Northern Ireland Open 2023 snooker: How to watch and who’s playing? What’s the schedule? Is Ronnie O’Sullivan playing?
The second Home Nations Series event of the 2023/24 season gets underway in October as Belfast plays host to the Northern Ireland Open.
However, some key names could be missing, with five of the world’s best players opting to play in a China exhibition event instead this month.
Here’s everything you need to know about who’s playing and how can you watch and live stream the 2023 Northern Ireland Open.
When is the Northern Ireland Open?
The 2023 Northern Ireland Open runs from October 22-29.
How to watch and stream the Northern Ireland Open
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Who is playing the Northern Ireland Open?
Most of the top-16 ranked players in the world will all be in action in Belfast and Sheffield on the opening days of qualifying of the Northern Ireland Open, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and defending champion Allen. Those will take place from October 17-22.
O’Sullivan is scheduled to play American Ahmed Aly Elsayedin in Belfast on October 22, while Trump is in action against Jenson Kendrick, also at the event’s venue, in the afternoon session on the same day. Allen is also playing on October 22 against Belgium’s Ben Mertens.
What about the Macau rebels?
Former World Snooker Tour (WST) chairman and honorary president Barry Hearn has warned any player missing the Northern Ireland Open to play in a non-sanctioned event in Macau could face a heavy punishment, including reigning world champion Luca Brecel, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
The International Championship in Tianjin City was due to run between November 5-12 – the first time it has been on the WST since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and top players did opt to travel to China early to play in exhibition events in preparation for the lucrative tournament.
However recent reports have said that the tournament in Macau might not be cancelled, although the rebel players still won’t be in Northern Ireland as they have already given their withdrawal.
What is the Northern Ireland Open schedule?
Play starts at 10:00 UK time on the opening day of the tournament with the afternoon session commencing at 13:00 and the evening session at 20:00.
As is the case for all of the Home Nations events, the matches will be best-of-seven frames up to and including the fourth round.
The quarter-finals will be best-of-nine frames, the semi-finals best-of-11 frames and the final will be best-of-17.
When is the final?
The 2023 Northern Ireland Open final is on Sunday, October 29.
What is the prize money?
- Winner: £80,000
- Runner-up: £35,000
- Semi-final: £17,500
- Quarter-final: £11,000
- Last 16: £7,500
- Last 32: £4,500
- Last 64: £3,000
- Highest break: £5,000
- Total: £427,000
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