The Englishman spent the entire calendar year in top spot on the official list.
Judd Trump won the last event of the year on Sunday to consolidate his no.1 position in the official world rankings.
The 31 year-old’s 10-7 triumph over Jack Lisowksi to claim the World Grand Prix earned him another champion’s cheque worth £100,000.
On the two-year rolling standings, Trump has now earned an enormous sum of £1,854,500 – more than £800,000 ahead of his nearest rival, Neil Robertson.
Since the beginning of 2020, the Bristol potter has recorded victories in six ranking events, and out of the 16 ranking tournaments that were staged throughout the year Trump has been involved in exactly half of the finals.
The 2019 world champion didn’t manage to add to his Triple Crown tally, succumbing to the “Curse of the Crucible” at the quarter-final stage in Sheffield and being denied in a dramatic deciding-frame thriller in the UK Championship final earlier this month.
Trump’s defence of the non-ranking Masters also ended prematurely, but success has been constant with silverware achieved in the German Masters, Players Championship, Gibraltar Open, Northern Ireland Open, English Open, and most recently at the World Grand Prix.
Trump has a lot of world ranking points to defend in 2021, but in the kind of form he’s in it’s hard to see him sliding down the world rankings pecking order any time soon.
So happy to win my 3rd World Grand Prix 😁 A huge thanks for the ongoing support and to @BarryHearn @WeAreWST @matchroomsport for all of the work behind the scenes to get these events on 👌🏻 Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, stay safe and I’ll see you in 2021! #snooker pic.twitter.com/O7VdUQM5Xw
— Judd trump (@judd147t) December 20, 2020
Robertson, meanwhile, edged Trump to claim that UK title a few weeks ago, adding to his glories in the European Masters and the first World Grand Prix that was staged in the second half of last season.
The Australian pips world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, who finishes the year in third ahead of Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, and John Higgins.
The latter is the only member of the top eight who didn’t manage to raise any trophies aloft during what was a turbulent 2020 as a result of COVID-19.
Higgins places ahead of Welsh Open champion Shaun Murphy and Tour Championship winner Stephen Maguire.
Lisowski, meanwhile, is in 14th position after reaching a fourth ranking event final of his career at the weekend.
The run for the 29 year-old was timely, as he stands to lose a lot of ranking points in the second half of the campaign on the back of his runner-up appearance in the lucrative 2019 China Open.
Attention in the early months of 2021 will quickly turn to the Crucible, and the next World Championship in Sheffield in April.
As usual, the top 16 in the world rankings will qualify automatically, but Lisowski finds himself way down in 22nd on the provisional Race to the Crucible list and with work to do.
Anthony McGill and Zhou Yuelong, who are currently outside the elite bracket, are in line to leapfrog their way into top 16 contention, albeit there is still plenty of snooker to be played before the conclusion of this campaign.
Trump, of course, will be guaranteed of his World Championship spot and is already the 3/1 favourite with Betiton to reclaim the Crucible crown.
Top 32 in the World Rankings (Dec, 2020)
- Judd Trump
- Neil Robertson
- Ronnie O’Sullivan
- Mark Selby
- Kyren Wilson
- John Higgins
- Shaun Murphy
- Stephen Maguire
- Ding Junhui
- Mark Allen
- Yan Bingtao
- Stuart Bingham
- David Gilbert
- Jack Lisowski
- Mark Williams
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Anthony McGill
- Barry Hawkins
- Joe Perry
- Gary Wilson
- Zhou Yuelong
- Ali Carter
- Graeme Dott
- Scott Donaldson
- Kurt Maflin
- Matthew Selt
- Michael Holt
- Zhao Xintong
- Tom Ford
- Liang Wenbo
- Li Hang
- Martin Gould
