The snooker major tournaments, often referred to simply as "the majors", are the most prestigious tournaments in snooker.
Traditionally, the majors consisted of the three Triple Crown tournaments: the World Snooker Championship (first held in 1927 and staged as a knockout tournament continuously since 1969), the invitational Masters (held annually since 1975), and the UK Championship (held annually since 1977).
In 2024, the World Snooker Tour (WST) announced the addition of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters as snooker's "fourth major". [1]
Season | Saudi Masters | UK Championship | Masters | World Championship | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024/25 | Judd Trump (ENG)(5/5) | November 23–December 1 | January 12–19 | April 19–May 5 |
Active players indicated in bold.
Player | Total | Saudi | UK | Masters | World | Winning span |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) | 23 | – | 8 | 8 | 7 | 1993–2024 |
Stephen Hendry (SCO) | 18 | – | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1989–1999 |
Steve Davis (ENG) | 15 | – | 6 | 3 | 6 | 1980–1997 |
John Higgins (SCO) | 9 | – | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1998–2011 |
Mark Selby (ENG) | 9 | – | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2008–2021 |
Ray Reardon (WAL) | 7 | – | – | 1 | 6 | 1970–1978 |
Mark Williams (WAL) | 7 | – | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1998–2018 |
Neil Robertson (AUS) | 6 | – | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2010–2022 |
Alex Higgins (NIR) | 5 | – | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1972–1983 |
Judd Trump (ENG) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2011–2024 |
John Spencer (ENG) | 4 | – | – | 1 | 3 | 1969–1977 |
Cliff Thorburn (CAN) | 4 | – | – | 3 | 1 | 1980–1986 |
Ding Junhui (CHN) | 4 | – | 3 | 1 | – | 2006–2020 |
Terry Griffiths (WAL) | 3 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1979–1982 |
Doug Mountjoy (WAL) | 3 | – | 2 | 1 | – | 1977–1989 |
Paul Hunter (ENG) | 3 | – | – | 3 | – | 2001–2004 |
Shaun Murphy (ENG) | 3 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2005–2015 |
Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with twenty-two balls, comprising a white cue ball, fifteen red balls and six other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black—collectively called 'the colours'. Using a snooker cue, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the cue ball to pot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful pot and for each foul committed by the opposing player or team. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points, and a snooker match ends when a player wins a predetermined number of frames.
Stephen Gordon Hendry is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and a current commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, aged 16, and rose rapidly through the snooker world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990, aged 21 years and 106 days, making him the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. He won seven world titles between 1990 and 1999, setting a new modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022. He also won the Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 23. His total of 36 ranking titles is second only to O'Sullivan's 41, while his nine seasons as world number one were the most by any player under the annual ranking system used until 2010.
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The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters is a professional snooker ranking tournament held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is one of snooker's four major tournaments. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, the inaugural event was held from 31 August to 7 September 2024, and it featured a total prize fund of £2,302,000, the second-highest after the World Championship. The reigning champion is Judd Trump.
The 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 30 August to 7 September 2024 at Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was part of the 2024–25 snooker season. The tournament featured a total prize fund of £2,302,000, the second-highest after the World Championship. It is one of snooker's four major tournaments.