2018 Championship League

Championship League

Tournament information
Dates	2 January – 29 March 2018 (2018-01-02 – 2018-03-29)
Venue	Ricoh Arena
City	Coventry
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£180,300
Winner's share	£10,000 (plus bonuses)
Highest break	Martin Gould (ENG) (147)  Luca Brecel (BEL) (147)
Final
Champion	John Higgins (SCO)
Runner-up	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)
Score	3–2
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Championship League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament taking place from 2 January to 29 March 2018.^[1] It was the 11th staging of the tournament.

The defending champion John Higgins retained his title with a 3–2 final win over Zhou Yuelong. As in the previous edition of the tournament Higgins had entered the competition in Group 7 and from there won his way through to the Winners' Group.^[2]

Martin Gould and Luca Brecel both made their maiden official maximum breaks in this tournament. Gould achieved his maximum in the deciding frame of his Group 6 round robin match against Li Hang. Brecel achieved his in the third frame of a 3–0 whitewash of defending champion John Higgins in their Group 7 round robin match. These were the 135th and 136th official maximum breaks and the fourth and fifth of the 2017/2018 season. It was the fifth consecutive year that a maximum was made in the Championship League, and the second consecutive year that two were made.^[3]

The breakdown of prize money for the 2018 Championship League is shown below.^[4]

• Tournament total: £180,300

Group 1 was played on 2 and 3 January 2018. Zhou Yuelong was the first player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[5]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	6	4	2	15	12	+3	Qualification to Group 1 play-off
2	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	6	4	2	14	10	+4
3	Ryan Day (WAL)	6	3	3	12	13	−1
4	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	6	3	3	12	13	−1
5	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	6	3	3	11	11	0	Advances into Group 2
6	Mark King (ENG)	6	2	4	14	14	0	Eliminated from the competition
7	Michael Holt (ENG)	6	2	4	10	15	−5

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	2
	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	3
					Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	2
					Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	3
	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	3
	Ryan Day (WAL)	2

Group 2 was played on 4 and 5 January 2018. Mark Selby was the second player to qualify for the Winners' Group, recording his 500th career century in the Group 2 final against Barry Hawkins.^[6]

Note

* Neil Robertson had to pull out of the Championship League for personal reasons after his fifth match. Results from Robertson's previous matches were removed from the group table.^[7]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	5	5	0	15	6	+9	Qualification to Group 2 play-off
2	Ryan Day (WAL)	5	3	2	11	9	+2
3	Mark Selby (ENG)	5	2	3	12	10	+2
4	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	5	2	3	9	10	−1
5	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	5	2	3	8	11	−3	Advances into Group 3
6	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	5	1	4	4	13	−9	Eliminated from the competition
7	Neil Robertson (AUS)	0	0	0	0	0	0

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	3
	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	1
					Barry Hawkins (ENG)	1
					Mark Selby (ENG)	3
	Ryan Day (WAL)	0
	Mark Selby (ENG)	3

Group 3 was played on 8 and 9 January 2018. Kyren Wilson was the third player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[8]

Note

Anthony McGill withdrew before the tournament and was replaced by Tom Ford.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Mark Allen (NIR)	6	4	2	15	8	+7	Qualification to Group 3 play-off
2	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6	4	2	14	9	+5
3	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	6	4	2	13	13	0
4	Tom Ford (ENG)	6	3	3	12	11	+1
5	Ali Carter (ENG)	6	3	3	11	13	−2	Advances into Group 4
6	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	6	2	4	12	15	−3	Eliminated from the competition
7	Ryan Day (WAL)	6	1	5	9	17	−8

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Mark Allen (NIR)	3
	Tom Ford (ENG)	2
					Mark Allen (NIR)	1
					Kyren Wilson (ENG)	3
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	1
	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	3

Group 4 was played on 10 and 11 January 2018. Ali Carter was the fourth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[9] On the first day, Judd Trump made his 500th career century in his match against Liang Wenbo.^[10]

Note

* Mark Allen had to withdraw due to family reasons prior to his second match in the group. The result from Allen's first match in the group was removed from the group table.^[7]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Judd Trump (ENG)	5	4	1	13	4	+9	Qualification to Group 4 play-off
2	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	5	4	1	13	7	+6
3	Shaun Murphy (ENG)	5	2	3	9	12	−3
4	Ali Carter (ENG)	5	2	3	8	10	−2
5	Liang Wenbo (CHN)	5	2	3	7	12	−5	Advances into Group 5
6	Tom Ford (ENG)	5	1	4	7	12	−5	Eliminated from the competition
7	Mark Allen (NIR)	0	0	0	0	0	0

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Judd Trump (ENG)	0
	Ali Carter (ENG)	3
					Ali Carter (ENG)	3
					Shaun Murphy (ENG)	1
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	2
	Shaun Murphy (ENG)	3

Group 5 was played on 23 and 24 January 2018. Mark Williams was the fifth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[11]

Note

Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy and Liang Wenbo withdrew from the tournament and were replaced by Joe Perry, David Gilbert and Ben Woollaston.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	4	2	16	8	+8	Qualification to Group 5 play-off
2	Ben Woollaston (ENG)	6	4	2	15	11	+4
3	Mark Williams (WAL)	6	4	2	13	8	+5
4	Ricky Walden (ENG)	6	3	3	13	13	0
5	Martin Gould (ENG)	6	3	3	12	11	+1	Advances into Group 6
6	Joe Perry (ENG)	6	2	4	9	15	−6	Eliminated from the competition
7	David Gilbert (ENG)	6	1	5	4	16	−12

