Ronnie O'Sullivan withdraws from 2025 British Open snooker event due to medical reasons

Seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan was due to face Sanderson Lam in the opening round on Monday evening, but he will be replaced in the draw by amateur Daniel Womersley who was next in-line for a call-up from the latest Q School ranking list. The World Snooker Tour announced this news on their website on Tuesday.

The main venue, televised stages of the 2025 British Open takes place at the Cheltenham Racecourse between Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th September. The host broadcaster in the UK is ITV4; this will be the station’s penultimate snooker event for the time being, as their contract with WST expires at the end of this calendar year.

The tournament uses a random draw system for each round, meaning the sport’s top ranked players can draw each other early on.

O’Sullivan’s withdrawal is far from surprising. It is understood that the record 41-time ranking event winner currently lives in Dubai, and he did not enter this week’s English Open in Brentwood.

As for O’Sullivan’s 2025/26 season, so far, his opening engagement was at the Shanghai Masters at the end of July - an event he loves, and that he has won a record five times down the years. He ousted Barry Hawkins 6-5 before bowing out to eventual champion Kyren Wilson 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

Several days later, O’Sullivan went on a memorable run at the second staging of the Saudi Arabia Masters. In Jeddah, he whitewashed Joe O’Connor in his opening match before conjuring up comeback, deciding frame victories over Chang Bingyu and Kyren Wilson in the last 16 and quarter-finals, respectively.

‘The Rocket’ then created history during his semi-final encounter with Chris Wakelin, compiling two maximum 147 breaks within the match - which he won 6-3 - which later scooped him over £180,000 in 147 bonuses alone. It was the first time in professional competition that a single player has made more than one 147 within the same session of play.

The following day, the 49-year-old battled back from 7-2 down against Neil Robertson in the final - going on to lead 9-8 - before being denied the title and £500,000 winner’s prize in a decider by the Australian.

As the runner-up, O’Sullivan pocketed £200,000 for his tournament efforts (this was separate to his 147 prizes) which was a very handy amount to be added to his ranking total, with significant chunks of prize money to defend from his tally coming up this season. Last week, O’Sullivan was named as the WPBSA’s Player of the Month for August.

That £200k alone should assure O’Sullivan a place in both the World Grand Prix and Players Championship events later this term, and puts him very close to a spot in the Tour Championship as well. All three of those are Players Series events, with qualification only through the seasonal/one-year ranking list.

Because O’Sullivan has that early rankings boost and security, his decisions to withdraw from the Wuhan Open - that followed Saudi - and the British Open, and not entering either the English Open or Northern Ireland Open - may have been easier to handle and make.

However, it does now mean that O’Sullivan may only have two more opportunities to qualify for November’s Champion of Champions: the Xi’an Grand Prix, and the International Championship - two ranking events coming up in China.

The 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix is likely to be the next time we see O’Sullivan back on the baize; the main venue stages of that competition begin on Tuesday 7th October.

As for the British Open, this means that O'Sullivan has only appeared in the event once in five years since the tournament's return to the professional calendar in 2021. He featured at the 2022 edition, but lost to Alexander Ursenbacher, 4-1, in the opening round.

After winning his maiden ranking event crown at the 1993 UK Championship, the second ranking title of O'Sullivan's illustrious professional snooker career came later in the same season at the 1994 British Open when he defeated James Wattana in the final at the Plymouth Pavilions.