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Riyadh Season Snooker Championship: Tournament information and the famous golden ball
Ronnie O'Sullivan won the equivalent event last season beating John Higgins, Judd Trump and Luca Brecel along the way and picked up a winner's cheque for £250,000.
The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship will take place at a different time of year for the 24/25 season with the event scheduled for the 18th to the 20th of December and takes place at the Global Theatre in Boulevard City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event will be televised for free by DAZN worldwide.
The field comprises the top ten players on the world rankings plus two local wildcards.
The ninth and tenth seeds (Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda) will play the wild cards in the opening round and the winners of those matches will go on to face Shaun Murphy and Luca Brecel in Round Two.
All matches in this event will be played over seven frames up to and including the semi-finals. The final will be played over nine frames.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has signed a three-year contract to act as an Ambassador for snooker in Saudi Arabia and has opened a snooker academy in Riyadh so we may see The Rocket more focused than he has been in earlier tournaments this season. O'Sullivan looks to have benefited for a good draw and could get back to winning ways in this short-format tournament.
The World Masters marks an innovative additional rule change for this event where a golden ball will be in play and the players have an opportunity to make a 167 break and pocket a cool $1,000,000!
WST have released a video, narrated by Jack Lisowski, which explains how the golden ball will be used.
OLBG's expert snooker tipsters will have tips on all the matches at the World Masters.
Riyadh Season Snooker Championship December 2024: Draw and Results
Final - Best of nine frames
Luca Brecel v Allen/O'Sullivan
Semi-Finals - Best of seven frames
Mark Williams v Luca Brecel 3-4
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Allen
Quarter-Finals - Best of seven frames:
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui 4-0
Mark Selby v Mark Allen 2-4
Judd Trump v Mark Williams 3-4
Kyren Wilson v Luca Brecel 3-4
Round Two - Best of seven frames
Shaun Murphy v Ding Junhui 0-4
Luca Brecel v Zhang Anda 4-0
Round One - best of seven frames
Ding Junhui v Abdulraouf Sayegh 4-0
Zhang Anda v Ahmed Aseeri 4-0
World Masters March 2024: Draw and results
Round One: Best of seven:
Ding Junhui v Omar Alajlani 4-0
John Higgins v Ali Alobaidli 4-0
Round Two Best of seven:
Ali Carter v Ding Junhui 4-3
Mark Williams v John Higgins 2-4
Quarter Finals Best of seven:
Luca Brecel v Ali Carter 4-1
Mark Allen v Mark Selby 4-3 (decided on the final black)
Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy 4-3
Ronnie O'Sullivan v John Higgins 4-0
Semi-finals: Best of seven frames:
Luca Brecel v Mark Allen 4-2
Judd Trump v Ronnie O'Sullivan 1-4
Final - Best of nine frames:
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Luca Brecel 5-2