won the first ever World Masters of Snooker on Wednesday night and it sounds like the event is returning with an even bigger prize on offer
The Rocket beat Luca Brecel 5-2 in the final to lift the trophy and claim the £250,000 first prize in Riyadh, with the Belgian Bullet settling for £125,00 as runner-up.
No one managed to sink the gold ball, though, with the new gimmick introduced for the tournament remaining irrelevant during most frames in the event.
The gold ball, worth 20 points, was only available to be potted after a 147 was made, allowing a 167 break and bringing with it a $500,000 (£395,000) bonus for the first player to make it.
John Higgins made a 120 with 15 reds and 15 blacks but missed the final yellow and that was as close as anyone came, but it appears that there will be even more incentive to make the ‘super maximum’ in future
The provisional calendar for the 2024/25 season was published on Wednesday and it didn’t feature the World Masters of Snooker, so we will have to wait and see if the promise of the even more enormous new bonus will come
The new ranking event, the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, is on the schedule to start on 31 August in Riyadh, boasting a prize fund of over £2m, second only to the World Championship when it comes to cash.
Turki Al Alshaikh, the chairman of the General Authority for Entertainment, announced after the final that he plans to double that enormous bonus, while also suggesting an academy named after O’Sullivan will also be coming to Saudi Arabia.
‘Today in this competition no one had the golden ball, for next competition we will double it for $1m,’ he said. ‘And second thing, in Saudi Arabia we are honoured to discuss with O’Sullivan to have an academy in his name.’