Why Masters Champion Shaun Murphy may need to qualify for the 2025 World Snooker Championship

The triumph at the Alexandra Palace in London represented the fourth Triple Crown title of Murphy’s career - almost 10 years to the day since his third, when he secured his maiden Masters accolade at the same iconic venue in 2015.

As well as raising The Paul Hunter Trophy for the second time, 42-year-old Murphy banked the biggest payday of his career - £365,000 to be exact - as he also scooped the tournament’s high break bonus for the maximum 147 break he made during the semi-finals.

However, none of Murphy’s achievements over the past eight days in the capital city will have a say on his his world ranking position, with the Masters having always been a strictly invitational, non-ranking event.

In comparison, at ranked competitions, prize money won by a professional player at an event is added to their cumulative two-year rolling ranking total.

This Masters success was Murphy’s first title win of any kind on the World Snooker Tour professional circuit since he claimed the Championship League Snooker Ranking Event in 2023. In fact, the opening several months of 2023 were very enjoyable and profitable for ‘The Magician’ who also won the Players Championship and Tour Championship titles.

Why is Murphy’s ranking forecast to drop in the coming months?

Currently, Murphy is placed seventh on the official world rankings list, however, partly because of not winning a ranking event for 18 months, his projected ranking for later this season is lower.

In the ‘Race to the Crucible’ provisional ranking list, Murphy is down 12 places in 19th - outside of the world’s elite top 16.

Should Murphy be ranked outside of the top 16 when the 2025 World Snooker Championship comes around (after the 2025 Tour Championship), he would need to go to the qualifying rounds where he would be required to win two matches to reach the televised, main stages at the Crucible Theatre.

If Murphy is sent to the qualifiers, it would be his first time in that position since 2005 - the year he memorably won the sport’s blue riband event as a non-seed.

The reason for Murphy’s forecasted drop down the rankings is because of the dynamic ranking system the sport currently uses, with the world ranking list updated after every ranking event.

In the coming months, Murphy is set to lose all the prize money points he won from the aforementioned Players and Tour Championship events - that’s £275,000 from those two tournaments alone.

Of course, Murphy could plug these gaps by doing well in the same tournaments again later this campaign; he is currently eighth on the one-year (seasonal) list, meaning he is well placed to qualify for all three Players Series events and claw chunks of money back.

Other big names may need to qualify for the Crucible in 2025

Masters champion Murphy is not the only former multiple-time ranking event champion who may be required to qualify for the 2025 World Championship.

On the Race to the Crucible provisional list, Neil Robertson is currently 17th. The 2010 World Champion was forced to qualify last year, and he missed out on the Crucible for the first time since 2004 after being defeated by Jamie Jones in the final qualifying round.

Two-time Crucible finalist Ali Carter - whose current official ranking is 11th - is provisionally 20th heading into the season-ending spectacle.

Tom Ford - who was a Crucible seed for the first time in his career last year - is projected 18th, and 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham is forecast 23rd.

As it stands, Si Jiahui, Jak Jones, Xiao Guodong and Chris Wakelin are all in the top 16 provisionals - if they stay there, they would all be Crucible seeds for the first time.

There are several big-money events still to be played on the World Snooker Tour during this 2024/25 season before we reach the climax, so the rankings picture could change significantly.