The UK Championship has finished and snooker has finished for this year, right? You are very much wrong my friend! We have the Scottish Open, where players will fight to hold the prestigious Stephen Hendry trophy! But there is no rest for the wicked. Every tour player at the time of writing will participant, except Mark Williams and Steve Mifsud.
To be honest, this ranking event is rather odd. The timing is rather weird, considering it is forced to follow one of the most prestigious tournaments of the calendar. It feels like the black sheep of the Home Nations family. The Welsh Open has the long history. The Northern Ireland Open has the passionate crowd and the best finals. The English Open has the amazing introduction and, with bias of course, the event nearest to me.
It also has its share of remarkable finals. In 2016, we had the scoring massacre of Marco Fu with seven +50 breaks and a century. We had incredible drama in 2017, where Neil Robertson clawed back from 8-4 down to win the decider against the under-pressure Cao Yupeng. Last year, we had a high-quality final between Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy.
Anyways, here is the draw of the last ranking event OF THE DECADE PEOPLE. I don’t think enough people have mentioned that 2019 is before 2020 yet.
Section 1
Mark Allen vs. Andy Hicks
Anthony Hamilton vs. Louis Heathcote
Anthony McGill vs. Hammad Miah
Gerard Greene vs. Elliot Slessor
Ali Carter vs. Fan Zhengyi
Riley Parsons vs. Lu Ning
Gary Wilson vs. Rod Lawler
Robbie Williams vs. Chris Wakelin
Section 1 Winner: Anthony McGill vs. Ali Carter
Section 2
Jak Jones vs. Mark King
Tom Ford vs. Lee Walker
Chen Feilong vs. Zhang Jiankang
Barry Hawkins vs. John Astley
Billy Joe Castle vs. Ashley Carty
Scott Donaldson vs. Lei Peifan
Simon Lichtenberg vs. Peter Lines
Kyren Wilson vs. Hossein Vafaei
Section 2 Winner: Barry Hawkins vs. Kyren Wilson
Section 3
John Higgins vs. Jamie O’Neill
Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Michael Holt
Lyu Haotian vs. Andrew Higginson
Si Jiahui vs. Brandon Sargeant
Jack Lisowski vs. Zhang Anda
Adam Stefanow vs. David Grace
Ryan Day vs. Thor Chuan Leong
Jamie Clarke vs. Mike Dunn
Section 3 Winner: Si Jiahui vs. Jack Lisowski
Section 4
Robert Milkins vs. Nigel Bond
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Liang Wenbo
Sam Craigie vs. Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire vs. Jimmy White
Tian Pengfei vs. Oliver Lines
Zhou Yuelong vs. Peter Ebdon
Ian Burns vs. Craig Steadman
Neil Robertson vs. Ken Doherty
Section 4 Winner: Sam Craigie vs. Neil Robertson
Section 5
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Dominic Dale
James Cahill vs. Sunny Akani
Luca Brecel vs. Martin Gould
Kacper Filipiak vs. Michael Georgiou
Joe Perry vs. Michael Collumb (a)
Kishan Hirani vs. David Lilley
Yan Bingtao vs. Barry Pinches
Bai Langning vs. Joe O’Connor
Section 5 Winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Joe Perry
Section 6
Jackson Page vs. Martin O’Donnell
Jimmy Robertson vs. Harvey Chandler
Kurt Maflin vs. Alex Borg
Stuart Bingham vs. Matthew Stevens
Liam Highfield vs. Jordan Brown
Matthew Selt vs. Li Hang
Alfie Burden vs. Soheil Vahedi
Mark Selby vs. Mark Joyce
Section 6 Winner: Kurt Maflin vs. Liam Highfield
Section 7
Shaun Murphy vs. Daniel Wells
Mark Davis vs. Sam Baird
Ricky Walden vs. Luo Honghao
Stuart Carrington vs. Xu Si
David Gilbert vs. Eden Sharav
Fraser Patrick vs. Chang Bingyu
Xiao Guodong vs. Duane Jones
Andy Lee vs. Fergal O’Brien
Section 7 Winner: Shaun Murphy vs. Stuart Carrington
Section 8
Chen Zifan vs. Ben Woollaston
Graeme Dott vs. Igor Figueiredo
Mei Xiwen vs. Gary Thomson (a)
Ding Junhui vs. Michael White
Alan McManus vs. Zhao Xintong
Noppon Saengkham vs. James Wattana
Yuan Sijun vs. Mitchell Mann
Judd Trump vs. Amine Amiri
Section 8 Winner: Graeme Dott vs. Zhao Xintong
2019 Scottish Open winner: Ali Carter vs. Shaun Murphy
