The 2024 British Open continues this week at the Centaur in Cheltenham with the likes of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, and Mark Selby still in the draw.
One of the charms of this tournament that should help to differentiate it from others on the calendar is the random draw element for each round.
Yet snooker fans have been left wondering why the draws so far have been conducted behind closed doors.
The British Open is one of only two tournaments on the calendar that utilises the FA-Cup style random draw format, the other being the Snooker Shoot Out.
But unlike the latter event where the draw for each round is generally shown live on television, the pairings for the early stages of this year’s British Open haven’t been aired.
The scheduling has also been somewhat confusing, with some players competing once in a day, others playing two games, and several contenders having an entire day off at times.
Similar to last week’s English Open in Brentwood, two best-of-seven fixtures have additionally been scheduled back-to-back for the evening session that begins at 7pm local time.
Unsurprisingly, there have already been extremely late finishes with the most recent being Rory Thor’s success over Neil Robertson in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Thor upset the Aussie, who triumphed at the English Open on Sunday, in a 4-3 match that concluded after 1am and catered for a handful of die-hards who stayed in the arena in addition to insomniacs viewing from home.
This is hardly a new issue, but it has always been a stupid one and for years nothing has been done about it.
On the draws, it seems strange that the World Snooker Tour and host broadcaster ITV wouldn’t want to highlight the most obvious element that separates the British Open from other events.
“To the casual viewer the British Open looks absolutely no different to the English Open,” X user Deco wrote.
“Having it off the back of the English [Open] is a ludicrous decision. FA Cup style draw is its unique selling point, but it’s chaotically scheduled and the draw never seen, so what’s the point?”
“It just seems to randomly happen,” Cluster of Reds blogger said. “No fanfare, anticipation, or excitement at all. At least with the Shoot Out there was some indication.”
Snooker journalists Phil Haigh and Nick Metcalfe, the pair behind the popular Talking Snooker podcast, also expressed their mystification with how the tournament has been promoted.
“I can’t really get to grips with this British Open yet,” Metcalfe wrote. “The clues on 3-2-1 with Ted Rogers were easier to follow.”
“I’m enjoying a load of snooker matches and that’s always great, but I’m not sure of the pattern. I seem to have missed all the draws. Isn’t that a big selling point?”
Talking Snooker co-host Haigh agreed: “I’m young enough to not understand Nick’s 3-2-1 reference, but also finding it tricky to follow.”
“Haven’t seen any of the draws, hard to tell which rounds have been drawn yet. Scheduling also weird. [David] Gilbert didn’t play (his) first game until this afternoon and is back on tonight.”
As things stand heading into Thursday’s fixtures, eight players have already booked their spots in the last 16.
Selby is the highest-ranked player to have reached that point so far, with the 2023 runner-up having come through both of his two clashes in 4-3 thrillers that have each concluded on the final black.
World Championship finalist Jak Jones is also through to the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time this season.
Rory Thor, David Gilbert, Stephen Maguire, Lyu Haotian, Elliot Slessor, and teenager Stan Moody are the others safely into the last 16.
Among the players still hoping to advance from the round of 32 are world number one Judd Trump, world champion Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen, John Higgins, and Luca Brecel.
By the end of Thursday (or potentially into the early hours of Friday), the situation will at least become a little clearer with the eight quarter-finalists determined.
2024 British Open draw
Round of 32 (bo7)
Results
Mark Selby 4-3 Yuan Sijun
Jak Jones 4-1 Iulian Boiko
Stan Moody 4-3 Zhang Anda
Lyu Haotian 4-2 Haris Tahir
Rory Thor 4-3 Neil Robertson
Stephen Maguire 4-3 Stuart Bingham
David Gilbert 4-3 Ashley Carty
Elliot Slessor 4-3 Xu Si
Thurs, 1pm UTC+1
John Higgins vs Graeme Dott
Mark Davis vs Judd Trump
Ricky Walden vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Oliver Lines vs Sunny Akani
Following 1pm games
Marco Fu vs Kyren Wilson
Ben Mertens vs Mark Allen
Liam Davies vs Luca Brecel
David Grace vs Chris Wakelin
Round of 16 (bo7)
Thurs, 7pm UTC+1
Rory Thor vs Higgins/Dott
Lyu Haotian vs David Gilbert
Stan Moody vs Lines/Akani
Trump/Davis vs Stephen Maguire
Following 7pm games
Allen/Mertens vs Grace/Wakelin
Brecel/Davies vs Jak Jones
Wilson/Fu vs Elliot Slessor
Mark Selby vs Walden/Un-Nooh
Click here to view the full updated draw (snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
I’m a little baffled as to why the draw is not being broadcast as they’ve shown it in the past. I’d rather see it take place at the end of a round so we’d have clarity about the match-ups.
The scheduling issue is a tricky one. They started at 10am yesterday so very little wriggle room to get the whole day completed any earlier unless it’s feasible in the Centaur to accommodate extra tables. On a selfish level, I’m quite partial to late night snooker due to my sleeping patterns. I accept that it’s a poor look though. Tennis has an even bigger issue with these late night finishes.
Despite his exit last night, Neil Robertson has still experienced his best run in the British Open. Wonderful run from Thor has been the highlight of the week so far.
Dave Hendon said John Higgins has now won more matches at the British Open than any other player. The record for centuries is 40, held by Stephen Hendry. Higgins is on 37.
There is an argument for saying there are too many players at the venue stages. But that’s opening another can of worms.
I agree about that. The English Open did feel a little less cluttered with 64 going to the venue.