2022 Tour Championship snooker draw: Ronnie O'Sullivan set to face Mark Williams, Judd Trump v Luca Brecel, prize money
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ByEurosport
Updated 18/03/2022 at 07:25 GMT
The elite eight-man Tour Championship at Venue Cymru in Llandudno is the penultimate ranking event of the season before the World Championship, but the quality on offer is hardly a distant second to the Crucible Theatre. The pick of the quarter-final matches is likely to see Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams clash in the chase for the £150,000 first prize with Neil Robertson defending his title.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan is set to face old foe Mark Williams in the quarter-finals of the elite eight-man £380,000 Tour Championship at Venue Cymru in Llandudno (28 March-3 April).
The evergreen duo – with nine world titles and a staggering 62 ranking trophies between them – are provisionally in line to lock cues on Wednesday 30 March in the Welsh coastal town, a remarkable 30 years after they turned professional with O'Sullivan seeded third on the one-year list and Williams occupying sixth spot before the Gibraltar Open (24-26 March LIVE on Eurosport).
The 'Class of '92' rivals first played each other in the early rounds of the 1994 Welsh Open. O'Sullivan ran out a 5-1 winner and is 32-8 ahead in their career meetings, but Williams did enjoy a famous 9-5 victory in the 2000 Grand Prix final.
"He's the best player I've ever seen in my life," said Williams earlier this season. "I've played with him since I was 10 and he's still going like myself. He's probably the only snooker player I'd pay to watch."
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The provisional quarter-final draw for the fourth Tour Championship – involving the top eight on the sport's one-year list in the chase for the £150,000 first prize – is also likely to see defending champion Neil Robertson confront Mark Allen, who lost 10-6 to Stephen Maguire in the 2020 final.
As it stands, Turkish Masters winner Judd Trump will encounter Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel in the top half of the draw with top seed Zhao Xintong meeting John Higgins in the tournament opener on Monday 28 March.
Four-time world champion Higgins occupies the eighth and final spot for the Tour Championship and has not yet qualified, having so far amassed £144,500 with Shoot Out winner Hossein Vafaei (£130,000) and Ricky Walden (£125,500) bidding to overtake him with a run to the final in Gibraltar.
There are several permutations, but the lower-key three-day event in Gibraltar is worth only a relatively modest £50,000 for the winner and £20,000 for the runner-up meaning the top six seeds are unlikely to alter unless O'Sullivan, Williams, Trump or Brecel lift the title.
If Higgins reaches the last four he would earn £6,000 leaving Vafaei or Walden needing the final victory to deny him his spot. If the Scot claims the trophy, he would knock Williams down a place and set up himself for a potential O'Sullivan meeting.
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Barry Hawkins, David Gilbert, Kyren Wilson, Jimmy Robertson and European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi would need to win the Gibraltar Open to leapfrog Higgins and qualify for the Tour Championship.
The Tour Championship is the 15th ranking event of the season and the final tournament before the World Championship (16 April-2 May LIVE on Eurosport). All matches are the best-of-19 frames and are played over two sessions with the fourth Tour Championship final on Sunday 3 April.
2020 Tour Championship draw (provisional after Turkish Masters)
Quarter-finals (best of 19 frames)
- Zhao Xintong (1) v John Higgins (8) (1pm and 7:30pm, Monday 28 March)
- Judd Trump (4) v Luca Brecel (5) (1pm and 7:30pm, Thursday 31 March)
- Neil Robertson (2) v Mark Allen (7) (1pm and 7:30 pm, Tuesday 29 March)
- Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) v Mark Williams (6) (1pm and 7:30pm, Wednesday 30 March)
Semi-finals (best of 19 frames)
- O'Sullivan/Williams v Robertson/Allen (1pm and 7:30pm, Friday 1 April)
- Zhao/Higgins v Trump/Brecel (1pm and 7:30 pm, Saturday 2 April)
Final (best of 19 frames)
- Zhao/Higgins/Trump/Brecel v O'Sullivan/Williams/Robertson/Allen (1pm and 7: 30pm, Sunday 3 April)
Top eight for Tour Championship (after Turkish Masters)
- 1 Zhao Xintong (Chn) £309,500
- 2 Neil Robertson (Aus) £257,000
- 3 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) £232,500
- 4 Judd Trump (Eng) £212,000
- 5 Luca Brecel (Bel) £202,500
- 6 Mark Williams (Wal) £166,500
- 7 Mark Allen (NI) £157,000
- 8 John Higgins (Sco) £144,500
2022 Tour Championship prize money
- Winner: £150,000
- Runner-up: £60,000
- Semi-final: £40,000
- Quarter-final: £20,000
- Highest break: £10,000
- Total: £380,000
Tour Championship previous winners
- 2019 – Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-11 Neil Robertson (Llandudno)
- 2020 – Stephen Maguire 10-6 Mark Allen (Milton Keynes)
- 2021 – Neil Robertson 10-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Newport)
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