2026 British Open

This article is about the snooker tournament. For the golf tournament, see 2026 Open Championship.

2026 Unibet British Open

Tournament information
Dates	31 August – 6 September 2026 (2026-08-31 – 2026-09-06)
Venue	The Centaur
City	Cheltenham
Country	England
Organisation	World Snooker Tour
Format	Ranking event
Highest break	Liam Highfield (ENG) (147)
Defending champion	Shaun Murphy (ENG)
← 2025

The 2026 British Open (officially the 2026 Unibet British Open) is an upcoming professional snooker tournament that will take place from 31 August to 6 September 2026 at the Centaur in Cheltenham, England. Qualifying took place on 23 and 24 July at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. The sixth consecutive edition of the tournament since it was revived in 2021, it will be the fourth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 Wuhan Open and preceding the 2026 English Open.

Shaun Murphy is the defending champion, having defeated Anthony McGill 10–7 in the 2025 final.

In June 2026, Unibet was announced as the title partner of the tournament.^[1]

The first-round draw was announced in July, with defending champion Shaun Murphy drawn against Reanne Evans. Other notable first-round matches include John Higgins against Hossein Vafaei, Judd Trump against Dylan Emery, and Wu Yize against Liu Hongyu.^[2][3]

The 2026 tournament will be the third consecutive edition to be held at the Centaur in Cheltenham. The first four rounds will be played as best-of-seven-frame matches, followed by best-of-nine-frame quarter-finals, best-of-11-frame semi-finals and a best-of-19-frame final.^[4]

The total prize fund for the tournament is £502,000. The winner will receive £100,000, with £45,000 for the runner-up, £20,000 for losing semi-finalists and £12,000 for losing quarter-finalists.^[5][6]

Overview

The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse (pictured in 2025) will host the event.

The tournament began in 1980 as the non-ranking British Gold Cup, won by Alex Higgins.^[7] Held as the non-ranking Yamaha Organs Trophy in 1981 and the non-ranking Yamaha International Masters from 1982 to 1984, it was renamed the British Open in 1985, when it also gained ranking status.^[8] Staged 21 times as a ranking event from 1985 until its discontinuation after the 2004 edition, the tournament was revived as a ranking event in 2021. In 2022, the tournament trophy was named the Clive Everton Trophy to honour the longtime commentator and snooker journalist.^[9]

The 2026 edition of the tournament will be held from 31 August to 6 September at the Centaur in Cheltenham, England. Qualifying took place on 23 and 24 July at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England.^[10] The tournament will be the fourth ranking event of the 2026–27 snooker season, following the 2026 Wuhan Open and preceding the 2026 English Open.^[11] Shaun Murphy is the defending champion, having defeated Anthony McGill 10–7 in the 2025 final.^[12]

Summary

Qualifying

Liam Highfield made the first maximum break of his professional career in the first frame of his 4–1 victory over Stephen Maguire. It was the 245th official maximum.^[13]

Qualifying draw

Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seeding, and an (a) indicates amateur players not on the World Snooker Tour. Winners of matches are shown in bold.^[14]

Cheltenham

The sixteen qualifying matches featuring the highest ranked players will be played at the Centaur in Cheltenham on 31 August and 1 September:^[10]

•  Ashley Carty (ENG) (106) –  Si Jiahui (CHN) (16)
•  Wu Yize (CHN) (2) –  Liu Hongyu (CHN) (58)
•  Ding Junhui (CHN) (15) –  Anton Kazakov (UKR) (115)
•  Xiao Guodong (CHN) (11) –  Jiang Jun (CHN) (65)
•  Mark Selby (ENG) (9) –  David Lilley (ENG) (60)
•  Judd Trump (ENG) (3) –  Dylan Emery (WAL) (72)
•  Shaun Murphy (ENG) (1) –  Reanne Evans (ENG) (82)
•  Oliver Brown (ENG) (92) –  Zhao Xintong (CHN) (5)
•  Florian Nüßle (AUT) (93) –  Kyren Wilson (ENG) (8)
•  Mark Williams (WAL) (7) –  David Gilbert (ENG) (31)
•  John Higgins (SCO) (6) –  Hossein Vafaei (IRN) (28)
•  Barry Hawkins (ENG) (10) –  Deng Haohui (CHN) (124)
•  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (14) –  Mateusz Baranowski (POL) (85)
•  Chris Wakelin (ENG) (13) –  Luca Brecel (BEL) (44)
•  Wang Xinbo (CHN) (117) –  Mark Allen (NIR) (12)
•  Pang Junxu (CHN) (25) –  Neil Robertson (AUS) (4)

