Tour Championship Snooker - Information and a Potted History
With big prize money and long-distance duels involving the sport's most in-form cueists, the Tour Championship has quickly established itself as a very popular and prestigious event amongst players, fans and broadcasters alike.
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Held every year since its inaugural staging in 2019, the Tour Championship is a ranking event and the final leg of the three-pronged Players Series. Qualification for the tournament is only via the one-year ranking list - prize money earned from ranking events through the respective season. Previous results in the event and world rankings do not count for anything.
From 2019 to 2023, only the top eight players from the one-year list qualified, although the field was expanded to 12 players for the 2024 competition, and the event will remain with this bigger field for the foreseeable future.
Seeding for the event is based on the one-year list. For example, numbers eight and nine play each in the first round, with the winner to play the number one seed in the last eight.
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Besides the World Championship, the Tour Championship is currently the only event on the professional circuit that features multi-session matches throughout the entire tournament.
Venues in Llandudno, Milton Keynes, Newport and Hull have hosted the tournament. The Manchester Central is the current home of the competition.
Tour Championship Snooker: Most successful players, stats, stories, best finals
Neil Robertson is the most successful player in Tour Championship snooker history. The Aussie ace is the only player to win the title more than once, and to have retained the trophy.
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Robertson also reached the final of the inaugural edition in 2019 but lost out to Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-11 in the three-session title decider.
The Tour Championship became an instant hit during its first outing with five of the seven matches decided by a one or two frame winning margin.
Success in 2019 saw O'Sullivan chalk up his 36th ranking title - at the time equalling Stephen Hendry's record - and move back to the top of the world rankings for the first time in nearly nine years.
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Due to Covid-19, the next two editions were held behind closed doors. Ninth on the one-year list, Stephen Maguire didn't initially make the cut for 2020, but was invited when Ding Junhui declined his invitation due to travel issues with the pandemic. The Scot certainly made the most of his call-up, banking a huge payday as he claimed his first ranking title in more than seven years following a 10-6 win over Mark Allen in the final.
In his 9-5 opening round win against Robertson, Maguire compiled six century breaks - four of those coming in consecutive frames. Incredibly, in the same round, Shaun Murphy also notched up six century breaks in his 9-8 loss to Allen.
Robertson himself was in scintillating form during the 2021 event. In a rerun of the final from two years previously, 'The Thunder from Down Under' turned the tables on O'Sullivan as he made five centuries during the contest, stringing together six consecutive frames from 4-4 to record a 10-4 win. He finished in style with three tons in-a-row, swelling his tally to 11 for the event.
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A year later - now back in Llandudno - Robertson continued where he left off as he registered five century breaks against Allen in an opening round win. After a dramatic 10-9 victory over O'Sullivan in the last four (during which The Rocket totted up five tons; in the round before he also crafted five), the Melbourne potter produced one of the sport's greatest comebacks in a ranking event final as he recovered from 4-9 down to deny John Higgins 10-9 and successfully defend.
Shaun Murphy added his name to the trophy in 2023, coming back from four-frame deficits in both his opening round match and the final.
In the first 12-player iteration in 2024, 49-year-old Mark Williams enjoyed a memorable run to his 26th career ranking title.
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Having only just got back from a trip playing Chinese 8-ball pool in the Far East, Williams conjured up a sensational counter-attacking clearance in the deciding frame of his opening round match against Tom Ford. The Welshman then defeated the world’s top three ranked players in consecutive rounds – all with spare change – culminating with a 10-5 win over O’Sullivan in the final.
Due to the tough nature of qualifying for the Tour Championship, several reigning champions have not done enough via the one-year ranking list to appear at the event the following year. O'Sullivan missed out in 2020, Maguire in 2021, Robertson in 2023 and Murphy in 2024.
Tour Championship Snooker: Roll of Honour, Locations and Winner’s Prize
2019: Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-11 Neil Robertson (Llandudno, Wales) | £150,000
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2020: Stephen Maguire 10-6 Mark Allen (Milton Keynes, England) | £150,000
2021: Neil Robertson 10-4 Ronnie O’Sullivan (Newport, Wales) | £150,000
2022: Neil Robertson 10-9 John Higgins (Llandudno, Wales) | £150,000
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2023: Shaun Murphy 10-7 Kyren Wilson (Hull, England) | £150,000
2024: Mark Williams 10-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan (Manchester, England) | £150,000
Tour Championship Snooker 147 Breaks
Despite the plethora of century breaks made throughout the Tour Championship’s history, it may be a surprise to learn there has only been one maximum 147 break recorded in it, so far.
Perfection was constructed by Ryan Day in 2023 during the third frame of his opening round loss to Mark Selby.
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