Judd Trump lifted the title in Brentwood last year (Picture: Getty Images)
Brentwood is going to feel very different to Riyadh for the stars of the World Snooker Tour, but the English Open is back with bigger prize money and a revamped format.
The players made it clear that they thoroughly enjoyed the big-money Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters last week, with Judd Trump leaving the Kingdom with a top prize of £500,000.
A return to the greying skies of Essex in September and the no-frills atmosphere of the Brentwood Centre will be a stark contrast, but there are reasons to be cheerful.
The prize pot this season is up to £550,400 from last season’s £427,000. which represents a meaningful increase of £123,400, after discussions between WST and the WPBSA Players Board.
The boost to the prize fund means the winner will leave Brentwood with £100,000, while the new tiered system means money is won down to the last 96 rather than last 64.
The tiered draw has been brought in for the Home Nations this season, meaning players seeded 65-96 meet players seeded 97-128 in round one, with those 32 winners taking on players seeded 33-64 in round two.
The 32 players that come through that round join the top 32 seeds in the last 64 from Monday onwards.
English Open prize money
Winner: £100,000 (up from £80,000)
Runner-up: £45,000 (up from £35,000)
Semi-finals: £21,000 (up from £17,500)
Quarter-finals: £13,200 (up from £11,000)
Last 16: £9,000 (up from £7,500)
Last 32: £5,400 (up from £4,500)
Last 64: £3,600 (up from £3,000)
Last 96: £1,000
While there could still be some late withdrawals, it is a star-studded line-up that will be in Brentwood, featuring all the game’s top names.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen and the rest of the world’s top 16 are all in action, apart from Ding Junhui who has not entered.
English Open Draw and Schedule
Thursday 12 September
Round One
Thursday 12 September
9am
Ashley Carty vs Anton Kazakov
Reanne Evans vs Mink Nutcharut
Liam Pullen vs Antoni Kowalski
Rory Thor vs Oliver Lines
11.30am
Ben Mertens vs Chris Totten
Ian Burns vs Haydon Pinhey
Zak Surety vs Farakh Ajaib
Alfie Burden vs Dylan Emery
2pm
Ma Hailong vs Lei Peifan
Artemijs Zizins vs Duane Jones
Jiang Jun vs Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Andrew Pagett vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
4.30pm
Dean Young vs Bai Yulu
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Simon Blackwell
Bulcsu Revesz vs M Phetmalaikul
Stuart Carrington vs Wang Yuchen
7pm
Long Zehuang vs Lim Kok Leong
Amir Sarkosh vs Liam Davies
Andrew Higginson vs Mark Joyce
Gong Chenzhi vs Michael Holt
17-year-old Gong Chenzhi has impressed on tour so far this season (Picture: Getty Images)
Friday 13 September
9am
Jimmy White vs Joshua Cooper
Xing Zihao vs Paul Deaville
Julien Leclercq vs Oliver Sykes
Louis Heathcote vs Iulian Boiko
11.30am
Hammad Miah vs Huang Jiahao
Mostafa Dorgham vs Allan Taylor
Liam Graham vs Joshua Thomond
Stan Moody vs Cheung Ka Wai
2pm
Alexander Ursenbacher vs Mohammed Shehab
Robbie McGuigan vs Mitchell Mann
Marco Fu vs Haris Tahir
Round Two
4.30pm
Liu Hongyu vs Carty/Kazakov
Fan Zhengyi vs Pullen/Kowalski
Scott Donaldson vs Thor/Lines
Wu Yize vs Mertens/Totten
7pm
Martin O’Donnell vs Burns/Pinhey
Elliot Slessor vs Surety/Ajaib
Ben Woollaston vs Burden/Emery
Aaron Hill vs Ma/Lei
ireland’s Aaron Hill faces Chinese opposition on Friday night (Picture: Getty Images)
Saturday 14 September
9am
Robbie Williams vs Zizins/D Jones
Tian Pengfei vs Jiang/Elsayed
Jordan Brown vs Pagett/Gurbaxani
Matthew Stevens vs Young/Bai
11.30am
Graeme Dott vs Chadha/Blackwell
He Guoqiang vs Carrington/Wang
Sanderson Lam vs Long/Lim
Joe Perry vs White/Cooper
2pm
Daniel Wells vs Higginson/Joyce
Sam Craigie vs Gong/Holt
Mark Davis vs Xing/Deaville
Jackson Page vs Dorgham/Taylor
4.30pm
Anthony Hamilton vs Heathcote/Boiko
Jamie Clarke vs Miah/Huang
Jamie Jones vs Graham/Thomond
Xu Si vs Moody/Cheung
7pm
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Leclercq/Sykes
David Lilley vs Ross Muir
Jimmy Robertson vs Ursenbacher/Shehab
David Grace vs Fu/Tahir
Full draw from Monday 16 September available here.
How to watch the English Open
The tournament will be shown on Eurosport, Discovery+ and Dmax in the UK.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.