Draw announced for inaugural big-money Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

A new professional ranking event on the World Snooker Tour, the inaugural edition takes place at Green Halls in Riyadh between Friday 30th August to Saturday 7th September.

The much-publicised tournament is in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation, with an aim to increase visibility and participation of cuesports in the country. Both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and the World 9-Ball Pool Championship - which was held in the Kingdom for the first time earlier this year - have reported 10-year contracts.

Snooker’s top stars including seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, current world champion Kyren Wilson, world number one Mark Allen, and 28-time ranking event champion Judd Trump are all set for the upcoming trip to Riyadh. As well as the professional tour carders in the draw are 17 local wildcards who have been invited. These amateur cueists will start out in the opening round.

Although Saudi will be hosting a ranking event for the first time, professional snooker is no stranger to the Middle East region with tournaments previously held in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The format for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

All 144 contestants are scheduled to compete at the main venue across the nine days. With eight tables initially in operation, it means there are no ‘qualifying’ matches held in the UK which is currently the case for Chinese ranking events.

Branded as professional snooker’s ‘fourth major’, the format for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters is the same as both the UK and World Championships, with a tiered draw structure being used.

The world’s top 16 ranked players are all seeded into round five (last 32) and they will meet the 16 players who come the initial phase of the opening four rounds. Cueists enter the competition depending on their ranking, meaning the lowest ranked players and amateur wildcards start in round one. In total, there are nine rounds, with a round completed each day. The early rounds are the best of seven frames, with the final being the best of 19 across two sessions.

Huge prize money for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

Despite it’s recent addition to the professional snooker tour, the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters immediately becomes the second richest event in the sport with a total prize fund of £2.3 million.

Only the World Snooker Championship - the sport’s blue riband event - has a slightly bigger prize purse of £93,000 more.

However, from the last 32 onwards, both major events have identical pay-outs for each round, with the champion in Riyadh collecting £500,000.

There is also a £50,000 maximum 147 break bonus on offer in Riyadh. For full information on the prize money breakdown, visit here.

The draw for the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

Round One (Last 144)

Rory Thor v Omar Alajlani

Baipat Siripaporn v Mohamed Elkhayat

Chris Totten v Haris Tahir

Michael Holt v Ahmad Abul

Mink Nutcharut v Kusai Hamed

Reanne Evans v Simon Blackwell

Artemijs Zizins v Kok Leong Lim

Robbie McGuigan v Abdulraouf Saigh

Liam Graham v Ali Hussain Ali

Oliver Lines v Faisal Bahashwan

Ka Wai Cheung v Joshua Thomond

Lei Peifan v Bai Yulu

Allan Taylor v Adeel Aqdus

Farakh Ajaib v Haitham Al Mahri

Julien Leclercq v Dylan Emery

Jimmy White v Mohamed Shehab

Andrew Pagett v Wang Yuchen

Huang Jiahao v Ahmed Elsayed

Ben Mertens v Abduallah Alotayyani

Antoni Kowalski v Habib Subah

Gong Chenzhi v Ali Jalil Ali

Mitchell Mann v Paul Deaville

Bulcsu Revesz v Iulian Boiko

Dean Young v Saleh Alamoudi

Mostafa Dorgham v Jonas Luz

Haydon Pinhey v Ayman Alamri

Manasawin Phetmalaikul v Amir Sarkhosh

Zak Surety v Ali Alobaidli

Duane Jones v Khalid Alkamali

Liam Davies v Ken Doherty

Kreishh Gurbaxani v Sunny Akani

Stan Moody v Ziyad Alqabbani

Round Two (Last 112)

