Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters: Winner's cheque equal to the World Championship as the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan prepare for snooker's 'fourth major'

By Chris Hammer

Snooker

Wed September 04, 2024 · 2M ago

The inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters is the second most lucrative event on the calendar behind the World Championship - but the winner's cheque is equal to that of the Crucible king.

A total prize fund of £2,000,000 is on offer at the Green Halls in Riyadh from August 29 to September 7, when the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and world champion Kyren Wilson will be chasing a pot of gold.

It's second only to the World Championship prize pot, which totalled £2,395,000 back in May, with Wilson walking away with a £500,000 after defeating Jak Jones 18-14 in the Sheffield showpiece.

In fact, from the last 16 onwards, there is £1,580,000 to play for in both tournaments, with losing players receiving exactly the same amount as they would in the corresponding rounds at the Crucible.

Saudi Arabia first threw their financial weight into the sport earlier this year for an invitational World Masters that featured an ultimately redundant 'Golden Ball' worth 20 points available for any player managing to compile a 147 break. However, it's only action for the entire week was being routinely picked up by the referee and removed from the table as soon as a maximum ceased to be possible.

O'Sullivan received £250,000 from a total prize fund of £785,000 for overcoming Luca Brecel in the final and he'll be favourite to triumph once again in a Kingdom where he's signed a three-year ambassadorial deal.

This time, however, there will be 144 players trying to benefit from a bumper prize fund and while there's clearly no history to see it rival many other tournaments on the calendar from a 'prestige' perspective, nobody can argue that financially - and ranking-wise - this is suddenly one of the most important for any player to win.

History making

Whether Saudi Arabia's involvement in the sport sits right with you from a moral standpoint or not, this tournament is here to stay and build up its own history after a 10-year deal was struck between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry for Sport, the country’s snooker federation and Matchroom, the parent company of WST.

In fact the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters has already been dubbed snooker's 'fourth major' behind the Triple Crown events of the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters - while it's probably fair to say that the players would now rather get their hands on this t̶r̶o̶p̶h̶y̶ cheque than the Tour Championship.

There's also £50,000 maximum break side pot available to players who manage a 147 and that might possibly be enough to tempt the Rocket into making a record-extending 16th in professional competition - and his first since the 2018 English Open when he began his 'strike' from attempting any more due to lack of financial incentive.

Riydah could quite possibly witness some iconic moments in the careers of snooker's biggest names, with O'Sullivan bidding to equal Steve Davis' record of 84 professional snooker titles while Trump (992) and John Higgins (998) are on the brink of scoring their 1000th centuries - a feat that only the Rocket has ever achieved.

There's more on the bumper draw details below but for now here's how the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters ranks compared to the rest purely from the Hearns' favourite barometer; money.

Most lucrative tournaments on the snooker circuit (Based on winners' cheque)

Pots which are still TBC are based on 2023/24 figures
Ranking of events based on winners' cheque size due to field sizes affecting total pots

World Championship: Total Prize Fund: £2,395,000, Winner: £500,000
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters: Total Prize Fund: £2,000,000, Winner: £500,000
UK Championship: Total Prize Fund: £1,205,000, Winner: £250,000
Masters: Total Prize Fund: £725,000, Winner: £250,000
World Masters of Snooker: Total Prize Fund: £785,000, Winner: £250,000
Shanghai Masters: Total Prize Fund: £825,000, Winner: £250,000
International Championship: Total Prize Fund: £825,000, Winner: £210,000
Xi'an Grand Prix: Total Prize Fund: £850,000, Winner: £177,000
World Open: Total Prize Fund: £815,000, Winner: £170,000
Tour Championship: Total Prize Fund: £500,000, Winner: £150,000
Champion of Champions: Total Prize Fund: £440,000, Winner: £150,000
Wuhan Open: Total Prize Fund: £700,000, Winner: £140,000
Players Championship: Total Prize Fund: £385,000, Winner: £125,000
World Grand Prix: Total Prize Fund: £380,000, Winner: £100,000
British Open: Total Prize Fund: £502,00, Winner: £100,000
English Open: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
Northern Ireland Open: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
Welsh Open: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
Scottish Open: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
European Masters: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
German Masters: Total Prize Fund: £427,000, Winner: £80,000
Shoot Out: Total Prize Fund: £171,000, Winner: £50,000
Mixed World Doubles: Total Prize Fund: £140,000, Winners: £30,000 each

Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters: Tournament draw and bracket

Players seeded 81-112 will face those seeded 113-144 in the first round (losers receive £2,000) - featuring the likes of Jimmy White, Reanne Evans, Stan Moody and Ken Doherty - on August 30 and those winners will subsequently face those seeded 49-80 on August 31 in round two (losers receive £4,000).

Those winners will battle it out against the players ranked 17-48 in the third round (losers receive £7,000), which includes the likes of Robert Milkins, Stuart Bingham, Hossein Vafaei, Jack Lisowski and Neil Robertson, on September 1 with the winners of those ties facing each other in round four (losers receive £11,000) on September 2 for the right to join the world's top 16.

From this stage onwards, the prize money received by losing players is exactly the same as the corresponding rounds at the Crucible.