Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronnie O'Sullivan won the only professional world championship held in 2020, defeating Kyren Wilson in the final of the 2020 World Snooker Championship.

Professional tournaments in table-top cue sports took place in 2020. These events include snooker, pool disciplines and billiards. Whilst these are traditionally singles sports, some matches and tournaments are held as doubles or as teams.[1] The snooker season runs between May and April, whilst the pool and billiards seasons is listed over the calendar year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was disrupted with many events being cancelled or postponed. Cue sports events were played in January and February, before tournaments were discontinued for all disciplines due to the pandemic, returning in June without an audience.

Ronnie O'Sullivan won the only professional world championship held during the year, the World Snooker Championship. The other Triple Crown events, the UK Championship and Masters, were won by Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham, respectively. The only major pool tournament held during the year was the Mosconi Cup, won by the European team.

Pool

The cue sport pool encompasses several disciplines, such as straight pool and nine-ball. Events such as the WPA World Nine-ball Championship,[2] World Pool Masters,[3] and the World Cup of Pool,[4] were all postponed to the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mosconi Cup, contested between select teams from the US and Europe was played in December.[5]

International pool events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
December 1–4 Mosconi Cup England (Coventry) Europe USA 11–3 [5][6]

Euro Tour

The Euro Tour is a professional nine-ball series run across Europe by the European Pocket Billiard Federation.[7] There was just one event, the Treviso Open, with tournaments for both men and women.[8] For the list now, (m) refers to the men's event and (f) to the women's tournament.

Euro Tour events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
February 20–22 Treviso Open Italy (Treviso)
  • 9–8 (m)
  • 7–1 (f)
 [9][10]

Billiards

World Billiards events

Two World Billiards events were played in 2020, the remaining devices were postponed or cancelled.[11][12]

World Billiards events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
January 25 Scottish Open Scotland (Kirkcaldy) David Causier Peter Gilchrist 619–350 [13]
February 14 Sydney Open Australia (Sydney) Peter Gilchrist Joe Minini 811–450 [14]

Three-Cushion World Cup

The Three-Cushion World Cup traditionally played over several events had a single tournament in 2020.[15]

Three-Cushion World Cup
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
February 17–23 Three-Cushion World Cup – event 1 [de] Turkey (Antalya) Dani Sánchez Dick Jaspers 50–35 [16]

Snooker

Main articles: 2019–20 snooker season and 2020–21 snooker season

The World Snooker Tour generally begins in July and ends in May, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 snooker season ended in August, whereas the 2020–21 snooker season began in September.[17][18] Ronnie O'Sullivan won his sixth World Snooker Championship, defeating Kyren Wilson in the final.[19]

Snooker world rankings

World Snooker Tour ranking events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
January 22–26 European Masters Austria (Dornbirn) Neil Robertson Zhou Yuelong 9–0 [20]
January 29 – February 2 German Masters Germany (Berlin) Judd Trump Neil Robertson 9–6 [21]
February 3–9 World Grand Prix England (Cheltenham) Neil Robertson Graeme Dott 10–8 [22]
February 10–16 Welsh Open Wales (Cardiff) Shaun Murphy Kyren Wilson 9–1 [23]
February 20–23 Snooker Shoot Out England (Watford) Michael Holt Zhou Yuelong 1–0 [24]
February 24 – March 1 Players Championship England (Southport) Judd Trump Yan Bingtao 10–4 [25]
March 13–15 Gibraltar Open Gibraltar Judd Trump Kyren Wilson 4–3 [26]
June 20–26 Tour Championship England (Milton Keynes) Stephen Maguire Mark Allen 10–6 [27]
July 31 – August 16 World Championship England (Sheffield) Ronnie O'Sullivan Kyren Wilson 18–8 [19]
September 13 – October 30 2020 Championship League England (Milton Keynes) Kyren Wilson Judd Trump 3–1 [28]
September 21–27 2020 European Masters England (Milton Keynes) Mark Selby Martin Gould 9–8 [29]
October 12–18 2020 English Open England (Milton Keynes) Judd Trump Neil Robertson 9–8 [30]
November 16–22 2020 Northern Ireland Open England (Milton Keynes) Judd Trump Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7 [31]
November 23 – December 6 2020 UK Championship England (Milton Keynes) Neil Robertson Judd Trump 10–9 [32]
December 7–13 2020 Scottish Open England (Milton Keynes) Mark Selby Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–3 [33]
December 14–20 2020 World Grand Prix England (Milton Keynes) Judd Trump Jack Lisowski 10–7 [34]

Non-ranking events

World Snooker Tour non-ranking events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
January 12–19 The Masters England (London) Stuart Bingham Ali Carter 10–8 [35]
October 7 – May 3 2019–20 Championship League England (Leicester) Scott Donaldson Graeme Dott 3–0 [36]
July 1–11 2020 Championship League England (Milton Keynes) Luca Brecel N/A Round-robin [37]
November 2– 8 2020 Champion of Champions England (Milton Keynes) Mark Allen Neil Robertson 10–6 [38]

Challenge Tour

Main article: 2019–20 Challenge Tour

The Challenge Tour is a secondary non-professional snooker tour with events for invited players.[39][40] The final four events of the 2019–20 Challenge Tour were played during 2020.

Challenge Tour events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
January 18–19 Challenge Tour 8 England (Tamworth) Lukas Kleckers Tyler Rees 3–1 [41]
February 15–16 Challenge Tour 9 Wales (Llanelli) Ashley Hugill Sydney Wilson 3–1 [42]
March 1–2 Challenge Tour 10 England (Leicester) Adam Duffy Kuldesh Johal 3–1 [43]
July 20 Challenge Tour Play Offs England (Sheffield) Allan Taylor Adam Duffy 4–0 [44]

World Seniors Tour

Main article: World Seniors Tour

The World Seniors Tour is an amateur series open to players aged 40 and over.[45] There was a single event in the 2020 World Seniors Tour.[45]

World Seniors events
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
August 19–22 World Seniors Championship England (Sheffield) Jimmy White Ken Doherty 5–4 [46]

Women's events

The women's tour is an amateur tour, with one event held in Belgium during 2020.

Women's snooker international tournaments
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
January 31 – February 2 Belgium Women's Open Belgium (Bruges) Ng On-yee Reanne Evans 4–2 [47]

Amateur events

The English Amateur Championship was played in 2020, the hundredth staging of the event.[48]

Women's snooker international tournaments
Date(s) Tournament Location Winner Runner-up Score Refs.
5–8 February 2020 English Amateur Championship England (Cheltenham) Ben Hancorn Rory McLeod 5–3 [48]

References

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