Snooker tournament held in Belfast
The Northern Ireland Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament held in Belfast as part of the four-event Home Nations Series. The players compete for the Alex Higgins Trophy, named for the late two-time world champion who was born and raised in Belfast. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 2016 and was won by Mark King.
The reigning champion is Judd Trump, who has won the title four times, consecutively between 2018 and 2020, and again in 2023. All champions to date have been left-handed players.[1]
History
On 29 April 2015 World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn announced that the "Northern Ireland Open" at a Belfast venue would be added to the main tour in 2016,[2] as part of a new Home Nations Series with the existing Welsh Open and Scottish Open, and the new English Open tournaments.[3][4]
In 2017, Yan Bingtao became the youngest player to reach a ranking final. Yan came close to breaking Ronnie O'Sullivan's record of being the youngest player to win a ranking event, which had stood for 24 years, but he narrowly lost to Mark Williams 8–9 after having led 8–7. This final also featured one of the biggest age gaps between finalists as Williams was almost 25 years older than Yan. Additionally, Yan also became the first player born in the 2000s to reach the final of a ranking tournament.
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Judd Trump defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7 in each final. The 2020 tournament was staged outside Northern Ireland, at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom on the 2020–21 snooker season.[5]
In 2021, Mark Allen became the first Northern Irish player to win the event, knocking out defending champion Judd Trump in the quarter-finals and beating John Higgins 9–8 in the final, after trailing 6–8. In 2022, Allen successfully defended the title, coming from 1–4 down to beat Zhou Yuelong 9–4.
Judd Trump (ENG)
