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 The Shanghai Masters was initially withdrawn from the season calendar, but was later rescheduled for November 2017.[2] The biennial World Cup team event was played in July 2017.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 (team event) 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 (team event) 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 The 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 Snooker 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 The 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

Statistics of ranking tournaments

Finalists
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

Champions by country
Rank Country Players Titles
1  England 3 8
2  Wales 3 6
3  Scotland 1 2
4  Belgium 1 1
 China 1 1
 Australia 1 1
 Cyprus 1 1

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.
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