2017–18 snooker season

The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the pro–am Vienna Snooker Open in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year. Ronnie O'Sullivan earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined Stephen Hendry (1990/1991), Ding Junhui (2013/2014), and Mark Selby (2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season.[1]

2017–18 snooker season
Nations that hosted a World Snooker Tour event during the 2017/2018 season
Details
Duration4 May 2017 – 7 May 2018
Tournaments38[n 1] (20 ranking events)
Triple Crown winners
UK Championship Ronnie O'Sullivan
Masters Mark Allen
World Championship Mark Williams

The China Championship became a ranking event and was brought forward to a mid-August date, ahead of the Paul Hunter Classic. The Shanghai Masters was initially withdrawn from the season calendar, but was later rescheduled for November 2017.[2] The biennial World Cup team event was played in July 2017. Another event not held every year returning in 2017 was the 2017 IWGA World Games. The Snooker Shoot Out was brought forward to the start of February, ahead of both the World Grand Prix and Welsh Open.[3]

A new World Seniors Tour was formed for players over 40 years of age, comprising four events, including the World Seniors Championship which has returned to Scunthorpe in 2018.[4]

The second edition of the Home Nations Series was being held in this season with the English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open tournaments. For a single winner of all four tournaments would earn a bonus of £1 million.[5]

Players
Players on the Main Tour
by nation[6]
 Australia 3
 Belgium 1
 China 22
 Cyprus 1
 Egypt 1
 England 57
 Finland 1
 Germany 1
 Hong Kong 1
 India 1
 Iran 2
 Ireland 4
 Malaysia 1
 Malta 1
 Northern Ireland 3
 Norway 1
 Pakistan 1
 Scotland 10
  Switzerland 1
 Thailand 6
 Wales 12
Total 131

The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2017 World Championship, and the 31 players earning a two-year card the previous year automatically qualified for the season (Rouzi Maimaiti has resigned his membership). Next, eight places were allocated to the top 8 on the One Year Ranking List who have not already qualified for the Main Tour. Another two players came from the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs, and a further 12 places were available through the Q School (four Event 1 winners, four Event 2 winners, and four best-ranked players in the Order of Merit). The rest of the places on to the tour came from amateur events and national governing body (NGB) nominations. Hamza Akbar received a tour card as a special dispensation in place of America's nomination.[7][8]

The list of all professional players in the 2017/2018 season consist of 131 players, including the standard field of the 128 players and three invitational tour cards (James Wattana has second year of a two-year invitational tour card while Jimmy White and Ken Doherty were awarded the new two-year permission).[7][8] Beginning from this season, players with invitational tour cards are eligible to compete in any ranking event.[9] These players are seeded after main tour professionals, but above amateur top ups taken from the Q School ranking list.[10]

New professional players

All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons.[7][8]

Calendar

The following tables outlines the results and dates for all the ranking and major invitational events.[18][19][20][21]

