The latest snooker rankings update follows the conclusion of the 2024 Scottish Open, the season’s 11th ranking tournament.
There was a maiden ranking event winner for the second week in succession after Lei Peifan emerged with the Scottish Open crown on Sunday.
The 21 year-old defied his low ranking to overcome fellow Chinese competitor Wu Yize 9-5 in the final.
It wasn’t a showdown of especially high quality, but that won’t matter to Lei who will go down as one of the sport’s biggest shock winners of a tournament.
At number 84 in the world, Lei is the lowest-ranked champion of a ranking event since Dave Harold’s Asian Open victory in 1993 as the world number 93.
He produced numerous gutsy displays en route to glory, including deciding-frame clinchers against Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham, Tom Ford, and Mark Allen.
Let’s take a look at some of the movements in the snooker rankings following the 2024 Scottish Open.
Top 16
There wasn’t much change in the top 16 with Judd Trump maintaining his healthy lead as the world number one despite skipping the action in Edinburgh.
World champion Kyren Wilson stays in second ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen.
Mark Selby drops down to fifth after the points from his 2022 English Open success were deducted from his rolling two-year tally.
Shaun Murphy and Luca Brecel swap places in seventh and eighth respectively, just behind Mark Williams in sixth.
Chinese pair Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda complete the top ten, and it’s as you were down to 14th with Ali Carter, Barry Hawkins, Si Jiahui, and John Higgins unchanged.
Chris Wakelin’s run to the quarter-finals at the Meadowbank Sports Centre has helped him move up a spot to 15th ahead of Gary Wilson.
Who were the other movers?
Lei Peifan has obviously made the most impressive strides up the snooker rankings following his unexpected victory.
The young Chinese cueist had never before been beyond the last 16 of a ranking tournament, but he leaves Scotland with a career-best payday of £100,000.
That sees Lei rocket up to number 43 in the world, and that’s likely only going to get higher and higher in the coming months.
Lei is still in the first year of his fresh two-year tour card, so he will have no points to defend for the next season and a half.
Wu Yize, meanwhile, suffered disappointment at the final hurdle of a Home Nations Series tournament for the second time this season.
But the £45,000 that he earned helps him move up to a career high of number 25 in the world.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Dec 16, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £1,790,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £1,143,900 |
| 3 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £711,500 |
| 4 | Mark Allen | £700,600 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £687,100 |
| 6 | Mark Williams | £652,700 |
| 7 | Shaun Murphy | £636,400 |
| 8 | Luca Brecel | £630,000 |
| 9 | Ding Junhui | £560,500 |
| 10 | Zhang Anda | £489,650 |
| 11 | Ali Carter | £467,900 |
| 12 | Barry Hawkins | £433,550 |
| 13 | Si Jiahui | £431,800 |
| 14 | John Higgins | £404,150 |
| 15 | Chris Wakelin | £400,000 |
| 16 | Gary Wilson | £395,400 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Xiao Guodong | £367,000 |
| 18 | Jak Jones | £366,300 |
| 19 | Tom Ford | £354,950 |
| 20 | Neil Robertson | £331,950 |
| 21 | David Gilbert | £296,250 |
| 22 | Jack Lisowski | £289,900 |
| 23 | Robert Milkins | £283,900 |
| 24 | Stuart Bingham | £274,900 |
| 25 | Wu Yize | £271,000 |
1-year snooker rankings
The top 32 from the one-year list qualify for the World Grand Prix, which will take place in Hong Kong for the first time in March.
Beyond that, the top 16 will feature at the Players Championship and the top 12 at the Tour Championship.
Before the Scottish Open, Lei had been ranked outside the top 32 and was in danger of missing out on these lucrative opportunities.
But he has now leapfrogged his way up to 13th, putting him in contention to qualify for the Tour Championship in Manchester.
Wu, who moves up to 11th, will qualify for all three events as things stand.
In 32nd and on the bubble for the World Grand Prix is Matthew Selt, who boasts only a small buffer over Ben Woollaston in 33rd.
The highest-profile player outside the top 32 remains Luca Brecel, who despite reaching the Scottish Open quarter-finals is still languishing down at number 61 in these standings.
