Garry Balter of the 15 Reds in Vienna continues his winning streak in the 2025 Austrian Snooker League Masters series by claiming his fourth victory of the season. However, since he missed the first event of the season, Christian Hochmayer from FBC Vienna now takes the top spot in the rankings after round five.
The fifth and penultimate ranking event of this year’s Masters series brought 23 participants to Heidenreichstein, where play took place in the beautiful and stylish clubrooms of SCAH. Since host Günter Kaschmitter also took part, the first day of play was overseen by ÖSBV President Christian Fock.
As with nearly all previous events this season, the tournament once again came down to a final showdown between the two most consistent domestic Masters players. After Hochmayer won last season’s rankings and also the opening event of 2025, it was Balter who claimed victory in every event since then.
SCAH Heidenreichstein; ©scah/gkaschmitter
And once again, the multiple-time Austrian champion came out on top, defeating his strongest current rival 3-0 in the final. Despite this being Balter’s fourth win in five events, the rankings took an interesting turn: Christian Hochmayer, who had no points to defend from round five of last year and therefore received a full 80 points, now leads the rankings by 20 points ahead of Balter.
Just like last year, the overall decision will come down to the final event of the season, taking place on September 13–14 at TSG in Graz.
Third place went to local favorite Hans “Jack” Nirnberger, who secured the remaining spot on the podium by beating Daniel Seyser (15 Reds) 2-1.
The tournament’s highest break came from event winner Garry Balter with a run of 77 points.
On finals day, the referees were Günter Kaschmitter, who officiated one semifinal and the third-place match, and Carl Walter Steiner, who refereed a semifinal and the final.
Cover photograph: Christian Hochmayer, Garry Balter, Hans Nirnberger; ©scah/gkaschmitter