Thepchaiya Un-Nooh secured his spot in the Tour Championship after winning the 2026 World Open in spectacular fashion on Sunday.
The popular player from Thailand produced an incredible finish to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7 and claim a second career ranking crown.
With the scores locked at 7-7, Un-Nooh finally unlocked his true potential after years of underachievement by demonstrating his full capabilities when it mattered the most.
He compiled a hat-trick of total clearances to power home to victory – a blistering run that included a magnificent maximum 147 break.
The World Open was the snooker season’s third-last event and had significant implications on the two main rankings lists.
Ding Junhui holds onto his top 16 spot for now
Exiting in the qualifying round of the World Open proved to be costly for Ding Junhui, whose points for reaching the final of the 2024 World Open were deducted from his rolling tally.
That has sent China’s greatest down to 16th on the official two-year rankings, a position he also holds in the provisional Race to the Crucible standings.
Un-Nooh’s victory, through which he earned his biggest payday of £175,000, has seen the 40 year-old leapfrog his way up to number 22 in the world.
The Thai is the only player who could send Ding to the qualifiers for the World Championship, but he’ll have to win the Tour Championship as well in order to do so.
Elsewhere, a positive week for O’Sullivan ended in disappointment, but the Rocket does return to the top ten of the world rankings.
The top eight positions remain unchanged, with Judd Trump continuing to occupy the world number one spot ahead of Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, and Zhao Xintong.
Further down, a maiden run to the last 16 of a ranking event for Artemijs Zizins has done his chances of achieving tour survival the world of good.
The Latvian is up to number 68 which is below the crucial top 64 cut-off point, but Zizins is well-placed to regain his tour card through his elevated status in the one-year rankings.
The provisional end-of-season rankings are still looking perilous for the likes of Jordan Brown (63), Jamie Jones (64), Mark Davis (65), and Robert Milkins (68).
These players, among others, will be relying on their performances at the World Championship qualifiers to save their professional statuses.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Mar 23, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £1,645,550 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £1,367,100 |
| 3 | Neil Robertson | £1,135,550 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £1,003,400 |
| 5 | Zhao Xinting | £976,550 |
| 6 | John Higgins | £898,350 |
| 7 | Mark Selby | £809,350 |
| 8 | Shaun Murphy | £756,800 |
| 9 | Xiao Guodong | £643,900 |
| 10 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £631,250 |
| 11 | Barry Hawkins | £625,350 |
| 12 | Wu Yize | £615,900 |
| 13 | Chris Wakelin | £539,200 |
| 14 | Mark Allen | £537,750 |
| 15 | Si Jiahui | £469,400 |
| 16 | Ding Junhui | £464,850 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Stuart Bingham | £427,700 |
| 18 | Jack Lisowski | £410,000 |
| 19 | Jak Jones | £398,300 |
| 20 | Zhang Anda | £360,950 |
| 21 | Elliot Slessor | £351,550 |
| 22 | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | £346,600 |
| 23 | Ali Carter | £340,050 |
| 24 | Gary Wilson | £326,700 |
| 25 | Zhou Yuelong | £305,250 |
| 26 | David Gilbert | £298,700 |
| 27 | Stephen Maguire | £288,950 |
| 28 | Joe O’Connor | £282,700 |
| 29 | Pang Junxu | £281,900 |
| 30 | Lei Peifan | £261,800 |
| 31 | Yuan Sijun | £246,300 |
| 32 | Tom Ford | £237,050 |
Un-Nooh completes 2026 Tour Championship lineup
A memorable success for Un-Nooh will bring with it plenty of rewards, including a ticket to the upcoming Tour Championship in Manchester.
The prestigious tournament will boast an elite field of the best-earners across the 2025/26 season in ranking events.
Only 12 players will be invited to participate, with O’Sullivan opting out of entering despite having comfortably qualified.
That means the last player to make the lineup was Mark Allen in 13th, with Xiao Guodong pushed out at the last moment following Un-Nooh’s heroics.
