World snooker rankings after the 2026 Northern Ireland Open: Kyren Wilson eases ranking concerns

Kyren Wilson's ranking future is looking a lot stronger after his title win at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

The Englishman defeated Jak Jones, 9-2, in Sunday's final to lift The Alex Higgins Trophy for his second time, and claim the 11th ranking event crown of his career.

Wilson collected the winner's purse of £100,000, therefore defending the same amount he earned two years ago en route to his first title at the venue. It means that Wilson has managed to stay in ninth place in the revised global standings.

Despite triumphs last season as the Shanghai Masters and Masters invitationals, Wilson's latest run in the Northern Irish capital was the first time he'd made the semi-finals of a ranked tournament in over 19 months.

Two seasons ago, whilst wearing the world crown, 'The Warrior' enjoyed an incredible term, racking up four ranking titles. But because of the way the 24-month rolling ranking cycle works, he is defending big chunks of prize money this campaign.

Before Belfast, Wilson was projected to slip outside of the top 16 later this season and be forced to qualify for the 2027 World Championship. But with this bulky deposit now added to his provisional tally, Wilson’s concerns have been significantly eased.

Winner of his first two ranking event titles this season - the Championship League and the British Open - Jones is consoled with £45,000 as the runner-up, and rises six places to 18th in the new rankings.

The Welshman is now within touching distance of returning to the world's top 16, and he'll hope to do it after the upcoming International Championship in Nanjing, China that he has qualified for.

If he does, Jones will be a top 16 seed for the UK Championship - meaning he wouldn't have to qualify - and he'd be in a strong position to earn a Masters debut at the Alexandra Palace in January.

With 15th-placed Ding Junhui defending £175,000 from his total at the International Championship, the race for the final UK Championship seeding spots could be a fascinating one in Nanjing. Totally Snookered will be looking at this story in more detail in a few days time.

A remarkable amount of big star names lost their opening match at the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, with only three top 16 players featuring in the last 32.

With Zhao Xintong failing to negotiate his first hurdle and Wu Yize withdrawing from the tournament due to medical reasons, the gap between the two Chinese remains the same with world number one Zhao holding a £26,650 advantage over World Champion Wu who is in second.

Runner-up in Belfast two years ago, Trump drops two places from third to fifth, meaning Neil Robertson (3rd) and Mark Selby (4th) each move up a spot.

Every other position in the top 16 remains the same, with Ali Carter filling the final spot of that elite ranking bracket.

Elsewhere in the top 64, there aren't too many notable changes.

Belgian Ben Mertens is up to a career-high rating of 57th, meanwhile Scott Donaldson - a quarter-finalist at the Waterfront - has done his tour survival chances a world of good, climbing five to 59th.

Another player under threat of losing his professional tour at the end of the season, Jordan Brown's last 16 finish on home soil gets him the right side of the top 64 divide, in 64th.

Sam Craigie, who was agonisingly close to a maiden ranking event final, added £21,000 to his total, hiking him up six positions to 66th. He is also ranked first on the one-year list for players not inside the world's main top 64 rankings and who don't have a tour card for next season. The top four on this index all earn new two-year tour cards, although they start on zero ‘points’.

For the full unofficial world rankings after the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, including positional changes, visit snooker.org here.