The biggest ranking event of the season so far gets under way today in York so it’s a good time to test your knowledge with this UK Championship quiz.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is the reigning champion and, in fact, is bidding for a third title on the trot at the Barbican Centre.
O’Sullivan overcame Mark Allen in the title decider twelve months ago to capture a record 19th Triple Crown trophy.
Sealing the hat-trick of consecutive wins would guarantee another record for the “Rocket”, who has been level on 36 all-time ranking event triumphs with Stephen Hendry since the end of last season.
Judd Trump is the man in form, though, and the world number one could become only the third player in the history of the game to hold the Masters, World Championship, and UK Championship honours in the same calendar year.
Trump and O’Sullivan clashed in a memorable Northern Ireland Open final recently and the pair is separated on opposite sides of the draw again here.
Other contenders for the crown in 2019 will likely come from the usual protagonists.
Mark Selby, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Mark Allen, and Shaun Murphy, among others, will all be vying for a position at the business end of proceedings.
There’s a whopping £200,000 on offer for the champion this year, in a tournament that boasts an overall prize fund of more than £1 million for the first time.
The UK Championship’s format isn’t as testing as it once was but it has still always tended to produce champions of the very elite class.
There have been plenty of famous story lines down through the years, from incredible comebacks to tragic meltdowns, and everything in between.
The question is, how well do you know the UK Championship?
Click here for the UK Championship quiz (external site)