Date[n 2] Country Rank Tournament name Venue City Winner Runner-up Score Ref.
05-04 05-07  AUT P/A Vienna Open 15 Reds Köö Wien Snooker Club Vienna David Grace Nigel Bond 5–2 [22]
05-24 05-27  BEL P/A Belgium Open Snooker Club Arena Ghent Bjorn Haneveer Ben Mertens 6–5 [23]
06-07 06-11  ENG P/A Pink Ribbon South West Snooker Academy Gloucester Robert Milkins Rob James 4–2 [24]
06-23 06-25  LAT WR Riga Masters Arena Riga Riga Ryan Day Stephen Maguire 5–2 [25]
07-03 07-09  CHN TE World Cup Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium Wuxi China A England 4–3 [26]
07-20 07-23  HKG NR Hong Kong Masters Queen Elizabeth Stadium Hong Kong Neil Robertson Ronnie O'Sullivan 6–3 [27]
07-28 07-29  CHN TE CVB Challenge Nanshan Culture & Sports Centre Shenzhen  Great Britain  China 26–9 [28]
07-26 07-30  POL P/A World Games Wrocław Congress Center Wrocław Kyren Wilson Ali Carter 3–1 [29]
08-16 08-22  CHN WR China Championship Guangzhou Sport University Guangzhou Luca Brecel Shaun Murphy 10–5 [30]
08-22 08-27  GER WR Paul Hunter Classic Stadthalle Fürth Michael White Shaun Murphy 4–2 [31]
09-04 09-09  THA NR Six-red World Championship Bangkok Convention Center Bangkok Mark Williams Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 8–2 [32]
09-12 09-16  IND WR Indian Open Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach Vishakhapatnam John Higgins Anthony McGill 5–1 [33]
09-19 09-21  TKM P/A Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games – Six-red Billiard Sports Arena Ashgabat Yan Bingtao Soheil Vahedi 5–1 [34]
09-18 09-24  CHN WR World Open Yushan Number One Middle School Yushan Ding Junhui Kyren Wilson 10–3 [35]
09-22 09-24  TKM TE Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games – Team Billiard Sports Arena Ashgabat  Iran  Qatar 3–0 [36]
09-24 09-26  TKM P/A Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games – Singles Billiard Sports Arena Ashgabat Zhao Xintong Hossein Vafaei 4–2 [37]
10-02 10-08  BEL WR European Masters De Soeverein Lommel Judd Trump Stuart Bingham 9–7 [38]
10-16 10-22  ENG WR English Open Barnsley Metrodome Barnsley Ronnie O'Sullivan Kyren Wilson 9–2 [39]
10-24 10-26  ENG WST UK Seniors Championship Harlequin Theatre Redhill Jimmy White Ken Doherty 4–2 [40]
10-23 10-27  CHN NR Haining Open Haining Sports Center Haining Mark Selby Tom Ford 5–1 [41]
10-29 11-05  CHN WR International Championship Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre Daqing Mark Selby Mark Allen 10–7 [42]
11-06 11-12  ENG NR Champion of Champions Ricoh Arena Coventry Shaun Murphy Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–8 [43]
11-13 11-18  CHN WR Shanghai Masters Shanghai Grand Stage Shanghai Ronnie O'Sullivan Judd Trump 10–3 [44]
11-20 11-26  NIR WR Northern Ireland Open Waterfront Hall Belfast Mark Williams Yan Bingtao 9–8 [45]
11-28 12-10  ENG WR UK Championship Barbican Centre York Ronnie O'Sullivan Shaun Murphy 10–5 [46]
12-11 12-17  SCO WR Scottish Open Emirates Arena Glasgow Neil Robertson Cao Yupeng 9–8 [47]
01-06 01-07  IRL WST Seniors Irish Masters Goffs Kill Steve Davis Johnathan Bagley 4–0 [48]
01-14 01-21  ENG NR Masters Alexandra Palace London Mark Allen Kyren Wilson 10–7 [49]
01-31 02-04  GER WR German Masters Tempodrom Berlin Mark Williams Graeme Dott 9–1 [50]
02-08 02-11  ENG WR Shoot Out Watford Colosseum Watford Michael Georgiou Graeme Dott 1–0 [51]
02-19 02-25  ENG WR World Grand Prix Preston Guild Hall Preston Ronnie O'Sullivan Ding Junhui 10–3 [52]
02-26 03-04  WAL WR Welsh Open Motorpoint Arena Cardiff John Higgins Barry Hawkins 9–7 [53]
03-07 03-11  GIB WR Gibraltar Open Tercentenary Sports Hall, Victoria Stadium Gibraltar Ryan Day Cao Yupeng 4–0 [54]
03-14 03-18  ROU NR Romanian Masters Bucharest Metropolitan Circus Bucharest Ryan Day Stuart Bingham 10–8 [55]
03-21 03-24  ENG WST World Seniors Championship Baths Hall Scunthorpe Aaron Canavan Patrick Wallace 4–3 [56]
03-19 03-25  WAL WR Players Championship Venue Cymru Llandudno Ronnie O'Sullivan Shaun Murphy 10–4 [57]
01-02 03-29  ENG NR Championship League Ricoh Arena Coventry John Higgins Zhou Yuelong 3–2 [58]
04-02 04-08  CHN WR China Open Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium Beijing Mark Selby Barry Hawkins 11–3 [59]
04-12 04-12  ENG WST Seniors Masters Crucible Theatre Sheffield Cliff Thorburn Johnathan Bagley 2–1 [60]
04-21 05-07  ENG WR World Championship Crucible Theatre Sheffield Mark Williams John Higgins 18–16
WR = World ranking event
NR = Non-ranking event
TE = Team event
P/A = Pro–am event
WST = World Seniors Tour[4]

Official rankings
Main articles: Snooker world rankings 2017/2018 and Snooker world ranking points 2017/2018

Note that the "Seeding revisions" given below are just those rankings that are used for seeding tournaments. Other rankings are produced after each ranking event which are not noted here.

