The 2017 Shoot Out (officially the 2017 Coral Snooker Shoot Out) was a professional ranking snooker tournament which took place at the Watford Colosseum in Watford from 23 to 26 February 2017.[1] It was played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker.[2] In 2017 it was extended from 64 to 128 players, and became a ranking tournament for the first time in its history. It was the 15th ranking event of the 2016/2017 season.
This was the first time that no century break was made in the competition. The highest break was a 96 from Graeme Dott.
This was the 300th ranking event to be staged in snooker.
Tournament format
The tournament was played using a variation of the traditional snooker rules. The draw was randomised before each round. All matches were played over a single frame, each of which lasted up to 10 minutes. The event featured a variable shot clock; shots played in the first five minutes were allowed 15 seconds while the final five had a 10-second timer. All foul shots awarded the opponent a ball in hand. Unlike traditional snooker, if a ball did not hit a cushion on every shot, it was a foul. Rather than a coin toss, a lag was used to choose which player breaks. In the event of a draw, each player received a shot at the blue ball this is known as a "blue ball shootout". The player who potted the ball with the cue ball from inside the D and the blue ball on its spot with the opponent missing won the match.[7]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below.[8]
Winner: £32,000
Runner-up: £16,000
Semi-final: £8,000
Quarter-final: £4,000
Last 16: £2,000
Last 32: £1,000
Last 64: £500
Last 128: £250
Highest break: £2,000
Total: £146,000
The "rolling 147 prize" for a maximum break stood at £15,000.
Tournament draw
All times in Greenwich Mean Time. Times for quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are approximate. Players in bold denote match winners.
Graeme Dott (SCO) (96)
Xiao Guodong (CHN)
