The draw for the 2022 Tour Championship was confirmed after the conclusion of the Gibraltar Open on Saturday.
The penultimate ranking event of the season gets under way this week at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. All members of the top 16 will compete for the lucrative prize worth 150,000 pounds, the eight highest-earning players from this season.
This will be the fourth edition of a tournament that is now already regarded as one of the most prestigious on the entire calendar.
Ronnie O’Sullivan won the inaugural staging back in 2019 before Stephen Maguire claimed the silverware behind closed doors in 2020.
Neil Robertson emerged victoriously twelve months ago with a commanding 10-4 defeat of O’Sullivan in the final.
An event for the lover of long formats, the Tour Championship will act as a fitting appetiser to the upcoming World Snooker Championship. All three rounds will be played over the best of 19 frames and two sessions of play, meaning there will be plenty of opportunities for twists and turns to materialise.
Eight competitors meet in Wales to do battle in the 2022 Tour Championship, where Neil Robertson is the defending champion after winning in 2021. The Australian is in the draw for the event, which is based on ranking points for this season, as are fellow big guns Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins.
The event is determined by the one year-ranking from the 2021 British Open all the way to the 2022 Gibraltar Open. Defending champion Neil Robertson made the cut in what is a fascinating field. The event is the final of the three-legged Cazoo Series after the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship.
Zhao Xintong is the top seed after accumulating the most ranking points over the course of the season so far. The 24 year-old made his brilliant breakthrough at the UK Championship in December before reaffirming his talent at the German Masters with a second ranking success not long after.
Against John Higgins, Zhao will face one of the most experienced and successful players on the tour.
After losing in the third round in Gibraltar, Higgins was somewhat fortunate to keep his place among the top eight on the one-year list.
Kyren Wilson could have usurped the Scot, but the Kettering cueist fell one win short as he lost the Gibraltar Open final to Robert Milkins.
Higgins, who is £150,000 richer after landing the European Series jackpot, will be looking to take advantage of his timely luck by claiming another windfall this week.
Zhao and Higgins have already played each other twice this season in high-profile encounters, with one triumph apiece.
The Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales plays host to the Tour Championship this year.
