The 2023 British Open (officially the 2023 Cazoo British Open) was a 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 ...

tournament that took place from 25 September to 1 October 2023 at the

Centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, England. Qualifying took place from 14 to 19 August at the

Morningside Arena The Leicester Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the Morningside Arena Leicester, is a multi-purpose built sports arena located in Leicester, England. The arena has a seating capacity for 3,000 spectators. The arena's main tenants are the ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. The third

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

tournament of the

2023–24 snooker season The 2023–24 snooker season is an ongoing professional snooker season with tournaments played between 26 June 2023 and 26 May 2024. Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2023–24 season initially involved 130 professional players, but dro ...

, it followed the

2023 European Masters The 2023 European Masters (officially the 2023 BetVictor European Masters) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 27 August 2023 at the in Nuremberg, Germany, the first time that the main stage of a professional rankin ...

and preceded the 2023 English Open. Organised by 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 ...

and sponsored by car retailer

Cazoo Cazoo is a British online car retailer based in London, England which was founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman. History Cazoo was founded in 2018 by British internet entrepreneur Alex Chesterman. It launched an online marketplace for used cars in ...

, it was broadcast domestically in the UK by

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

, and internationally by other broadcasters. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £478,000. The defending champion was Ryan Day, who defeated

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

10–7 in the 2022 final, but he lost 2–4 to

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

in the last 32. Mark Williams defeated

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 ...

10–7 in the final to win his third British Open title and his 25th ranking title. Aged 48 years and 194 days, he became the second-oldest player to win a ranking event, behind

Ray Reardon Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

, who won the

1982 Professional Players Tournament The 1982 Professional Players Tournament was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place in two venues in the Birmingham area. One was at the La Reserve in Sutton Coldfield and the other was the International Snooker Club in Ast ...

aged 50 years and 14 days. The event's main stage produced 51 century breaks and the qualifying round produced 11 centuries.

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (, born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

made the tournament's highest break, a 140 in his quarter-final match against

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...

Format

The draw was randomised after each round. After the first round, the draw was made by

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

and Rob Walker on live TV. All matches before the quarter-final stage were played as the best of seven frames, while the quarter-finals were best of nine frames, the semi-finals best of 11 frames, and the final best of 19 frames. The winner received the

Clive Everton Clive Harold Everton (born 7 September 1937) is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded ''Snooker Scene'' magazine, which was first published (as ''World Snooker'') in ...

trophy and secured a place in the upcoming Champion of Champions tournament. The event was broadcast by

and

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

in Europe; by Liaoning TV, Migu,

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haidian ...

, and

Huya Live Huya Live ( zh, s=虎牙直播, p=Hǔyá Zhíbò) is a Chinese video live streaming service. The site is one of the largest of its kind in China, and also operates globally as Nimo TV. Similar to other streaming services like Loco, the site prim ...

in China; by

Now TV Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

in Hong Kong; by

Astro SuperSport Astro SuperSport is an English language in-house subscription satellite television network in Malaysia dedicated to broadcasting sports-related content 24 hours a day. It is available on the Astro via Channels 810 & 831 (HD) to subscribers of ...

in Malaysia and Brunei; by

TrueVision Truevision, Inc. was a maker of digital video processing add-on boards for PC computers. It was founded by Cathleen Asch, Carl Calabria, Joseph Haaf, Bryan Hunt, Brad Pillow, Joe Shepard and Jeff Walters and others when AT&T split off their E ...

in Thailand; by Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; and by Fastsports in Pakistan. It was available from

Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), ...

in all other territories.

Prize fund

The winner of the event received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £478,000. The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below: * Winner: £100,000 * Runner-up: £45,000 * Semi-final: £20,000 * Quarter-final: £12,000 * Last 16: £8,000 * Last 32: £5,000 * Last 64: £3,000 * Highest break: £5,000 * Total: £478,000

Summary

World number one

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, ...

withdrew from the tournament for medical reasons and was replaced in the draw by

Steven Hallworth Steven Hallworth (born 1 December 1995) is an English former professional snooker player. He is the only ever qualified professional from Lincoln. He is a practice partner of Stuart Carrington. Career Junior Hallworth started playing snooke ...

Qualifying round

Qualifying for the tournament took place from 14 to 19 August 2023 at the

, England, although qualifiers featuring the defending champion and the top 15 players in the

snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. The ranking lists are maintained by the sport's governing body, ...

were held over and played in

. The highest break made during the Leicester qualifiers was a 136 by Daniel Wells.