There are three counting events left before the final cut-off point for qualification to the World Grand Prix.
| 1-Year Snooker Rankings | Dec 16, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £940,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £412,400 |
| 3 | Xiao Guodong | £260,500 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £250,200 |
| 5 | Ding Junhui | £211,000 |
| 6 | Neil Robertson | £208,450 |
| 7 | Si Jiahui | £203,800 |
| 8 | Shaun Murphy | £191,900 |
| 9 | Barry Hawkins | £179,550 |
| 10 | Chris Wakelin | £179,000 |
| 11 | Wu Yize | £163,000 |
| 12 | Mark Selby | £154,600 |
| 13 | Lei Peifan | £141,000 |
| 14 | Mark Allen | £137,600 |
| 15 | John Higgins | £120,150 |
| 16 | Jack Lisowski | £108,400 |
| 17 | Zhang Anda | £103,150 |
| 18 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £94,500 |
| 19 | Jimmy Robertson | £93,600 |
| 20 | Pang Junxu | £93,400 |
| 21 | Elliot Slessor | £92,850 |
| 22 | David Gilbert | £91,750 |
| 23 | Stuart Bingham | £89,400 |
| 24 | Xu Si | £84,850 |
| 25 | Ali Carter | £84,400 |
| 26 | Tom Ford | £73,950 |
| 27 | Jackson Page | £72,500 |
| 28 | Gary Wilson | £72,400 |
| 29 | Jak Jones | £66,300 |
| 30 | Long Zehuang | £65,500 |
| 31 | Hossein Vafaei | £64,400 |
| 32 | Matthew Selt | £64,250 |
| — | — | — |
| 33 | Ben Woollaston | £62,500 |
| 37 | Noppon Saengkham | £56,950 |
| 41 | Stephen Maguire | £50,750 |
| 61 | Luca Brecel | £33,000 |
The Home Nations Series bonus
The BetVictor bonus worth £150,000 is back this season but with only the Home Nations events counting towards the rankings this time.
The player who has the best results overall from the four tournaments in the series will receive the handsome jackpot bonus.
Despite losing in the last 32 of the Scottish Open, English Open champion Neil Robertson stays in pole position to pocket the sum.
The Australian’s tally of £118,600 keeps him £4,200 in front of Kyren Wilson, who won the Northern Ireland Open but also bowed out early in Scotland.
Lei’s tally rises dramatically to £110,000, ensuring that it’ll be all to play for at the Welsh Open in February.
What is the next snooker event?
There isn’t another ranking event on the calendar until the German Masters at the end of January.
Qualifiers for that tournament and the World Open are being held this week in Sheffield, however.
Also taking place is the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, a lucrative invitational for the top 10 players in Saudi Arabia from December 18th to 20th.
2024/25 WST calendar
Note: Dates are provisional and subject to change
(NR = Non-ranking event)
COMPLETED
Championship League Snooker
Champion: Ali Carter
Shanghai Masters (NR)
Champion: Judd Trump
Xi’an Grand Prix
Champion: Kyren Wilson
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters
Champion: Judd Trump
English Open
Champion: Neil Robertson
British Open
Champion: Mark Selby
Wuhan Open
Champion: Xiao Guodong
Northern Ireland Open
Champion: Kyren Wilson
International Championship
Champion: Ding Junhui
Champion of Champions (NR)
Champion: Mark Williams
UK Championship
Champion: Judd Trump
Snooker Shoot Out
Champion: Tom Ford
Scottish Open
Champion: Lei Peifan
DECEMBER
16th to 22nd
– German Masters qualifiers
– World Open qualifiers
(Canon Medical Arena, Sheffield)
18th to 20th
Riyadh Season Snooker Championship (NR)
(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
JANUARY
12th to 19th
The Masters (NR)
(Alexandra Palace, London)
27th to February 2nd
German Masters
(Tempodrom, Berlin)
FEBRUARY
10th to 16th
Welsh Open
(Venue Cymru, Llandudno)
24th to March 2nd
World Open
(TBC, China)
MARCH
4th to 9th
World Grand Prix
(Hong Kong)
17th to 23rd
Players Championship
(Telford, England)
31st to April 6th
Tour Championship
(Manchester Central, Manchester)
APRIL
7th to 16th
World Championship qualifiers
(EIS, Sheffield)
19th to May 5th
World Snooker Championship
(Crucible Theatre, Sheffield)
Featured photo credit: WST
I would probably place it in my top 5 shock winners of all-time. Fan Zhengyi winning the 2022 European Masters, against the Rocket, would top the list for me.
Lei bested the majority of the safety exchanges. They’re both 21 but the Victor showed greater maturity in his matchplay.
How about Jordan Brown as a shock winner of a ranljng tournament?
Top 5 as well but would edge towards Fan as Brown won behind closed doors. Shaun Murphy winning the World Championship in 2005, ranked 48, would be in second place.