The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the

pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

Vienna Snooker Open The Vienna Snooker Open is a pro–am snooker tournament held in Vienna, Austria. The tournament was held for the first time in 2010, returned in 2012, and has been held annually since then. Mark King and Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (bor ...

in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

( 1990/1991),

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005 ...

( 2013/2014), and

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

( 2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season. The China Championship became a ranking event and was brought forward to a mid-August date, ahead of the

Paul Hunter Classic The Paul Hunter Classic is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It changed from a ranking event to a 16-man invitational event in 2019. From 2010 to 2015 it was part of the Players Tour Championship. Barry Hawkins is the reigning champion. After los ...

. The Shanghai Masters was initially withdrawn from the season calendar, but was later rescheduled for November 2017. The biennial

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

team event was played in July 2017. Another event not held every year returning in 2017 was the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

IWGA The International World Games Association, abbreviated as IWGA, is an international association, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that organises every four years, beginning in 1981, the multi-sport event called The World Ga ...

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

. The

Snooker Shoot Out The Snooker Shoot Out is a professional ranking snooker tournament played under a variation of the standard rules. The 2017 event was the first time the tournament was staged as a ranking event. Hossein Vafaei is the current champion. History ...

was brought forward to the start of February, ahead of both the World Grand Prix and Welsh Open. A new

World Seniors Tour The World Seniors Tour is the professional snooker tour for senior players aged 40 and over, running in parallel to the main World Snooker Tour. Founded in 2017 by Snooker Legends, it has been run since 2018 by World Seniors Snooker, a subsidiary ...

was formed by

Snooker Legends The Snooker Legends was created in 2009 by Jason Francis at Premier Stage Productions to stage events for retired and current snooker players to play exhibition matches once again in some of snooker's most iconic venues. In 2017, Snooker Legends pr ...

for players over 40 years of age, comprising four events, including the

World Seniors Championship The World Seniors Championship is an invitational seniors snooker tournament which has been played under different formats. As of 2020 the minimum age is 40, but it was 45 in 2011 and 2012. History The event was first held in 1991 with 16 pla ...

which has returned to Scunthorpe in 2018. The second edition of the

Home Nations Series The Home Nations Series is a snooker tournament series in the four home nations of the United Kingdom. It began in the 2016–17 snooker season, combining two existing tournaments, the Scottish Open and Welsh Open, with two newly created tourname ...

was being held in this season with the

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open tournaments. For a single winner of all four tournaments would earn a bonus of £1 million.

won five ranking events during the season, with Mark Williams winning three times and Ryan Day,

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

and

each winning twice.

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

reached four ranking event finals during the season but lost them all.

Players

The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2017 World Championship, and the 31 players earning a two-year card the previous year automatically qualified for the season (

Rouzi Maimaiti Rouzi Maimaiti ( ug, روزا‎ مەمەت, Roza Memet; ; born 4 July 1983) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Maimaiti has been a wildcard player at several ranking tournaments before turning professional. He lost the majority ...

has resigned his membership). Next, eight places were allocated to the top 8 on the One Year Ranking List who have not already qualified for the Main Tour. Another two players came from the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs, and a further 12 places were available through the Q School (four Event 1 winners, four

Event 2 ''Event 2'' is the second album by hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030. The album was released on September 30, 2013. It is the group's first album since their 2000 debut, ''Deltron 3030'' and a narrative sequel. Production history Production be ...

winners, and four best-ranked players in the Order of Merit). The rest of the places on to the tour came from amateur events and national governing body (NGB) nominations. Hamza Akbar received a tour card as a special dispensation in place of America's nomination. The list of all professional players in the 2017/2018 season consist of 131 players, including the standard field of the 128 players and three invitational tour cards (

James Wattana James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...

has second year of a two-year invitational tour card while

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

and

Ken Doherty Ken Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and the World Amateur C ...

were awarded the new two-year permission). Beginning from this season, players with invitational tour cards are eligible to compete in any ranking event. These players are seeded after main tour professionals, but above amateur top ups taken from the Q School ranking list.

New professional players

All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons. ;International champions # IBSF World Championship winner:

Soheil Vahedi Soheil Vahedi ( fa, سهیل واحدی, born March 15, 1989) is an Iranian former professional snooker player. Career In 2009 Vahedi entered the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championships in his home country in Kish, Iran in which he reached ...

IBSF World Under-21 Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Sn ...

winner:

Xu Si Xu Si (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Xu Si first started playing snooker aged 12 at his local club in Jieyang during the school holidays. After a few weeks he became determined to become a snooker pla ...

# EBSA European Championship winner:

Chris Totten Chris Totten (born 5 December 1998 in Wishaw, Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He is a former EBSA European Snooker Champion. Career In March 2017, Totten entered the 2017 EBSA European Snooker Championship as th ...

# # ACBS Asian Championship winner:

Lyu Haotian Lyu Haotian (, born 29 November 1997) is a snooker player from the People's Republic of China, notable for being one of the youngest snooker players to have played in professional tournaments, aged only 14. He reached the quarter-finals of the ...

# ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship winner:

Yuan Sijun Yuan Sijun (Chinese: 袁思俊; born 29 May 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Yuan started to play snooker at the age of 10 and played as a wildcard in many professional tournaments between ages of 13 and 16. Yuan first drew ...

# ABSF African Championships winner:

Basem Eltahhan Basem Abdullah Eltahhan (born 17 August 1982 in Alexandria, Egypt) is an Egyptian former professional snooker player. Eltahhan turned professional in 2017 winning the ABSF African Snooker Championship, African Championship. Career In 2017, Eltahh ...

# Oceania Championship winner:

Matthew Bolton Matthew Bolton (born 7 July 1979 in Perth, WA) is an Australian billiards player. He is one of the most successful English billiards players of his country. Internationally, he is also successful as a snooker player where he became professiona ...

;One Year Ranking List ;EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs ; Q School ;Event 1 ;Event 2 ;Order of Merit ;CBSA China Tour ; ;

Calendar

The following tables outline the dates and results of all events of the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

World Women's Snooker World Women's Snooker, founded as the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1981, and known as World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS) from 2015 to 2018, is a subsidiary company of the World Professional Billiards and Snoo ...

, the

, and other events.

World Snooker Tour

World Ladies Billiards and Snooker

World Seniors Tour

Other events

Points distribution

2017/2018 points distribution for

ranking events:

Notes

References

External links

Snooker season 2017/2018
at Snooker.org {{Snooker tournaments

*Season 2017 *Season 2018