Points distribution

2017/2018 points distribution for world ranking events:[61]

Round
Tournament
 R144 R128 R80 R64 R48 R32 R16 QF SF F W
Riga Masters — £0 — £1,000 — £2,000 £4,000 £6,000 £15,000 £25,000 £50,000
China Championship — £0 — £4,000 — £7,000 £12,000 £18,000 £32,000 £75,000 £150,000
Paul Hunter Classic — £0 — £600 — £1,000 £1,725 £3,000 £4,500 £10,000 £20,000
Indian Open — £0 — £2,000 — £4,000 £6,000 £10,000 £15,000 £25,000 £50,000
World Open — £0 — £4,000 — £7,000 £12,000 £18,000 £32,000 £75,000 £150,000
European Masters — £0 — £2,000 — £4,000 £6,000 £11,000 £17,500 £35,000 £75,000
English Open — £0 — £2,500 — £3,500 £6,000 £10,000 £20,000 £30,000 £70,000
International Championship — £0 — £4,000 — £8,500 £13,500 £21,500 £32,000 £75,000 £150,000
Shanghai Masters — £0 — £4,000 — £7,000 £12,000 £18,000 £32,000 £75,000 £150,000
Northern Ireland Open — £0 — £2,500 — £3,500 £6,000 £10,000 £20,000 £30,000 £70,000
UK Championship — £0 — £5,000 — £10,000 £15,000 £22,500 £35,000 £75,000 £170,000
Scottish Open — £0 — £2,500 — £3,500 £6,000 £10,000 £20,000 £30,000 £70,000
German Masters — £0 — £2,000 — £4,000 £5,000 £10,000 £20,000 £35,000 £80,000
Shoot Out — £0[n 3] — £500 — £1,000 £2,000 £4,000 £8,000 £16,000 £32,000
World Grand Prix — — — — — £5,000 £7,500 £12,500 £20,000 £40,000 £100,000
Welsh Open — £0 — £2,500 — £3,500 £6,000 £10,000 £20,000 £30,000 £70,000
Gibraltar Open — £0 — £1,000 — £2,000 £3,000 £4,000 £6,000 £12,000 £25,000
Players Championship — — — — — — £10,000 £15,000 £30,000 £50,000 £125,000
China Open — £0 — £5,000 — £11,000 £18,000 £27,000 £45,000 £90,000 £225,000
World Championship £0 — £9,000 — £13,500 £18,000[n 4] £27,500 £42,500 £85,000 £180,000 £425,000

Finalists in ranking tournaments
Rank Name Nationality Winner Runner-up Finals Winning tournaments
1 Ronnie O'Sullivan  England 5 0 5 2017 English Open
2017 Shanghai Masters
2017 UK Championship
2018 World Grand Prix
2018 Players Championship
2 Mark Williams  Wales 3 0 3 2017 Northern Ireland Open
2018 German Masters
2018 World Championship
3 John Higgins  Scotland 2 1 3 2017 Indian Open
2018 Welsh Open
4 Mark Selby  England 2 0 2 2017 International Championship
2018 China Open
Ryan Day  Wales 2 0 2 2017 Riga Masters
2018 Gibraltar Open
6 Ding Junhui  China 1 1 2 2017 World Open
Judd Trump  England 1 1 2 2017 European Masters
8 Luca Brecel  Belgium 1 0 1 2017 China Championship
Neil Robertson  Australia 1 0 1 2017 Scottish Open
Michael White  Wales 1 0 1 2017 Paul Hunter Classic
Michael Georgiou  Cyprus 1 0 1 2018 Shoot Out
12 Shaun Murphy  England 0 4 4
13 Kyren Wilson  England 0 2 2
Graeme Dott  Scotland 0 2 2
Cao Yupeng  China 0 2 2
Barry Hawkins  England 0 2 2
17 Stephen Maguire  Scotland 0 1 1
Anthony McGill  Scotland 0 1 1
Stuart Bingham  England 0 1 1
Mark Allen  Northern Ireland 0 1 1
Yan Bingtao  China 0 1 1
Total20204020 of 20 tournaments completed

Notes
  1. The three disciplines at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games were part of the same tournament.
  2. Dates use the month-day format
  3. First round losers in the Shoot Out received £250 prize money which did not count towards the prize money rankings.
  4. Players who lose their first match receive no ranking points.