Thor/Alajlani v Hammad Miah

Siripaporn/Elkhayat v Jimmy Robertson

Totten/Tahir v Ashley Carty

Holt/Abdul v Liu Hongyu

Nutcharut/Hamed v Anthony Hamilton

Evans/Blackwell v Xing Zihao

Zizins/Lim v Xu Si

McGuigan/Saigh v Ma Hailong

Graham/Ali v Ishpeet Singh Chadha

Lines/Basashwan v Ben Woollaston

Ka/Thomond v Louis Heathcote

Lei/Bai v Jamie Clarke

Taylor/Aqdus v Aaron Hill

Ajaib/Al Mahri v Stuart Carrington

Leclercq/Emery v Graeme Dott

White/Shehab v Andrew Higginson

Pagett/Wang v Alexander Ursenbacher

Huang/Elsayed v Martin O'Donnell

Mertens/Alotayyani v Long Zehuang

Kowalski/Subah v He Guoqiang

Gong/Ali v David Grace

Mann/Deaville v Ian Burns

Revesz/Boiko v Mark Davis

Young/Alamoudi v Alfie Burden

Dorgham/Luz v Jiang Jun

Pinhey/Alamri v David Lilley

Phetmalaikul/Sarkhosh v Ross Muir

Surety/Alobaidli v Sanderson Lam

D.Jones/Alkamali v Daniel Wells

Davies/Doherty v Marco Fu

Gurbaxani/Akani v Tian Pengfei

Moody/Alqabbani v Liam Pullen

Round Three (Last 80)

1) Thor/Alajlani/Miah v Robert Milkins

2) Siripaporn/Elkhayat/J. Robertson v Fan Zhengyi

3) Totten/Tahir/Carty v Anthony McGill

4) Holt/Abdul/Liu v Ricky Walden

5) Nutcharut/Hamed/Hamilton v Jamie Jones

6) Evans/Blackwell/Xing v Stuart Bingham

7) Zizins/Lim/Xu v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

8) McGuigan/Saigh/Ma v Chris Wakelin

9) Graham/Ali/Chadha v Hossein Vafaei

10) Lines/Basashwan/Woollaston v Joe Perry

11) Ka/Thomond/Heathcote v Joe O'Connor

12) Lei/Bai/Clarke v Robbie Williams

13) Taylor/Aqdus/Hill v Matthew Selt

14) Ajaib/Al Mahri/Carrington v Pang Junxu

15) Leclercq/Emery/Dott v Sam Craigie

16) White/Shehab/Higginson v Si Jiahui

17) Pagett/Wang/Ursenbacher v Jack Lisowski

18) Huang/Elsayed/O'Donnell v Matthew Stevens

19) Mertens/Alotayyani/Long v Stephen Maguire

20) Kowalski/Subah/He v Wu Yize

21) Gong/Ali/Grace v Jackson Page

22) Mann/Deaville/Burns v Neil Robertson

23) Revesz/Boiko/Davis v Jordan Brown

24) Young/Alamoudi/Burden v David Gilbert

25) Dorgham/Luz/Jiang v Zhou Yuelong

26) Pinhey/Alamri/Lilley v Elliot Slessor

27) Phetmalaikul/Sarkhosh/Muir v Noppon Saengkham

28) Surety/Alobaidli/Lam v Yuan Sijun

29) D.Jones/Alkamali/Wells v Xiao Guodong

30) Davies/Doherty/Fu v Lyu Haotian

31) Gurbaxani/Akani/Tian v Scott Donaldson

32) Moody/Alqabbani/Pullen v Ryan Day

Round Four (Last 48)

A) Winner of Match 1 v Winner of Match 2

B) Winner of Match 3 v Winner of Match 4

C) Winner of Match 5 v Winner of Match 6

D) Winner of Match 7 v Winner of Match 8

E) Winner of Match 9 v Winner of Match 10

F) Winner of Match 11 v Winner of Match 12

G) Winner of Match 13 v Winner of Match 14

H) Winner of Match 15 v Winner of Match 16

I) Winner of Match 17 v Winner of Match 18

J) Winner of Match 19 v Winner of Match 20

K) Winner of Match 21 v Winner of Match 22

L) Winner of Match 23 v Winner of Match 24

M) Winner of Match 25 v Winner of Match 26

N) Winner of Match 27 v Winner of Match 28

O) Winner of Match 29 v Winner of Match 30

P) Winner of Match 31 v Winner of Match 32

Round Five (Last 32)

Kyren Wilson v Winner of Match A

John Higgins v Winner of Match B

Mark Williams v Winner of Match C

Ding Junhui v Winner of Match D

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Winner of Match E

Zhang Anda v Winner of Match F

Tom Ford v Winner of Match G

Luca Brecel v Winner of Match H

Judd Trump v Winner of Match I

Jak Jones v Winner of Match J

Gary Wilson v Winner of Match K

Mark Selby v Winner of Match L

Shaun Murphy v Winner of Match M

Ali Carter v Winner of Match N

Barry Hawkins v Winner of Match O

Mark Allen v Winner of Match P