2026 Tour Championship draw
Round of 12 (bo19)
Barry Hawkins (8) vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (9)
Judd Trump (5) vs Mark Allen (12)
Mark Williams (6) vs John Higgins (11)
Wu Yize (7) vs Chris Wakelin (10)
Quarter-Finals (bo19)
Neil Robertson (1) vs Hawkins/Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy (4) vs Trump/Allen
Mark Selby (3) vs Williams/Higgins
Zhao Xintong (2) vs Wu/Wakelin
When is the next snooker event?
The 2026 Tour Championship will be the penultimate ranking event on the calendar ahead of the campaign-concluding World Championship in Sheffield.
Next week’s event will run from March 30th to April 5th, with £150,000 going to the winner at the Manchester Central.
Featured photo credit: WST
Milkins is no longer in the top four of those on the one season list which retain their card.
Since there will be no tournament for 2 weeks (even longer for most professional players) , I wrote this for entertaining purposes. As I always say, they are just my thoughts on our sport.
Reasons why snooker is the most mentally challenging sport
1) self employed: travel – costs – age – time away from home, family and friends – ravel to Yushan, China 12 hours flight , 3 hour train plus driving 1 hour
Professional snooker players are self-employed. Their training, travel, accommodations, equipment and insurance are all their responsibility and need to be addressed by each player. Especially, for the players not earning much money and players that are under 21 years old, coping with living or playing in a foreign country speaking a different language poses significant mental considerations.
2) referee behind player within inches, opposition full eyes on you
This might be considered my pet-peeve but nonetheless is worth mentioning. I think it is safe to safe that most people would not appreciate an employer or your competition to stand inches behind your back while to try to focus on doing your job. It’s a little creepy to me and might through me off my game.
3) one visit frame
No doubt your mental anguish might flare when you sit watching your competitor use 1 trip to the table to secure the frame when all you could do is just sit in your chair. Aggravating is the first word that comes to my mind.
4) multiple fraction of angles
When you reach the table, you are usually faced with numerous angles available to consider when taking your shot. It is mitigated at least because nothing is in motion.
5) missing a pot, leaving a possible pot could be frame over the leach affect
This is the one that I am most passionate about. Certain players make a living by becoming what I describe as “leaches”. They will not pot a ball until their opponent missing a valiant attempt at a pot and the “leach” takes hold of that easy pot.
6) mind games Higgins at Crucible Cup Snooker 900
No significant rule on how much time it takes you to play, not only puts a damper on the game for the fans; it must leave the competition frustrated. I recently watched John Higgins play in the Crucible Cup Snooker 900, and not only did he easily meet the time rules, he played much quicker than the allotted and was brilliant in making a significant break. If you are not good enough to play within 60 seconds you should not be playing.
7) Flukes Matt Selt
Well flukes are all around sports, but when it becomes so significant that it costs you a frame or match, the player needs to cope. To see what many players really think about flukes look up Mr.Selt and fluke reaction.
8) 147 highest attempt even though frame is won
Why would you continue playing when you won the frame? The player’s frustration from the WST not respecting the “value” of aggressive entertaining play. The WST and most tournaments totally devalue those players that fans actually come out to watch. Just recently Jimmy White said the future of snooker is not snookers or playing safeties but explosive scoring like what you see from Xintong and Yize. I am not sure why he excluded O Sullivan. Even during the finals of the World Open, one of the commentators repeatedly said why should Un-Nooh continue playing for the max when the frame was won and there was no financial reward for putting on a show. I never worked for free and when Ronnie O Sullivan tried to emphasize that finishing a break was not worth it once the frame is won once; the ref begged him to be charitable for the sake of the fans. I sincerely wish he could individually monetize his record breaking performance because he is receiving nada from the WST.
9) Is it really a professional sport.
If you not ranked 12th or higher, you will not be playing in the next tournament. With the Player Series and non ranking tournaments, the WST is stealing monitory opportunities from players that are lucky to break even when you apply their costs. That plays on the minds of players ranked 40 to 140. It is no wonder snooker has been linked to betting scandals since day 1.
It is no wonder many players struggle with maintaining a healthy mindset.
Not withstanding the comments here,I would just like to say how delighted I am to see that the World Championship Snooker will remain at the Crucible for the foreseeable future. Tradition saved!