World Snooker Championship prize money as Ronnie O’Sullivan eyes title

Ronnie O’Sullivan will be hoping to break the record for the most world titles in the modern era by winning the World Snooker Championship for the second year in a row next week. The Rocket managed to clinch the honours in 2022 with a thrilling victory over Judd Trump in the all-important final to draw level with Stephen Hendry by claiming his seventh title on the biggest stage in snooker.

O’Sullivan will now be looking to smash the record by becoming world champion for an eighth time at the Crucible in order to strengthen his claim to go down in history as the finest player the sport has ever seen. He will pick up a handsome amount of money if he goes on to win the tournament, with the victor set to be awarded a £500,000 payout from the total prize fund of £2,395,000.

The runner-up will pocket a consolation prize of £200,000, while the four semi-finalists will each receive £100,000 for reaching the penultimate stage of the competition. Those who manage to get into the quarter-finals will pick up £50,000 for their troubles, with the players knocked out at the very first hurdle entitled to take home £5,000 each for simply taking part in the tournament.

A bonus prize will also be awarded for any maximum 147 breaks, with £40,000 on offer to players who manage to achieve the ultimate snooker feat at the Crucible this year. There have only been 12 maximum breaks in the history of the World Snooker Championship, three of which have been made by O’Sullivan including the quickest ever back in 1997 when he took just five minutes and 20 seconds to clear the table.

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The man from Essex holds a number of other impressive records and will be extending another in Sheffield this month by making his 32nd successive appearance at the tournament since playing for the first time in 1993. It remains to be seen whether O’Sullivan will be able to live up to his early favourite tag over the course of the competition, though, with The Rocket set to be rivalled for the grand prize by many of snooker’s highest-profile names.

Trump will be out for revenge after losing in last year’s final and is widely regarded as another prime contender to win the World Snooker Championship for the second time in his career, while Mark Shelby, Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy will also be poised to battle it out for the honours over the coming days.

This year’s tournament is set to take place against a backdrop of controversy after ten Chinese players, including former Masters winner Yang Bingtao, were suspended and charged over a range of alleged offences including accusations of match-fixing and betting. The situation recently prompted O’Sullivan to speak out about the sorry state of the sport, with The Rocket pointing the finger at snooker’s decision-makers while airing his frustrations as part of an explosive rant last month.

“You look at the people actually managing the game, they are not the brightest sparks either so you can’t see them digging themselves out of it,” he said. “But you don’t have to be Einstein. It is probably in the worst place it has ever been. The image of the sport, it’s a bit like a pub sport now.

“It is probably as bad as it has ever been also because of the betting scandal. There are a lot of players I know who are really unhappy and frightened to speak out because they will get fined. They are told that. The game is struggling, if you look at the numbers it is in a bad way.

“We all want good for the game. I can’t do more. I have carried the sport pretty much for the last 20-30 years. It’s not one player. It’s the sport, it’s not a massive sport.”

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