Snooker’s first ever pro tournament in Saudi Arabia was fittingly won by the sport’s all-time greatest player as Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Luca Brecel 5-2 in the final of the inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker.
The event was a landmark for the sport as the best players on the planet competed in the Kingdom for the first time. It is hoped that they will inspire a wave of interest in snooker throughout the Middle East, and O’Sullivan lived up to his role as flag-bearer by going all the way to the title, winning a final clash between the world number one and World Champion.
The event included the innovation of a golden ball, giving players the chance to make a unique break of 167 and earn a bonus of $500,000. The ‘super-maximum’ was not achieved, but HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), announced that in the next staging of the event, the bonus will be doubled to $1,000,000. He also raised the idea of a Ronnie O’Sullivan academy in Saudi Arabia.
O’Sullivan said: “It has been a fantastic tournament, a brilliant venue, the crowd have been amazing. All the players have enjoyed the culture and hospitality. These are the tournaments I really want to play in, with a great atmosphere. It feels like a really nice festival. Riyadh Season has a lot of the best sport – everyone needs to get to Saudi! You want to try to make the sport as big as you can and Saudi is a powerhouse.”
Victory builds on what could end up a career-best season for O’Sullivan, who retains the Midas touch at the age of 48 and has now won five titles in 2023/24. The £250,000 top prize takes his tally for the season to £1,141,500, beating Judd Trump’s record of £1,093,900 for the most earned in a single campaign. And that’s with three huge tournaments still to come, including the Cazoo World Championship where he will be gunning for an eighth crown.
Brecel had hoped to win his first title since conquering the Crucible last May, but a crucial error in frame four – when he had the momentum – proved decisive. The Belgian, who banks £125,000, can take consolation in the knowledge that his game is improving as he looks towards his title defence in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan took the opening frame with a break of 96, then Brecel dominated the second before going ahead with a run of 81. In frame four, Brecel led 29-0 when he missed the black off its spot, and his opponent punished him with a 94 clearance.
Brecel failed to score a point after the interval as O’Sullivan reeled off three rapid frames with top breaks of 121 and 124 to win the 79th professional title of his career.
O’Sullivan added: “I wanted to do well in this event, just to be a part of it was great. I started really well against John Higgins, that was one of my best performances. I struggled in the semi-finals against Judd Trump but then played better in the final. I felt very relaxed and laid back here because they take life at a leisurely pace. It was great to hear the fans chanting my name at the end and I can’t wait to come back.
“They love the game here, are talking about an academy and getting some good coaches. If there are youngsters playing the game then we could have a Saudi World Champion in 20 years. It’s good for snooker.”
Brecel said: “It has been a fantastic few days, the crowd were great. Everyone was excited to come here and we hope the event will be here for a long time.”
Pictures by Zhai Zheng (@zhaizhengqd)
Some personal thoughts about the event… First of all, the local’s the interest in snooker seems to be genuine and bigger than I thought. The crowds over the week-end were indeed excellent. The fact that Eddie Hearn made the trip is a clear sign that Matchroom is interested in organising more events there as it is indeed a powerhouse in sports, wether we like it or not. How much snooker is actually appreciated will be clear when next year ranking event is held in Riyadh. WST also shared some images of the players mixing with the fans in the fanzone.
There were a few women in the crowd, not many though. Some were probably tourists, or resident “westerners” and were dressed casually but decently. Being respectful of the locals is only normal and correct. There were very few local women in sight. They were in traditional attires, wearing scarfs and long dresses that covered them entirely (hijab). I didn’t see any woman in niqab though, and the some of young women I spotted in the crowd, had hair showing under their veil and were wearing make-up. As much as I disapprove of the Saudi regime, I want to hope that hosting big sporting events, attracting dozens of thousands of sports-loving tourists of both genders may eventually force a change in mentality – and laws – be it about women’s social status and role or about homosexuality. Even if it’s driven by lust for money, that would be something positive …
And some videos shared by Eurosport on their Youtube channel…
We are delighted to announce the latest provisional calendar for the 2024/2025 World Snooker Tour season, with a packed schedule around the globe, including the brand new Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The schedule is still to be finalised, with a number of further dates for 2025 to be confirmed when available. The calendar will be updated in due course.
