2026 Masters (snooker)

The 2026 Masters (officially the 2026 Johnstone's Paint Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 11 to 18 January 2026 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. The second Triple Crown event of the 2025‍–‍26 snooker season, following the 2025 UK Championship and preceding the 2026 World Snooker Championship, the tournament was the 52nd edition of the Masters, which was first held in 1975. It was broadcast by the BBC and TNT Sports domestically, by Eurosport in mainland Europe, by local channels in China and elsewhere in Asia, and by WST Play in all other territories. The winner received £350,000 from a total prize fund of £1,015,000.

The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings, as they stood after the UK Championship, were invited to the event. Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew on medical grounds and was replaced in the draw by Chris Wakelin, who had been 17th in the world rankings after the UK Championship. Wu Yize and Xiao Guodong made their Masters debuts at the event, where they were among a record five participants from mainland China. Wu reached the semi-finals, the first debutant to do so since Yan Bingtao in 2021.

Shaun Murphy was the defending champion, having defeated Kyren Wilson 10‍–‍7 in the 2025 final, but he lost 2–6 to Wu in the first round. All eight first-round matches ended in 6–2 scorelines, the odds of which were estimated at 220,000 to 1. Kyren Wilson reached his third Masters final, where he defeated John Higgins 10–6 to win his first Masters title and second Triple Crown title. Higgins made a record-extending 32nd Masters appearance and became the oldest Triple Crown finalist in snooker history, aged 50 years and 245 days. The final of the event was the last match to feature televised commentary by John Virgo, who died on 4 February. The tournament produced 24 century breaks, of which the highest was a 137 by Wu in his match against Murphy.