Leicester

The remaining qualifying matches were played at the Leicester Arena between 23 and 24 July.^[10]

•  Martin O'Donnell (ENG) (52) 3–4  Liam Graham (SCO) (87)
•  Joe O'Connor (ENG) (27) 3–4  Anthony McGill (SCO) (38)
•  Matthew Stevens (WAL) (49) 4–2  Antoni Kowalski (POL) (109)
•  Michael Larkov (UKR) (125) 0–4  Artemijs Žižins (LVA) (118)
•  Fergal Quinn (NIR) (90) 1–4  Jackson Page (WAL) (35)
•  Luo Zetao (CHN) (122) 3–4  Iulian Boiko (UKR) (71)
•  Alfie Burden (ENG) (98) 2–4  Zhang Anda (CHN) (20)
•  Joshua Thomond (ENG) (a) 4–3  Sam Craigie (ENG) (70)
•  Gary Wilson (ENG) (24) 1–4  Ricky Walden (ENG) (54)
•  Ng On-yee (HKG) (95) 2–4  Yao Pengcheng (CHN) (79)
•  Liu Wenwei (CHN) (83) 1–4  Jordan Brown (NIR) (64)
•  Mahmoud El Hareedy (EGY) (97) 4–1  Lan Yuhao (CHN) (78)
•  Marco Fu (HKG) (69) 2–4  Steven Hallworth (ENG) (73)
•  Leone Crowley (IRL) (86) 1–4  Long Zehuang (CHN) (50)
•  Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (THA) (119) 4–0  Gao Yang (CHN) (75)
•  Allan Taylor (ENG) (a)^[a] 3–4  Ishpreet Singh Chadha (IND) (59)
•  Scott Donaldson (SCO) (55) 1–4  Jack Lisowski (ENG) (17)
•  Ryan Day (WAL) (37) 3–4  Chatchapong Nasa (THA) (91)
•  Liam Pullen (ENG) (66) 2–4  Daniel Wells (WAL) (45)
•  Fan Zhengyi (CHN) (57) 4–1  Ben Woollaston (ENG) (39)
•  Huang Jiahao (CHN) (107) 1–4  Zak Surety (ENG) (42)
•  Jamie Jones (WAL) (63) 4–1  Oliver Sykes (ENG) (116)
•  Oliver Lines (ENG) (53) 3–4  Xu Yichen (CHN) (80)
•  Jimmy Robertson (ENG) (33) 4–3  Zhou Yuelong (CHN) (23)
•  Connor Benzey (ENG) (88) 2–4  Phil O'Kane (ENG) (120)
•  Ben Mertens (BEL) (62) 4–1  Zhao Hanyang (CHN) (81)
•  Michał Szubarczyk (POL) (77) 1–4  David Grace (ENG) (74)
•  Gong Chenzhi (CHN) (113) 4–3  Xu Si (CHN) (34)
•  Matthew Selt (ENG) (43) 3–4  Jak Jones (WAL) (32)
•  Alexander Ursenbacher (SUI) (89) 0–4  Duane Jones (WAL) (a)
•  Panchaya Channoi (THA) (123) 2–4  Aaron Hill (IRL) (41)
•  Stuart Bingham (ENG) (21) 0–4  Chang Bingyu (CHN) (48)
•  Paul Norris (ENG) (121) 0–4  Stan Moody (ENG) (40)
•  Michael Holt (ENG) (51) 4–3  Cheung Ka Wai (HKG) (110)
•  Yuan Sijun (CHN) (30) 2–4  Lyu Haotian (CHN) (61)
•  Elliot Slessor (ENG) (19) 4–1  Julien Leclercq (BEL) (114)
•  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA) (18) 3–4  Jamie Clarke (WAL) (101)
•  Tom Ford (ENG) (36)^[b] w/d–w/o  Ross Muir (SCO) (84)
•  Noppon Saengkham (THA) (46) 4–2  Ashley Hugill (ENG) (108)
•  Sahil Nayyar (CAN) (96) 1–4  Bai Yulu (CHN) (112)
•  Mitchell Mann (ENG) (100) 4–3  Louis Heathcote (ENG) (67)
•  Liu Yang (CHN) (126) 4–1  Andrew Higginson (ENG) (99)
•  Stephen Maguire (SCO) (29) 1–4  Liam Highfield (ENG) (68)
•  Liam Davies (WAL) (111) 4–2  Craig Steadman (ENG) (103)
•  Robbie Williams (ENG) (56) 0–4  He Guoqiang (CHN) (47)
•  Jimmy White (ENG) (94) 1–4  Sean O'Sullivan (ENG) (104)
•  Lei Peifan (CHN) (26) 4–1  Hammad Miah (ENG) (105)
•  Ali Carter (ENG) (22) 4–0  Stuart Carrington (ENG) (102)

