The 2020 UK Championship draw and format have been posted bu WST:
Betway UK Championship Draw
Ding Junhui will start the defence of his Betway UK Championship title against amateur Jamie Curtis-Barrett later this month.
The first Triple Crown event of the season will run from November 23 to December 6 in Milton Keynes, with 128 players battling for the coveted trophy and a top prize of £200,000. China’s Ding beat Stephen Maguire in the final last year, winning the event for the third time.
The event features 128 players in a flat draw. All matches are best of 11 frames, up until the final on Sunday December 6th which is best of 19.
World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will be up against Leo Fernandez in round one while world number one Judd Trump will take on Paul Davison.
Neil Robertson will face France’s top player Brian Ochoiski while three-time winner John Higgins will meet Fergal O’Brien. Veterans Alan McManus and Jimmy White will go head to head while Mark Selby has been drawn against Michael White.
The event will be staged behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes for the first time, in line with Government Covid-19 regulations.
From the second round onwards, November 28th to December 6th, the event will receive extensive live television coverage from BBC, Eurosport, Matchroom.Live and a range of other global broadcasters. Details of how to watch the opening round will be announced shortly.
First staged in 1977, the UK Championship has been won by all of snooker’s great names.
Prize money
Winner: £200,000
Runner-up: £80,000
Semi-finals: £40,000
Quarter-finals: £24,500
Last 16: £17,000
Last 32: £12,000
Last 64: £6,500
High break: £15,000
Total: £1,009,000
No Stephen Hendry in there, and I’m not surprised. He said in commentary earlier this week that he wasn’t going to play in the UK. I think that the prospect of playing in Milton Keynes didn’t endear him that much, but also I believe that Steve Feeney made a mistake trying to “big up” Stephen’s return. That put unecessary pressure on the seven times World Champion.
Leo Fernandez beat Ding in the first round in 2017, so he maybe knows how to handle this tough openers.