the editions of this tournament was not held outside the British Isles. Ronnie O'Sullivan won his 12th ranking title by defeating Stephen Hendry 9–6 in the final. O'Sullivan went on to win back-to-back ranking titles – his next coming at the 2003 Irish Masters, just two weeks later, where he triumphed over John Higgins in a deciding frame.
Tournament summary
Defending champion Stephen Hendry was the number 1 seed with World Champion Peter Ebdon 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:
Main draw
Final
Qualifying
Round 1
Best of 9 frames
Round 2–5
Century breaks
Qualifying stage centuries
Televised stage centuries
References
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2023/04/15/3684814-74986208-2560-1440.png)