Note: w/d=withdrawn; w/o=walkover

Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 23 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Leicester.^[15]

• 147 – Liam Highfield^[13]
• 141 – Lyu Haotian
• 134 – Ricky Walden
• 133 – Long Zehuang
• 129 – Elliot Slessor
• 125, 101 – Noppon Saengkham
• 124, 108 – Louis Heathcote
• 122 – Antoni Kowalski
• 121 – Zhou Yuelong
• 120 – Duane Jones
• 115 – Anthony McGill
• 115 – Liam Pullen
• 113 – Jimmy Robertson
• 108 – Daniel Wells
• 107 – Alfie Burden
• 106 – Liu Yang
• 105 – Jamie Jones
• 104 – Ishpreet Singh Chadha
• 102 – Chang Bingyu
• 102 – Jak Jones
• 101 – Ashley Hugill

Notes

1. Allan Taylor replaced Ian Burns who withdrew.^[10]
2. Tom Ford withdrew giving Ross Muir a walkover.^[10]

References

1. Tour, World Snooker (4 June 2026). "Unibet Returns As Title Partner For Snooker's Historic British Open". World Snooker Tour. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
2. Tour, World Snooker (8 July 2026). "Unibet British Open 2026 Draw: Murphy To Face Evans". World Snooker Tour. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
3. Sidat, Leena (15 July 2026). "Unmissable thrills and drama await at 2026 British Open snooker tournament". www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
4. SoGlos (4 August 2026). "Win tickets to watch the sport's biggest names in action as the World Snooker Tour returns to Cheltenham". www.soglos.com. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
5. Hermund. "Unibet British Open 2026 - snooker.org". diary.snooker.org. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
6. Hermund. "Unibet British Open 2026 - snooker.org". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
7. "Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins". The Times. 25 July 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2026. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
8. Turner, Chris. "British Open including British Gold Cup, Yamaha Organs trophy and Yamaha International Masters". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
9. "British Open trophy named after Clive Everton". World Snooker Tour. 21 September 2022. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
10. "British Open Qualifiers 2026". snooker.org. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
11. "Calendar 2026/2027". snooker.org. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
12. "Unibet British Open 2025". snooker.org. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
13. "Highfield hits maximum in Unibet British Open qualifying". World Snooker Tour. 24 July 2026. Archived from the original on 25 July 2026. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
14. "Unibet British Open 2026 qualifiers matches". World Snooker Tour. 24 July 2026. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
15. "Centuries: British Open Qualifiers – 23". snookerinfo.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2026.