MAY 20th to June 2nd – Q School – Morningside Arena, Leicester 20th to June 2nd – Asia/Oceania Q School
JUNE 10th to 15th – Championship League Snooker 1 17th to 22nd – Championship League Snooker 224th to 29th- Championship League Snooker 3
JULY Dates TBC – Shanghai Masters – Shanghai, China 1st to 3rd – Championship League Snooker 4 25th to August 3rd – Qualifiers: Xian Grand Prix, English Open, Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – Morningside Arena, Leicester
AUGUST 19th to 25th – Xi’an Grand Prix – Xi’an, China 26th to 29th – Qualifiers: Wuhan Open, British Open – Morningside Arena, Leicester 31st to September 7th – Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
SEPTEMBER 16th to 22nd – English Open – Brentwood Centre, Brentwood 23rd to 29th – British Open – The Centaur, Cheltenham 28th to 30th – Qualifiers: Northern Ireland Open – Ponds Forge, Sheffield
OCTOBER 1st to 4th – Qualifiers: International Championship – Ponds Forge, Sheffield 7th to 13th – Wuhan Open – Wuhan, China 20th to 27th – Northern Ireland Open – Waterfront Hall, Belfast 28th to 31st – Qualifiers: Scottish Open – Cannon Medical Arena, Sheffield
NOVEMBER 3rd to 10th – International Championship – Tianjin, China 11th to 17th – Champion of Champions 16th to 21st – Qualifiers: UK Championship – Morningside Arena, Leicester 23rd to December 1st – UK Championship – York Barbican, York
DECEMBER 4th to 7th – Shoot Out – Morningside Arena, Leicester 9th to 15th – Scottish Open – Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh 16th to 22nd – Qualifiers: German Masters and World Open – Cannon Medical Arena, Leicester
JANUARY 12th to 19th – Masters – Alexandra Palace, London 27th to February 2nd – German Masters – Tempodrom, Berlin
MARCH 3rd to 9th – World Open – China 17th to 23rd – Players Championship – Telford, England
APRIL 19th to May 5th – Cazoo World Championship – Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
One thing that hasn’t changed unfortunately is the “all qualifiers played in the UK system”. That HAS to change. Qualifiers MUST be scrapped or played near the event venue, right before the event. You don’t have qualifiers for Roland Garros or Wimbledon played played weeks or even months before the events and in a different country do you? (and, yes there ARE qualifiers for the tennis majors, three rounds of them, played just days before the events and near or at the main venue location).
9 thoughts on “Ronnie is the 2024 World Masters Champion”
I followed this event as a snooker event.
I was glad it was a snooker event and it was not golden ball shoot out event where every time they wanted to make 167.
I was so happy to see that Ronnie. Excellence of determination!
Congrats Ronnie, 5th title of the season 🙂
If they wanted the players to go for a 167 every Frame it was a mistake Giving £250,000 to the winner in itself that is more achievable for all the players playing in the event because all of them were winners.
well … they now will offer 1 million… so? Not to mention that doing both is not impossible and the big money is only for the first to do it.
Yea its not impossible but a 147 just happens naturally you cant force it that way you come unstuck.
I couldn’t wholeheartedly root for Ronnie to win this event, but I also didn’t really want him to lose. (I would have preferred that he not enter the event in the first place).
