Redgrove Wins Opening Asia Pacific Q Tour Event
Rob Redgrove ousted Adam Shaw 5-4 in the final to win the first Asia Pacific Q Tour event of the season; the 2023 New Zealand Snooker Open.
As part of the new WPBSA Q Tour Global structure, this prestigious domestic tournament was the opening leg of this season’s three-event series with further ranked competitions taking place in Australia over the next few months. The top ranked player at the end of the campaign will be invited to take part in the Global Q Tour Playoff where the winner will secure a two-year professional card for the World Snooker Tour.
Held across four venues within Christchurch – the Hornby Club, Richmond Club, Woolston Club, and the main venue of Cuthberts Green – the New Zealand Billiards and Snooker Association run competition featured a round robin groups stage followed by a knockout section.
Winner of last year’s New Zealand South Island Championship, 43-year-old Redgrove (pictured above, right) finished top of Group C with four wins from four to qualify for the KO rounds. He subsequently eliminated Robert Huggins 3-0, Danny Ryan 4-3, Dale Kwok 4-0, and then Kelly Pritchard 5-2 in the semi-finals.
Emerging from the other side of the draw was Shaw (above, left) who qualified second from his group before defeating this year’s New Zealand National Championship runner-up Lawrence Millington 4-3 in the last 16 and Joseph Conchie 5-4 in the last four.
In the all-Christchurch final, Shaw led the encounter four times but was pegged back by opponent on each occasion, and it was Redgrove who got in front for the first time when it mattered most as he claimed the deciding frame to win the title.
The second Asia Pacific Q Tour event of the 2023/24 season is the Bob Hawke AC Open held between October 12-15 in Australia.
