Last chance saloon: The race for World Grand Prix qualification ends at the Scottish Open
There is a big week of snooker action ahead at the 2025 Scottish Open in Edinburgh where the final professional title of the calendar year will be claimed.
As well as The Stephen Hendry Trophy and a £100,000 top prize on offer at the Meadowside Sports Centre in the capital city, we may also get closer to discovering who will pocket the latest £150,000 Home Nations Series bonus for accumulating the most prize money across this season's four HNS events in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
The 2025 Scottish Open is also the final counting event towards qualification for the first Players Series tournament of the season - the 2026 World Grand Prix which will be held in Hong Kong between February 3-8.
The top 32 ranked players on the one-year list immediately after the Scottish Open will be invited to the £700,000 world ranking event at the Kai Tak Arena in the Far East. The one-year list consists of the prize money that players have won from ranking events this season only.
All of the world's current top 16 have safely qualified for Hong Kong where there is a £180,000 winner's purse, and all players are on a guaranteed £10,000.
Neil Robertson is the reigning World Grand Prix champion having defeated Stuart Bingham 10-0 in the final back in March. This was the first time the competition was held in Hong Kong, and the first time the region had hosted a ranking event since 1989.
Robertson is set to defend his title, and he would go there as the number one seed courtesy of being top of the seasonal list by a considerable distance due to trousering £500,000 for winning the Saudi Arabia Masters in August.
Recently crowned UK Champion Mark Selby is currently second with Shaun Murphy third and Mark Williams fourth.
Despite having not won a ranking title since January 2024, Ronnie O'Sullivan is sixth on the one-year list because of the £200,000 he scooped after being ousted by Robertson in the Saudi final in Jeddah. World number one Judd Trump currently occupies seventh on this list.
Players to look out for in Edinburgh for the World Grand Prix race
With £100k to the winner of the Scottish Open, £45,000 to the runner-up, and £21,000 to the losing semi-finalists, a plethora of players situated outside the top 32 on the one-year list can still mathematically gatecrash the Hong Kong party.
Oliver Lines is currently in possession of the 32nd and final place with an in-running total of £64,200 to his name. Lines has qualified for Edinburgh where he meets Chris Wakelin in the last 64.
Due to their quarter-final runs at the UK Championship, Zhang Anda (30th) and Pang Junxu (31st) got themselves provisionally into the 32. They and 29th-placed Joe O'Connor - who is on £69,850 - are all seeds in the Scottish Open main draw.
Neither 27th-placed Aaron Hill (£70,700) - didn't qualify - or 28th-placed Jak Jones (£70,000) - withdrew - are in the Scottish capital, so they'll be relying on results over the coming days to guarantee their World Grand Prix spots.
Just outside the qualification positions before the cameras roll at the Meadowside are 33rd-placed Stan Moody (£63,600) and 34th-placed Chang Bingyu (£62,700). In the last 64, Moody plays O'Connor and Chang faces Stephen Maguire.
35th-placed Daniel Wells and 36th-placed Louis Heathcote both lost in the Scottish Open qualifiers back in October and can't make it to Hong Kong unless several players above them decline invites or subsequently withdraw.
In 37th is Ben Woollaston with £57,100 and in 38th is Noppon Saengkham with £56,400. Saengkham made the semi-finals of the recent Snooker Shoot Out; had he defeated eventual champion Alfie Burden in the last four, he would have collected at least another £12,000 and would now be sat in the 32 bracket.
To view the unofficial, in-play one-year list that will be updated throughout the Scottish Open, please visit snooker.org here.
The draw bracket for the World Grand Prix is based on seedings, with 1 v 32, 2 v 31, 3 v 30 etc.