2024 World Masters of Snooker
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 4–6 March 2024 |
| Venue | Global Theatre |
| City | Boulevard City, Riyadh |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Organisation | World Snooker Tour |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £785,000 |
| Winner's share | £250,000 |
| Highest break | Ding Junhui (CHN) (138) |
| Final | |
| Champion | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Luca Brecel (BEL) |
| Score | 5–2 |
The 2024 World Masters of Snooker (officially the 2024 Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 4 to 6 March 2024 at the Global Theatre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and part of the Riyadh Season festival in the entertainment district Boulevard City within Riyadh, the event was the first professional snooker tournament held in Saudi Arabia, and the inaugural staging of the World Masters of Snooker. It introduced a new 20-point gold ball called the "Riyadh Season ball", which could only be potted after a player had completed a maximum break of 147 to extend the break to 167. The event was broadcast locally in the Middle East and North Africa and worldwide. The winner received £250,000 from a total prize fund of £785,000.
The event featured 12 players, including the top ten players on the snooker world rankings, with the reigning World Champion, Luca Brecel, as the top seed, as well as two local wildcard players, Ali Alobaidli from Qatar and Omar Alajlani from Saudi Arabia.
World number one player Ronnie O'Sullivan won the event, defeating Brecel 5–2 in the final, capturing his fifth professional title of the 2023–24 season.
The tournament produced 16 century breaks. O'Sullivan made six, the most of any player. The highest break was a 138 made by Ding Junhui. No player successfully compiled a maximum break for a chance to pot the new "Riyadh Season" gold ball. John Higgins made an attempt in his second-round match against Mark Williams, potting all 15 reds with blacks, but lost position and missed the yellow to end the break at 120. Higgins was defeated in the quarter-finals by eventual winner O'Sullivan 0–4. Despite the match starting at 1:48 am local time, O'Sullivan made breaks of 135, 129, 102, and 82 to complete the whitewash, with Higgins having not potted a single ball in the whole match. In another quarter-final match, Mark Allen recovered from 0–2 and 1–3 behind to beat Mark Selby 4–3, winning the deciding frame on the last black.