British Open: 2023 draw, preview, schedule, where to watch

The British Open begins on Monday at The Centaur in Cheltenham, with most of the heavy hitters featuring in the draw.

Representing the third ranking event of the 2023/24 snooker season so far, it’s the latest opportunity for the players to land prized silverware and lucrative sums of money.

Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins have been the first two winners in ranking tournaments during this campaign.

The Magician won the season-opening Championship League while Hawkins triumphed in the more recent European Masters.

Prize, history, and format

The British Open was resurrected in 2021 after a 17-year absence from the annual snooker calendar.

Prior to 2004, it had been one of the established ranking tournaments having taken place in every season from 1985.

The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Steve Davis, and Jimmy White all captured glory in its original form.

Since its rejuvenation, Mark Williams first won the revamped version before fellow Welshman Ryan Day emerged successfully with the title in 2022.

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British Open roll of honour

1985: Silvino Francisco
1986: Steve Davis
1987: Jimmy White
1988: Stephen Hendry
1989: Tony Meo
1990: Bob Chaperon
1991: Stephen Hendry
1992: Jimmy White
1993: Steve Davis
1994: Ronnie O’Sullivan
1995: John Higgins
1996: Nigel Bond
1997: Mark Williams
1998: John Higgins
1999 (1): Fergal O’Brien
1999 (2): Stephen Hendry
2000: Peter Ebdon
2001: John Higgins
2002: Paul Hunter
2003: Stephen Hendry
2004: John Higgins
2021: Mark Williams
2022: Ryan Day

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The British Open boasts a handy top prize worth £100,000 and is one of only a couple of events every year that utilises the random-draw format throughout.

All matches in the first four rounds take place over seven frames before an increase to nine for the quarter-finals.

The semi-finals are the best of 11 frames while the final is contested over 19 frames.

2023 British Open draw

The top 16 seeds have all had their round-of-128 fixtures held over to the venue stages.

That field won’t include recent Shanghai Masters champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has unfortunately withdrawn from the tournament citing medical reasons.

The random draw has already thrown up a couple of humdinger ties, though, with world champion Luca Brecel and Ding Junhui’s showdown the pick of the bunch.

Mark Allen, a runner-up last year, faces Anthony McGill and reigning champion Ryan Day is first in action against Sean O’Sullivan.

Judd Trump, who won a non-ranking event in China earlier this season, is the outright betting favourite in the British Open draw.

All the latest snooker odds are available on BoyleSports, which has an extensive sportsbook that also provides some of the best Premier League odds online.  

A lot of players lower down the rankings, meanwhile, have already reached the last 64 of the competition following the qualifying stage that took place in August.

Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, and Hossein Vafaei are a few of the high-profile names reentering the fray in round two.

Last 128

(held over fixtures)

Robert Milkins 4-2 Jiang Jun
Judd Trump 4-2 Anton Kazakov
Ali Carter 4-3 Allan Taylor
Luca Brecel 3-4 Ding Junhui
Gary Wilson 4-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Neil Robertson 4-1 Jamie Clarke
Mark Allen 4-1 Anthony McGill
Mark Williams 4-1 Peng Yisong
Mark Selby 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Ryan Day 4-0 Sean O’Sullivan
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Martin O’Donnell
Steven Hallworth 0-4 Jimmy Robertson
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Rebecca Kenna
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Joe O’Connor
John Higgins 4-1 Long Zehuang
Barry Hawkins 4-1 Stan Moody

Last 64

Xu Si 4-0 Ali Carter
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 1-4 Oliver Lines
Ma Hailong 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Yuan Sijun 4-0 Ben Mertens
Judd Trump 3-4 Hammad Miah
Oliver Brown 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Lyu Haotian 3-4 David Gilbert
Noppon Saengkham 2-4 Fergal O’Brien
Si Jiahui 4-1 Neil Robertson
Stephen Maguire 2-4 Mark Williams
Scott Donaldson 4-0 Liam Graham
Jamie Jones 0-4 Julien Leclercq
Robert Milkins 1-4 Barry Hawkins
Ken Doherty 3-4 Matthew Stevens
Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Wu Yize
Andy Hicks 2-4 Graeme Dott
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Shaun Murphy
Gary Wilson 4-3 Chris Wakelin
Anthony Hamilton 0-4 Xiao Guodong
Rod Lawler 4-1 Dominic Dale
Ryan Day 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Ding Junhui 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Fan Zhengyi 4-1 Ross Muir
He Guoqiang 4-1 Muhammad Asif
John Higgins 1-4 Robbie Williams
Mark Selby 4-2 Tian Pengfei
Daniel Wells 2-4 Ashley Carty
Matthew Selt 4-1 Zak Surety
Mark Allen 0-4 Kyren Wilson
Stuart Bingham 2-4 Ishpreet Singh
Tom Ford 4-3 Ashley Hugill
David Grace 3-4 Sanderson Lam

Last 32

Matthew Stevens 3-4 Fergal O’Brien
Yuan Sijun 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams 4-2 Gary Wilson
Hammad Miah 3-4 Ma Hailong
Graeme Dott 4-0 Ashley Carty
Ali Carter 4-2 Ryan Day
Julien Leclercq 0-4 Ding Junhui
Oliver Lines 1-4 He Guoqiang
Scott Donaldson 4-1 Robbie Williams
David Gilbert 4-1 Ishpreet Singh
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Si Jiahui 1-4 Mark Selby
Jimmy Robertson 0-4 Tom Ford
Rod Lawler 2-4 Fan Zhengyi
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Matthew Selt

Last 16

Ding Junhui 2-4 Mark Williams
Graeme Dott 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter 2-4 Xiao Guodong
Tom Ford 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Barry Hawkins 3-4 He Guoqiang
Fan Zhengyi 4-1 Ma Hailong
David Gilbert 3-4 Mark Selby
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Fergal O’Brien

Quarter-Finals

Mark Williams 5-1 Fan Zhengyi
Hossein Vafaei 5-2 He Guoqiang
Tom Ford 3-5 Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby 5-4 Jack Lisowski

Semi-Finals

Mark Williams 6-3 Hossein Vafaei
Xiao Guodong 0-6 Mark Selby

Final

Mark Williams 10-7 Mark Selby

How to watch the 2023 British Open

Viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to tune into daily coverage on ITV, with Eurosport broadcasting the event across the rest of Europe.

There are other options available for fans around the world, with a more detailed list provided on the World Snooker Tour website.

Featured photo credit: WST