English Open Snooker 2026: Draw, Schedule and Prize Money

The English Open snooker 2026 begins without Ronnie O’Sullivan or defending champion Mark Allen, opening opportunities elsewhere in the draw. Before the first frames in Brentwood, readers can compare UK bookmakers and explore welcome offers. Here is the tournament timetable, the prize money breakdown and the opening matches worth making time for.

Allen withdrew for personal reasons; O’Sullivan cited medical reasons. John Higgins is also absent. Allen’s withdrawal guarantees a different champion after his 9–8 victory over Zhou Yuelong in last year’s final. World Snooker Tour and LiveSnooker’s draw report confirm the changes.

English Open schedule and format

The Brentwood Centre hosts the action from 7–13 September, with the matches getting longer as the field narrows. All times below are BST.

The quarter-finals are an important detail: TNT Sports’ current tournament guide lists them as best of 11. A first-round favourite needs four frames; reaching the final means adjusting to a longer contest.

English Open draw: opening matches to watch

The withdrawals remove familiar names, but there is plenty left to interest anyone choosing a session.

These are scheduled starts, so allow for earlier matches running late. Follow the full draw and results for changes. Before Monday’s opening session, Sam Craigie and Liam Davies have benefited from Allen’s and O’Sullivan’s withdrawals respectively; no played main-draw results are available yet.

Brentwood supplies snooker’s particular kind of theatre: the low murmur before a shot, the bright rectangle of baize, then applause breaking the hush. Without its biggest box-office name, the week belongs to whoever can make that room stop breathing over a difficult final red.

English Open prize money

The champion receives £100,000 from a total fund of £550,400. These are the principal finishing prizes, as listed by TNT Sports.

English Open odds and contenders

The altered draw deserves a fresh look before any outright bet. Trump, Robertson and Selby bring previous title-winning experience; world champion Wu Yize adds another serious contender.

Verified prices from the requested UK operators were unavailable at this check. The following shortlist therefore carries no quoted odds.

My preference is to assess the opening performance before backing a longer tournament run. Short matches leave little room to recover. Compare the price alongside the offer’s qualifying conditions.

English Open on UK television