The first ranking event of 2022 will be the Snooker Shoot Out with Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Zhao Xintong among the big names in the draw this year.
The tournament moves to the Morningside Arena in Leicester for the first time having been forced behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes twelve months ago.
Commencing on Thursday and running through until the champion is crowned on Sunday, the Shoot Out remains one of the more divisive events on the calendar.
The unique format attracts a different type of viewer each season but similarly alienates a significant section of supporters who bemoan the format’s lack of traditional values.
By now, however, it is an established annual competition, and while there are still vexations with regard prize money and ranking points, it’s a weekend’s action that perhaps can be taken a little less intensely than most.
2022 Snooker Shoot Out Draw and Schedule
There is a random draw implemented for the Snooker Shoot Out Draw, making it truly as open as possible to anyone from north or south of the rankings list to go on a deep run.
Ryan Day is the defending champion following his victory in the final over Mark Selby a year ago, and at that time the Welshman was ranked at a lowly 50th place in the world.
In fact, no player from inside the top 16 has ever emerged with the silverware, so those lower down the pecking order will see this has an enormous chance to claim a title and potentially rise quickly up the standings.
Day faces countryman Jak Jones in the first round, while world number one and world champion Selby will look to bounce back from his disappointing display in the Masters when he takes on Li Hang.
The tie of the first round draw in the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out is undoubtedly the one between Barry Hawkins, a runner-up at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday, and China’s Ding Junhui.
This is the first time world number 29 Ding has competed in the Shoot Out since 2013, and the first time since its status has been elevated to ranking, which maybe underlines his plight in terms of the rankings at present.
Other intriguing fixtures include a battle of the former champions between Martin Gould and Nigel Bond, Ali Carter’s encounter with the struggling Matthew Stevens, and Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel’s bout against Joe Perry.
Last 128
Thursday, 1pm
Matches scheduled for every 15 minutes
Ryan Day vs Jak Jones
Allan Taylor vs Liam James Davies
Jimmy Robertson vs Simon Blackwell
Dylan Emery vs Simon Lichtenberg
Lu Ning vs Stan Moody
Ali Carter vs Matthew Stevens
Craig Steadman vs Gerard Greene
Pang Junxu vs Cao Yupeng
James Cahill vs Jackson Page
Martin Gould vs Nigel Bond
Dominic Dale vs Oliver Lines
Jamie O’Neill vs Liang Wenbo
Gao Yang vs Jamie Wilson
John Astley vs Ian Burns
Haydon Pinhey vs Farakh Ajaib
Chang Bingyu vs Shaun Murphy
Thursday, 7pm
Matches scheduled for every 15 minutes
Mark Selby vs Li Hang
Paul Deaville vs Chen Zifan
Michael Judge vs Mark Lloyd
Fraser Patrick vs Andrew Higginson
Sunny Akani vs David Gilbert
Ross Bulman vs Martin O’Donnell
Aaron Hill vs Lee Walker
Stuart Carrington vs Mark Williams
Lyu Haotian vs Dean Young
Ricky Walden vs Zak Surety
Fergal O’Brien vs Leo Fernandez
Ben Woollaston vs Jack Lisowski
Peter Lines vs Joe O’Connor
Lei Peifan vs Alfie Burden
Reanne Evans vs Fan Zhengyi
Rod Lawler vs Elliot Slessor
Friday, 1pm
Matches scheduled for every 15 minutes
Ashley Carty vs Mark Allen
Barry Pinches vs Ross Muir
Iulian Boiko vs Robbie Williams
Tian Pengfei vs Rebecca Kenna
Stuart Bingham vs Mark Davis
Noppon Saengkham vs David Grace
Mitchell Mann vs Xiao Guodong
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Kuldesh Johal
Ding Junhui vs Barry Hawkins
Michael Georgiou vs Si Jiahui
Duane Jones vs Xu Si
Mark Joyce vs Yan Bingtao
Zhang Jiankang vs Zhang Anda
Jamie Clarke vs Ben Hancorn
Andrew Pagett vs Liam Graham
Jimmy White vs Sanderson Lam
Friday, 7pm
Matches scheduled for every 15 minutes
Luca Brecel vs Joe Perry
Chris Wakelin vs Michael White
Scott Donaldson vs David Lilley
Hossein Vafaei vs Peter Devlin
Yuan Sijun vs Tom Ford
Billy Castle vs Sean Maddocks
Anthony Hamilton vs Robert Milkins
Jordan Brown vs Jamie Jones
Mark King vs Graeme Dott
Lukas Kleckers vs Louis Heathcote
Robbie McGuigan vs Liam Highfield
Zhou Yuelong vs Steven Hallworth
Bai Langning vs Ken Doherty
Andy Hicks vs Gary Wilson
Matthew Selt vs Ashley Hugill
Michael Holt vs Zhao Xintong
Prize, History, and Format
There is a £50,000 cheque on offer for the champion on Sunday. Of course, this prize cannot compete with the incredible winnings suggested by the highest paying Australian online casino websites, especially if you hit a jackpot.
Unlike the best paying casino platforms, the Snooker Shoot Out is not able to make you a millionaire, but £50,000 is still not a terrible payday for just seven frames of work.
The Snooker Shoot Out is always a controversial inclusion as a ranking event given its deviation from the traditional rules of the game.
Each match lasts only one ten-minute frame, with a 15-second shot clock in operation for the first five minutes and a 10-second shot clock required for the remaining time.
Players lag to determine who breaks off, every shot must result in a ball hitting a cushion or being potted, and there is ball-in-hand for any foul committed.
A permanent fixture on the Main Tour schedule since 2011, no current top-16 player has ever emerged as the winner.
The likes of Barry Hawkins, Anthony McGill, Michael White, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have triumphed in the past, but each of them was ranked outside the world’s elite bracket at the time.
Originally an invitational, the Shoot Out was upgraded to ranking event status in 2017 – a decision that did not go down particularly well with the majority of traditionalist supporters.
The Shoot Out is additionally the fourth event in this season’s European Series, where the player with the most-earned money after the eight total tournaments will receive a bonus worth £150,000.
Where to Watch the Snooker Shoot Out
Live coverage will be available in Ireland, Britain, and across Europe via Eurosport.
Other options are available for viewers around the world, which you can view by clicking here.
Featured photo credit: WST
