The increasingly busy 2024/25 snooker calendar continues this week with the 2024 edition of the British Open.
The English Open, won by Neil Robertson, will be less than 24 hours old by the time the action gets under way at the Centaur in Cheltenham.
The British Open is one of only a couple of events on the calendar that utilises an FA-Cup style random draw element in each round.
A preliminary stage was already held last month where several round-of-128 ties were played at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
However, the first-round matches involving the top 16 seeds have been held over to the venue stages.
2024 British Open prize money
Champion: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-Finals: £20,000
Quarter-Finals: £12,000
Round of 16: £9,000
Round of 32: £6,000
Round of 64: £3,000
Highest Break: £5,000
TOTAL: £502,000
Who are the former British Open champions?
The British Open was a regular fixture on the schedule from 1985 to 2004, with champions including Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, and Jimmy White.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Peter Ebdon, and Paul Hunter were other notable winners from the early years.
The tournament also provided some surprise winners including Silvino Francisco, Tony Meo, Bob Chaperon, Nigel Bond, and Fergal O’Brien.
Following several seasons where the event wasn’t staged, it was relaunched in 2021 with Mark Williams adding to his previous triumph from all the way back in 1997.
The Welshman secured glory again in 2023, 12 months after countryman Ryan Day beat Mark Allen to claim his fourth ranking title.
2024 British Open draw
Round of 64 (bo7)
Aaron Hill vs Mark Allen
Yuan Sijun vs Robbie Williams
Ashley Carty vs Long Zehuang
Bulcsu Revesz vs Stuart Bingham
David Gilbert vs Ben Woollaston
Sunny Akani vs Antoni Kowalski
Mark Selby w/o Lim Kok Leong
Hossein Vafaei vs Zhang Anda
Tian Pengfei vs Luca Brecel
Rory Thor vs Mark Joyce
Allan Taylor vs Lyu Haotian
Hammad Miah vs Ben Mertens
Neil Robertson vs Chris Totten
Kyren Wilson vs Duane Jones
David Grace vs Lewis Ullah
Ryan Day vs Judd Trump
Haris Tahir vs Simon Blackwell
Ma Hailong vs Marco Fu
Graeme Dott vs Zhou Yuelong
Stan Moody vs Michael Holt
Gong Chenzhi vs Xu Si
Jak Jones vs Alfie Burden
Ricky Walden vs Jamie Clarke
Elliot Slessor vs Martin O’Donnell
Stephen Maguire vs Liam Graham
Anton Kazakov vs Liam Davies
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Noppon Saengkham
Chris Wakelin vs Wu Yize
Si Jiahui vs Iulian Boiko
Cheung Ka Wai vs Oliver Lines
Mark Davis vs Xiao Guodong
John Higgins vs Shaun Murphy
Click here to view the full draw (snooker.org)
Who are the betting favourites?
World number one Judd Trump is the outright betting favourite to win the 2024 British Open with odds of 10/3.
The Englishman has lost only two matches so far this season but faces a tricky opening task in the form of Robert Milkins in the first round.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s withdrawal from the competition means Sunday’s English Open champion Neil Robertson is the second favourite ahead of Mark Selby and world champion Kyren Wilson.
Reigning British Open champion Mark Williams is priced at 12/1 with outsiders including English Open finalist Wu Yize at 40/1 and Ryan Day, the winner two years ago, at 100/1.
How to watch the 2024 British Open
There are several viewing options depending on where you are located in the world. A full list of global broadcasters is below.
UK and Ireland
ITV
Europe (excluding UK and Ireland)
Eurosport
discovery+
China
Huya.com
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
Hong Kong China
Now TV
Malaysia and Brunei
Astro
Philippines
Tap
Taiwan
Sportcast
Thailand
True Sport
All other territories
matchroom.live
Featured photo credit: WST
