The top players in snooker are vying for the title of Riyadh Season World Masters this week in Saudi Arabia with the promise of a tempting financial award for the winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan. This year, the Middle East has been heavily involved in the sport; the competition begins on Monday, March 4.
Bringing an inventive twist to the game, O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Judd Trump, Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Ali Carter, John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Omar Alajlani, and Ali Alobaidli were brought to Saudi Arabia for the invitational event.
Players can only play the 23rd ball if they have already made a maximum break of 147, taking their total to 167 in a significant change to the sport. The first player to successfully pot the golden ball, which will sit along the baulk cushion and is removed when a 147 break is no longer possible, will pocket as much as £395,000 as a bonus for making history inside Boulevard Arena. This will be the first professional event to feature a new golden ball, worth a whopping 20 points.
But according to the World Snooker Tour’s existing regulations, the cash reward will only be awarded to the first player to accomplish it. It seems that only pride will be granted if another player copies them and makes the new maximum break while they watch one of their competitors pocket a sizable sum in its place.
With a total prize fund of £789,000, the winner of the tournament stands to earn almost £1 million from just a few days of effort, provided they also happen to make the first 167 break. Nevertheless, a breakdown of the prize money up for grabs has not yet been made public as of this writing.
The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, a second snooker tournament with a prize fund of around £2 million, is scheduled to occur in August and September in Saudi Arabia.