Early rounds

The reigning world champion

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

lost 3–4 to

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 ...

in their held-over qualifying match. This meant that Brecel was unable to overtake

as the world number one.

, who defeated

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

4–1, would have overtaken O'Sullivan had he won the tournament, but he was whitewashed 0–4 by

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

in his first-round match. Also in the first round, world number four

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

lost 3–4 to world number 113

Hammad Miah Hammad Miah ( bn, হাম্মাদ মিঞা; born 6 July 1993) is a British professional snooker player of Bangladeshi-origin. In May 2013, Miah qualified for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 professional Main Tour as one of four semi- ...

, while world number six

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

lost 1–4 to world number 30

Si Jiahui Si Jiahui (; born 11 July 2002) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career In May 2019, Si qualified for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 professional Main Tour as Q School, as the highest ranked player on the Q School ranking list who didn' ...

. World number nine

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 ( ...

was beaten 1–4 by world number 47

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

, and world number 22

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

was defeated 2–4 by world number 105

Ishpreet Singh Chadha Ishpreet Singh Chadha ( hi, इशप्रीत सिंह चढ्ढा, born 30 May 1996) is an Indian snooker player. He has earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour starting with 2023–24 snooker season. Career From Mumbai ...

Later rounds

In the last 16,

defeated David Gilbert 4–3 in a match that ended just before 00:45 BST. Gilbert lost the decider when he went in-off on the final black ball. Williams defeated Ding 4–2. In the quarter-finals, Williams defeated

Fan Zhengyi Fan Zhengyi (, born 27 January 2001) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship in 2017, and turned professional in 2018. He had a breakthrough season in 2021–22 when he reached his first r ...

5–1, making two centuries.

Hossein Vafaei Hossein Vafaei ( fa, حسین وفایی ایوری; born 15 October 1994) is an Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first professional player from Iran. He won his first professional title at the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Mar ...

lost the first two frames against

He Guoqiang He Guoqiang (; born October 1. 1943) is a retired senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Between 2007 and 2012, He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's highest ruling council, and the Secretary of the Cent ...

but went on to win five consecutive frames, making two centuries, for a 5–2 win. Selby defeated

Jack Lisowski Jack Adam Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he is known for his atta ...

5–4.

defeated

5–3, making the tournament's highest break of 140 in the final frame. In the semi-finals, Williams defeated Vafaei 6–3 and Selby whitewashed Xiao 6–0, making a 123 break in the fourth frame.

Final

The final was played over the best of 19 frames between Williams and Selby. In the afternoon session, Williams made two century breaks as he won five of the first six frames. Selby won the last two frames of the session, reducing Williams's lead to 5–3. After the first four frames of the evening session, Williams maintained his two-frame lead at 7–5. Williams took the 13th frame, but Selby won the 54-minute 14th frame and also took the 15th with a 68 break to trail by one at 8–7. Selby led by 56 points in the 16th frame, but Williams, who had not potted a ball for 39 minutes, made a 69 clearance to move one from victory at 9–7. In the 17th frame, Williams required a snooker but got the foul points he required and won the frame on the black, clinching the match 10–7. It was Williams's third British Open title—having previously won the tournament in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

—and his 25th ranking title. Aged 48 years and 194 days, he surpassed 2022 Welsh Open champion Joe Perry to become the second-oldest winner of a ranking title.

remained the oldest ranking winner, having won the

at age 50. "I never expected I could still get to finals at 48 and win, playing someone like Mark Selby", Williams commented.

Main draw

Match winners are shown in bold.

Round 1

The random draw for the last 64 was made on 24 August.
Matches were best of seven frames.

September 26 morning session

* 4–0 * 4–0 * 1–4 * 4–0

September 26 afternoon session

* 3–4 * 2–4 * 3–4 * 2–4 * 4–0 * 4–2 * 0–4 * 1–4

September 26 evening session

* 1–4 * 3–4 * 2–4 * 4–3 * 4–1 * 0–4 * 4–3 * 4–3

September 27 morning session

* 4–1 * 4–1 * 4–1 * 4–3

September 27 afternoon session

* 2–4 * 4–1 * 1–4 * 4–2 * 4–3 * 3–4 * 4–0 * 4–2

Round 2

The random draw for the last 32 was made on 26 September.
Matches were best of seven frames.