But I suppose I prefer him winning over losing, even though a Ronnie win is presumably the best case scenario for the Sportwashing agenda…
Same here. Agree wholeheartedly, I guess I just didn’t want Ronnie to lose to any of the players he faced and when he plays well, it’s just too good to see. Partner still laughed that I was rooting more for the golden ball in to be taken off than for Ronnie. 😛
It was great to see Ronnie play well, even though best of 7s indicate nothing, but given that Ronnie is not the best in such short matches it was even more satisfying. And he he didn’t play anyone to whom it would have been nice to see him lose, so it felt good he was victorious. I was also happy people weren’t attracted by the obscenely high prize for the so-called 167, even though it might have been interesting to see how they treat the golden thing, do they try to dislodge it, or leave it alone till the end.
I was also wondering why Ronnie was seated into the chair at the green pocket at the final. Some people suggest setting followed seeding and while I think it’s not the case at WST tournaments, suddenly I need help with it.
It was weird to offhand mention it at the end that they want an Academy with Ronnie’s name. After all it’s a business proposal – and had Brecel won, would they propose a Brecel Academy? 😛🤔I don’t think fully traditional women in niquab and burka would attend sports events or any event for that matter. But it’s good that those who attended, weren’t compelled to wear such an attire. And then a big shout out to Tatiana for telling off the men wandering around during frames and instructing them to sit down.
Normally in WST events, it follows ranking, with the exception of the defending champion who is always seeded nr 1. So, Ronnie being nr 1 and the event being new I was also expecting him to be seated on the yellow side. Maybe a genuine mistake from the Saudi organisers and nobody wanting to make a fuss about it, which would be the sensible decision.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I followed this event as a snooker event.
I was glad it was a snooker event and it was not golden ball shoot out event where every time they wanted to make 167.
I was so happy to see that Ronnie. Excellence of determination!
Congrats Ronnie, 5th title of the season 🙂
If they wanted the players to go for a 167 every Frame it was a mistake Giving £250,000 to the winner in itself that is more achievable for all the players playing in the event because all of them were winners.
well … they now will offer 1 million… so? Not to mention that doing both is not impossible and the big money is only for the first to do it.
Yea its not impossible but a 147 just happens naturally you cant force it that way you come unstuck.
I couldn’t wholeheartedly root for Ronnie to win this event, but I also didn’t really want him to lose. (I would have preferred that he not enter the event in the first place).
But I suppose I prefer him winning over losing, even though a Ronnie win is presumably the best case scenario for the Sportwashing agenda…
Same here. Agree wholeheartedly, I guess I just didn’t want Ronnie to lose to any of the players he faced and when he plays well, it’s just too good to see. Partner still laughed that I was rooting more for the golden ball in to be taken off than for Ronnie. 😛
It was great to see Ronnie play well, even though best of 7s indicate nothing, but given that Ronnie is not the best in such short matches it was even more satisfying. And he he didn’t play anyone to whom it would have been nice to see him lose, so it felt good he was victorious. I was also happy people weren’t attracted by the obscenely high prize for the so-called 167, even though it might have been interesting to see how they treat the golden thing, do they try to dislodge it, or leave it alone till the end.
I was also wondering why Ronnie was seated into the chair at the green pocket at the final. Some people suggest setting followed seeding and while I think it’s not the case at WST tournaments, suddenly I need help with it.
It was weird to offhand mention it at the end that they want an Academy with Ronnie’s name. After all it’s a business proposal – and had Brecel won, would they propose a Brecel Academy? 😛🤔I don’t think fully traditional women in niquab and burka would attend sports events or any event for that matter. But it’s good that those who attended, weren’t compelled to wear such an attire. And then a big shout out to Tatiana for telling off the men wandering around during frames and instructing them to sit down.
Normally in WST events, it follows ranking, with the exception of the defending champion who is always seeded nr 1. So, Ronnie being nr 1 and the event being new I was also expecting him to be seated on the yellow side. Maybe a genuine mistake from the Saudi organisers and nobody wanting to make a fuss about it, which would be the sensible decision.
Thanks, it just threw my visual balance off 😁