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Judd Trump (ENG)	2
	Ricky Walden (ENG)	3
					Ricky Walden (ENG)	1
					Mark Williams (WAL)	3
	Ben Woollaston (ENG)	1
	Mark Williams (WAL)	3

Group 6 was played on 25 and 26 January 2018. Martin Gould was the sixth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[12]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Martin Gould (ENG)	6	5	1	16	8	+8	Qualification to Group 6 play-off
2	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	4	2	14	7	+7
3	Ricky Walden (ENG)	6	4	2	12	13	−1
4	Li Hang (CHN)	6	3	3	14	11	+3
5	Graeme Dott (SCO)	6	3	3	13	14	−1	Advances into Group 7
6	Michael White (WAL)	6	1	5	8	15	−7	Eliminated from the competition
7	Ben Woollaston (ENG)	6	1	5	7	16	−9

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Martin Gould (ENG)	3
	Li Hang (CHN)	2
					Martin Gould (ENG)	3
					Judd Trump (ENG)	0
	Judd Trump (ENG)	3
	Ricky Walden (ENG)	0

Group 7 was played on 26 and 27 March 2018. John Higgins was the seventh player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[13]

Notes

Graeme Dott and Li Hang withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 7 play. They were replaced by Dominic Dale and Jimmy Robertson.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	5	1	16	8	+8	Qualification to Group 7 play-off
2	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	6	5	1	15	9	+6
3	John Higgins (SCO)	6	4	2	14	10	+4
4	Ricky Walden (ENG)	6	3	3	12	12	0
5	Dominic Dale (WAL)	6	2	4	11	13	−2	Eliminated from the competition
6	Robert Milkins (ENG)	6	1	5	8	16	−8
7	Luca Brecel (BEL)	6	1	5	7	15	−8

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Judd Trump (ENG)	3
	Ricky Walden (ENG)	1
					Judd Trump (ENG)	2
					John Higgins (SCO)	3
	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	1
	John Higgins (SCO)	3

The Winners' Group was played on 28 and 29 March 2018. In the final, John Higgins defeated Zhou Yuelong 3–2 to retain his Championship League title and win it for the second time in his career.^[2]

Notes

* Zhou Yuelong was awarded the first frame, due to Mark Selby arriving late.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	John Higgins (SCO)	6	5	1	17	8	+9	Qualification to the Winners' Group play-off
2	Ali Carter (ENG)	6	5	1	16	10	+6
3	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	6	3	3	15	12	+3
4	Mark Selby (ENG)	6	3	3	12	10	+2
5	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	6	3	3	12	13	−1	Eliminated from the competition
6	Mark Williams (WAL)	6	1	5	9	17	−8
7	Martin Gould (ENG)	6	1	5	5	16	−11

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	John Higgins (SCO)	3
	Mark Selby (ENG)	2
					John Higgins (SCO)	3
					Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	2
	Ali Carter (ENG)	0
	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	3

Total: 116

Bold: highest break in the indicated group.

No.	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	W	TOTAL
1	John Higgins (SCO)							6,200	15,200	21,400
2	Zhou Yuelong (CHN)	6,200							10,500	16,700
3	Judd Trump (ENG)				2,600	3,200	4,300	5,100		15,200
4	Ali Carter (ENG)			1,100	5,900				6,200	13,200
5	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	1,100	2,400	6,600					2,400	12,500
6	Mark Selby (ENG)		6,300						6,000	12,300
7	Barry Hawkins (ENG) (3)		4,900	2,700	3,200					10,800
8	Ricky Walden (ENG)					4,500	2,200	2,500		9,200
9	Martin Gould (ENG)					1,200	6,900		1,000	9,100
10	Mark Williams (WAL)					6,600			1,800	8,400
11	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	4,700	1,100	1,200						7,000
12	Ryan Day (WAL)	3,300	2,100	900						6,300
13	Mark Allen (NIR) (2)			4,700	100					4,800
14	Shaun Murphy (ENG) (3)				4,400					4,400
15	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	3,100	700							3,800
=	Tom Ford (ENG)			2,800	1,000					3,800
17	Ben Woollaston (ENG)					2,800	700			3,500
18	Li Hang (CHN) (4)						3,000			3,000
19	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)							2,800		2,800
20	Neil Robertson (AUS) (1)		1,700							1,700
21	Liang Wenbo (CHN) (3)				1,500					1,500
22	Mark King (ENG)	1,400								1,400
23	Graeme Dott (SCO) (4)						1,300			1,300
24	Luca Brecel (BEL)							1,200		1,200
25	Dominic Dale (WAL)							1,100		1,100
26	Michael Holt (ENG)	1,000								1,000
27	Joe Perry (ENG)					900				900
28	Michael White (WAL)						800			800
=	Robert Milkins (ENG)							800		800
30	David Gilbert (ENG)					400				400
	Total prize money	20,800	19,200	20,000	18,700	19,600	19,200	19,700	43,100	180,300

Green: Won the group. Bold: Highest break in the group. All prize money in GBP.
Notes
⁽¹⁾ Neil Robertson withdrew for personal reasons after his fifth match in Group 2.
⁽²⁾ Mark Allen withdrew due to family reasons after his first match in Group 4.
⁽³⁾ Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy and Liang Wenbo withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 5 play.
⁽⁴⁾ Graeme Dott and Li Hang withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 7 play.

• http://www.championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/players/