2020 Snooker Shoot Out

The event had a prize fund of £171,000, of which the winner received £50,000.[11][12] The event was the third of the "European Series", all of which were sponsored by BetVictor. The other tournaments in the series were the European Masters, German Masters and Gibraltar Open. The player accumulating the most prize money over the four events received a bonus of £150,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: [12][13]

• Total: £171,000

The 2020 Snooker Shoot Out began on 20 February and the first round was played during the first two days.[14][15] The tournament's opening match featured defending champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who had defeated Michael Holt in the final of the 2019 event.[16] Un-Nooh defeated Maltese player Alex Borg 63–17.[14][17] The match between Daniel Wells and Bai Langning finished at 72–72 and Wells won the blue-ball shootout.[18] Despite trailing 37–1 to Alfie Burden, Soheil Vahedi made a break of 36 to force a shootout, which he won.[19] Three-time world champion Mark Selby lost in the opening round to Sunny Akani 54–18 while reigning world seniors champion Jimmy White lost to Matthew Stevens 71–39.[20] Three amateur players qualified for the second round of the competition; Scotland's Dean Young defeated David Grace 35–29[21] and Irish player Ross Bulman defeated 2018 Snooker Shoot Out winner Michael Georgiou 21–28.[22] In an all-amateur first-round match, 15 year-old Robbie McGuigan was defeated 15–50 by European under-18 champion Aaron Hill.[22][23][24]

Two female players were invited into the draw.[25] Nutcharut Wongharuthai played one shot in her match against Thor Chuan Leong,[21] who made a total clearance, scoring 133, the highest break of the event.[21][26] Twelve-time women's world champion Reanne Evans also lost in the first round to Ian Burns.[19] The 2019 Snooker Shoot Out runner-up Michael Holt played Amine Amiri, who had not won a frame on tour all season. Amiri was ahead but failed to realise every shot must hit a cushion. He played a roll-up on two occasions, awarding 14 points to Holt and allowing Holt to win 69–38.[19][27][28]

The second round of the tournament was held on 22 February.[14][15] Defending champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh was defeated by Peter Lines 11–79.[29] Ronnie O'Sullivan, who had entered the event for the first time since 2015, lost 66–30 to Billy Joe Castle.[30] The Masters finalist Ali Carter was defeated by Brandon Sargeant 63–68.[30] All three amateur players won their second-round matches; Aaron Hill defeated world number eight Kyren Wilson with a break of 47,[31][29] Dean Young defeated Liam Highfield and Ross Bulman beat Andrew Pagett.[29] Anthony Hamilton defeated top-16 player David Gilbert 62–50.[30]

The remaining rounds were played on 23 February. The final day featured the remaining 32 players playing in four rounds with a break between each round.[15] Two top-16 players, Jack Lisowski and Barry Hawkins lost in the third round to Zhou Yuelong and Ben Woollaston respectively.[32] Lyu Haotian made a half-century break before Soheil Vahedi needed a clearance to win the match; he missed a shot on the yellow ball and lost 47–64.[32]

The fourth round began with 2017 winner Anthony McGill defeating Shaun Murphy.[32] Woollaston completed a whitewash of Jamie Clarke 96–0.[32] In a frame consisting of only 34 points, Mei Xiwen defeated Mike Dunn 22–12.[32] The semi-final lineup included three Chinese players;[32] Zhou Yuelong defeated Xiwen, Lyu Haotan defeated Anthony McGill, and Yan Bingtao defeated Anthony Hamilton. The other semi-finalist was Michael Holt, who defeated Ben Woollaston 19–7.[32] The semi-finals were played from 9 pm;[32] in the first match, Michael Holt defeated Yan Bingtao 59–16.[33] The second semi-final finished with a 44–33 win for Zhou Yuelong over Lyu Haotian.[33]

The final was played between Michael Holt and Zhou Yuelong, both of whom were playing in their second ranking final; Holt had reached the event final the previous year while Zhou had reached the 2020 European Masters final earlier in the season.[34] The winner of the Shoot Out progressed to the Players Championships that followed it.[34] Holt scored a break of 42 and won the final 64–1;[35] This was Holt's first full ranking event victory in his 24-year professional career.[36][37] He said the tournament's format allowed him to "play on my instinct and then play my best".[33]

•  Michael Holt (ENG) 59–16  Yan Bingtao (CHN)
•  Zhou Yuelong (CHN) 44–33  Lyu Haotian (CHN)