September 27 evening session

* 2–4 * 2–4 * 3–4 * 4–3 * 2–4 * 4–0 * 1–4 * 4–0

September 28 afternoon session

* 4–1 * 1–4 * 4–1 * 4–1 * 4–2 * 1–4 * 4–2 * 4–0

Round 3

The random draw for the last 16 was made on 27 September.
Matches were best of seven frames.

September 28 evening session

* 2–4 * 2–4 * 2–4 * 4–1 * 3–4 * 3–4 * 4–2 * 1–4

Quarter-finals

The random draw for the quarter-finals was made on 28 September.
Matches were best of nine frames.

September 29 afternoon session

* 2–5 * 5–1

September 29 evening session

* 5–4 * 3–5

Semi-finals

The random draw for the semi-finals was made on 28 September.
Matches were best of eleven frames.

September 30 afternoon session

* 3–6

September 30 evening session

* 0–6

Final

Qualifying

The qualification matches are shown below. Match winners are shown in bold.

Cheltenham

The results of the held over matches played in

on 25 September were as follows:

Afternoon session

* 4–3 * 2–4 * 2–4 * 4–3 * 4–1 * 1–4 * 1–4 * 4–1

Evening session

* 0–4 * 2–4 * 4–1 * 0–4 * 3–4 * 4–1 * 4–1 * 0–4

Leicester

The results of the qualifying matches played in

were as follows:

14 August

* 1–4 * 4–2 * 1–4 * 2–4 * 1–4 * 2–4 * 2–4 * 4–1

15 August

* 4–3 * 4–0 * 4–3 * 4–0 * 4–1 * 0–4 * 1–4 * 1–4

16 August

* 4–3 * 1–4 * 1–4 * 1–4 * 1–4 * 4–3 * 4–2 * 4–1

17 August

* 4–3 * 4–3 * 1–4 * 2–4 * 4–1 * 2–4 * 3–4 * 4–2

18 August

* 1–4 * 4–1 * 4–2 * 4–1 * 0–4 * 3–4 * 2–4 * 2–4

19 August

* 4–0 * 3–4 * 4–2 * 4–0 * 4–0 * 4–0 * 4–2 * 4–0

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

A total of 51 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament in

. * 140

* 138, 133, 128, 110, 109 Mark Williams * 135, 134, 125, 120, 116, 107, 106

* 133, 132, 108, 102, 101, 100

* 132, 123, 112, 110

* 126, 101

* 125, 124, 116

* 125 Graeme Dott * 123, 109

* 123

* 121, 112, 104

* 118

* 117

Liu Hongyu Liu Hongyu (; born January 11, 1975, in Liaoning) is a female Chinese race walker. Achievements See also *China at the World Championships in Athletics The People's Republic of China (PRC) first competed at the IAAF World Championships in At ...

* 116

* 114 Barry Hawkins * 111, 111

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 ...

* 111 Zak Surety * 107

* 107

* 105

Long Zehuang Long Zehuang (; born 28 December 1996) is a Chinese snooker player. He has achieved a place on the World Snooker Tour starting with 2023–24 snooker season. Career Before becoming a professional snooker player, Long won World Junior 9-Ball ...

* 105 Joe O'Connor * 105 David Gilbert * 104 Wu Yize * 103 Oliver Lines * 102

Tian Pengfei Tian Pengfei (, born 16 August 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He began his career by playing the Challenge Tour in 2004, at the time the second-level professional tour. Tian played on the Main Tour in 2006 and competed on the Wo ...

* 100 Jimmy Robertson

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 11 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage in

. * 136, 115 Daniel Wells * 135 Stephen Maguire * 134

* 129, 119 Zhang Anda * 122 Julien Leclercq * 114 Martin Gould * 105 Zhou Yuelong * 101

Ben Mertens Ben Mertens (born 13 October 2004) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships in 2018. Career Ben Mertens is from Wetteren. When he was 12 years old, he reached the 2nd round of the 2017 EBSA Eu ...

* 101

Rory Thor Thor Chuan Leong (; born 24 March 1988) is a Malaysian former professional snooker player. He is commonly referred to as Rory Thor. Career Thor, based in Penang, Malaysia represented his country at the 2006 & 2010 Asian Games and in the 201 ...

Notes

References

External links

World Snooker Tour – Home

World Snooker – Live Scores
{{2023–24 snooker season

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

British Open (snooker)