The 2017–18 snooker season was a series of professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. The season began with the

pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

Vienna Snooker Open in May 2017 and ended with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and a current Sports commentator, commentator and pundit. One of the most successful players in snooker history, he turned professional in 1985, ag ...

( 1990/1991), Ding Junhui ( 2013/2014), and

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...

( 2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season. The China Championship became a ranking event and was brought forward to a mid-August date, ahead of the Paul Hunter Classic. The Shanghai Masters was initially withdrawn from the season calendar, but was later rescheduled for November 2017. The biennial

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

team event was played in July 2017. Another event not held every year returning in 2017 was the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

IWGA

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

. The

Snooker Shoot Out The Snooker Shoot Out is a professional snooker tournament played under a variation of the standard rules. First staged in 1990 Shoot-Out, 1990 as the Shoot-Out, the event was revived in 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out, 2011 and renamed the Snooker Sho ...

was brought forward to the start of February, ahead of both the World Grand Prix and Welsh Open. The second edition of the

Home Nations Series The Home Nations Series, also known as the BetVictor Home Nations Series for sponsorship reasons, is a snooker tournament series in the four home nations of the United Kingdom. It began in the 2016–17 snooker season, combining two existing tou ...

was being held in this season with the English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open tournaments. For a single winner of all four tournaments would earn a bonus of £1 million. 13 different countries and/or regions have held at least one tournament on the main tour during the season, making it one of the most diverse season calendars since the takeover of World Snooker by

Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a UK-based sporting event promotions company founded by Barry Hearn and run by him and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), pool, bowl ...

. A new World Seniors Tour was formed by Snooker Legends for players over 40 years of age, comprising four events, including the

World Seniors Championship The World Seniors Championship is an invitational seniors snooker tournament which has been played under different formats. As of 2020 the minimum age is 40, but it was 45 in 2011 and 2012. History The event was first held in 1991 with 16 p ...

which has returned to Scunthorpe in 2018.

won five ranking events during the season, with Mark Williams winning three times and Ryan Day,

John Higgins John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...

and

each winning twice.

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

reached four ranking event finals during the season but lost them all.

Players

The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2017 World Championship, and the 31 players earning a two-year card the previous year automatically qualified for the season ( Rouzi Maimaiti has resigned his membership). Next, eight places were allocated to the top 8 on the One Year Ranking List who have not already qualified for the Main Tour. Another two players came from the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs, and a further places were available through the 2017 Q School, four from each of the two events and the four best-ranked players in the Order of Merit. The rest of the places on to the tour came from amateur events and national governing body (NGB) nominations. Hamza Akbar received a tour card as a special dispensation in place of America's nomination. The list of all professional players in the 2017/2018 season consist of 131 players, including the standard field of the 128 players and three invitational tour cards ( James Wattana has second year of a two-year invitational tour card while

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

and

Ken Doherty Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...

were awarded the new two-year permission). Beginning from this season, players with invitational tour cards are eligible to compete in any ranking event. These players are seeded after main tour professionals, but above amateur top ups taken from the Q School ranking list.

New professional players

All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons. ;International champions # IBSF World Championship winner: # IBSF World Under-21 Championship winner: # EBSA European Championship winner: # # ACBS Asian Championship winner: # ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship winner: # ABSF African Championships winner: # Oceania Championship winner: ;One Year Ranking List ;EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs ; Q School ;Event 1 ;Event 2 ;Order of Merit ;CBSA China Tour ; ;

Calendar

The following tables outline the dates and results of all events of the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...

World Women's Snooker World Women's Snooker, founded as the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1981, and known as World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS) from 2015 to 2018, is a subsidiary company of the World Professional Billiards and Snoo ...

, the World Seniors Tour, and other events.

World Snooker Tour

World Ladies Billiards and Snooker

World Seniors Tour

Other events

Points distribution

2017/2018 points distribution for

ranking events:

Notes

References

External links

Snooker season 2017/2018
at Snooker.org Seasons in snooker *Season 2017 *Season 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 snooker season