References
  1. "Players Championship snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Shaun Murphy in final". 25 March 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
  2. "Calendar 2017/2018". snooker.org. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  3. "The Big 2017/18 Season Preview – WPBSA". www.wpbsa.com.
  4. "Stephen Hendry Fronts New World Seniors Tour – SnookerHQ". 1 June 2017.
  5. "Preview: Home Nations English Open – SnookerHQ". 15 October 2017.
  6. "Players on the Main Tour". snooker.org. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  7. "2017/18 Tour Qualification: Making 128 (ish)". WPBSA. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  8. "Tour Players 2017/18 – WPBSA". www.wpbsa.com.
  9. "Invitational Tour Card Holders – World Snooker". 21 June 2017.
  10. "Q School Order of Merit (2017)". snooker.org. 2017-05-20.
  11. "2017 EBSA Play-Offs". thecueview.com.
  12. Årdalen, Hermund. "EBSA Play Off (2017) - snooker.org". www.snooker.org.
  13. "Kleckers Books Tour Spot – World Snooker". 14 May 2017.
  14. "Lam Secures Immediate Tour Return – World Snooker". 20 May 2017.
  15. "China Tour Nominations – World Snooker". 11 May 2017.
  16. "Hamza Akbar – Tour Card". worldsnooker.com. World Snooker. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  17. "Jimmy White and Ken Doherty given tour cards by World Snooker". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  18. "Full Calendar – World Snooker". Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  19. "Calendar" (PDF). www.worldsnooker.com.
  20. "Calendar" (PDF). www.worldsnooker.com. 2017.
  21. "Updated 2017/18 Calendar – World Snooker". 12 June 2017.
  22. "Vienna Snooker Open 2017". Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  23. "Haneveer Holds On To Take Title". Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  24. "Robert Milkins Captures Pink Ribbon Glory". 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  25. "Riga Masters: Wales' Ryan Day beats Scotland's Stephen Maguire for title". Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  26. "Plan Comes Together China's A-team". Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  27. "Hong Kong Masters 2017: Neil Robertson beats O'Sullivan in final". 23 July 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  28. "Camsing Global CVB Snooker Challenge". 12 July 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  29. "World Games 2017: Kyren Wilson beats Ali Carter to win snooker gold". 4 August 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  30. "China Championship: Luca Brecel beats Shaun Murphy for first ranking title". Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  31. "Paul Hunter Classic 2017: Michael White beats Shaun Murphy in final". Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  32. "Williams Takes Six Red Glory". World Snooker. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  33. "Indian Open: John Higgins beats Anthony McGill to take title". BBC Sport. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  34. "RESULTS: 6RED MEN – 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 :: Ashgabat – Turkmenistan". www.cuesportsindia.com.
  35. "World Open: Ding Junhui beats Kyren Wilson 10–3 in China". BBC Sport. 25 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  36. "RESULTS: SNOOKER MEN Teams – 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 :: Ashgabat – Turkmenistan". www.cuesportsindia.com.
  37. "RESULTS: SNOOKER MEN Single – 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 :: Ashgabat – Turkmenistan". www.cuesportsindia.com.
  38. "Judd Trump beats Stuart Bingham 9–7 to retain European Masters title". BBC Sport. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  39. "Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Kyren Wilson 9–2 to claim title". BBC Sport. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  40. "Jimmy White Wins UK Seniors Championship". Snookerhq.com. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  41. "海宁斯诺克国际公开赛 塞尔比轰单杆147夺冠". lesports. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  42. "International Championship: Mark Selby retains title by beating Mark Allen 10–7". BBC Sport. 5 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  43. "Champion of Champions: Shaun Murphy beats Ronnie O'Sullivan in final". BBC Sport. 12 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  44. "O'Sullivan Wins 30th Ranking Title – World Snooker". 18 November 2017.
  45. "Magnificent Mark Williams fights back to win Northern Ireland Open title in epic final". Eurosport. 26 November 2017.
  46. "Ronnie O'Sullivan demolishes Shaun Murphy to seal UK Championship title". Guardian. 10 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  47. "Scottish Open: Neil Robertson beats Cao Yupeng 9–8 in dramatic Scottish Open". BBC Sport. 17 December 2017.
  48. "Steve Davis Crowned Seniors Irish Masters Champion". Snookerhq.com. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  49. "Masters 2018: Mark Allen beats Kyren Wilson 10–7 in final to take title". BBC Sport. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  50. "Mark Williams: Welsh snooker player claims German Masters win". BBC Sport. 4 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  51. "Georgiou Wins Maiden Title In Dott Thriller". World Snooker. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  52. "World Grand Prix: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Ding Junhui to win title". BBC Sport. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  53. "Higgins Wins Record Fifth Welsh Crown". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  54. "Rock Blast For Dynamite Day". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 11 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  55. "Day The Best In Bucharest". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  56. "Jersey's Canavan through to snooker World Championship qualifiers". ITV. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  57. "O'Sullivan Beats Murphy To Equal Titles Record". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  58. "Higgins Retains Championship League Title". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  59. "Selby Back On Form With China Open Victory". World Snooker. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  60. "Assetereum World Seniors Masters 2018 – Cliff Thorburn is your Champion!". seniorsnooker.com. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  61. "Indicative Prize Money Rankings Schedule 2017/2018 Season" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.