RONNIE O’SULLIVAN is back in York to defend his UK Championship trophy – and there’s a large bag of cash on offer for the winner.
The Rocket remains the biggest draw in snooker but has yet to find his form and is still looking for his first ranking title of the season.
O’Sullivan beat Ding in last year’s final and will have to run the gauntlet of the world’s top players, however, with the likes of, Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen and Mark Williams – fresh off his epic Champion of Champions win – all in action.
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The UK Championship is one of the most prestigious and desirable tournaments of the snooker calendar and part of the Triple Crown, along with the Masters and World Championships.
As a Triple Crown event, only two other competitions bring in as much prize money as the UK Championship.
Previously it was only the World Champs that landed a bigger payday, but the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – which was held for the first time in August – has since topped the UK Championship.
Judd Trump won £500,000 for that epic win over Mark Williams in Riyadh.
The prize money in York is certainly nothing to sniff at, though.
The winner will land £250,000 and the overall prize pot is more than £1.2m, while there is a very nice bonus for the highest break.
Here’s the full breakdown:
Afternoon Session (1pm GMT start)
Evening Session (7pm GMT start)
Afternoon Session (1pm GMT start)
Evening Session (7pm GMT start)
Afternoon Session (1pm GMT start)
Evening Session (7pm GMT start)
Afternoon Session (1pm GMT start)
The seeds are:
SNOOKER's Class of '92 are fading away - with two English superstars ready to forge a new era.
Judd Trump has declared he’s ready to battle reigning world champion Kyren Wilson for “the next 10 years” or more.
Current world No 1 Trump admitted Wilson’s meteoric rise over the last twelve months has “pushed him forward” as a player.
The Class of ’92 refers to the legendary trio of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, and Mark Williamson.
With 14 world titles among them, the three players have dominated UK snooker over the past three decades.
But as their powers begin to fade, Wilson and Trump appear ready to fill the rivalry vacuum.
Read more on snooker’s new big rivalry between Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson…