 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 22–29 October 2023 |
| Venue | Waterfront Hall |
| City | Belfast |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Organisation | World Snooker Tour |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £427,000 |
| Winner's share | £80,000 |
| Highest break |  Joe Perry (ENG) (145) |
| Final | |
| Champion | Judd Trump (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Chris Wakelin (ENG) |
| Score | 9–3 |
← 2022 2024 → | |
The 2023 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2023 BetVictor Northern Ireland Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 29 October 2023 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Organised by the World Snooker Tour (WST), it was the sixth ranking event of the 2023–24 season (following the 2023 Wuhan Open and preceding the 2023 International Championship), the second of four tournaments in the season's Home Nations Series (following the 2023 English Open and preceding the 2023 Scottish Open and the 2024 Welsh Open), and the fourth of eight tournaments in the season's European Series. Qualifying for the event took place from 17 to 20 October 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England, although qualifiers featuring the top 16 seeds and two local wildcard players were held over and played at the Waterfront Hall. The winner received the Alex Higgins trophy and £80,000 from a total prize fund of £427,000.
Five players—reigning world champion Luca Brecel, Ali Carter, John Higgins, Mark Selby, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh—did not enter the tournament, having planned to participate in an exhibition event originally scheduled for October 27 to 29 in Macau, China. The WST threatened the players with disciplinary action, claiming that playing an unsanctioned event in Macau rather than an official tour event in Belfast would breach their players' contracts. Following negotiations, the Macau exhibition event was rescheduled to be played from 22 to 24 December, and the WST granted the players permission to enter it. The players concerned remained absent from the Northern Ireland Open. China's Ding Junhui also did not compete in the event. Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew for medical reasons and was replaced in the draw by Rory McLeod. In all, six of the top 16 ranked players did not participate in the tournament.
Mark Allen was the defending champion, having defeated Zhou Yuelong 9–4 in the 2022 final, but he lost 3–4 to Andres Petrov in the last 64. Judd Trump won the tournament, defeating Chris Wakelin 9–3 in the final to secure his fourth Northern Ireland Open title, following his previous wins in 2018, 2019, and 2020. It was Trump's 26th ranking title, putting him ahead of Mark Williams in fifth place on the all-time list. Following his back-to-back wins at the 2023 English Open and 2023 Wuhan Open, Trump became the fifth player in snooker history—after Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, and Ding—to win three consecutive ranking tournaments, and the first to do so since Ding in 2013.
The qualifying stage of the tournament in Sheffield produced 24 century breaks, and the main stage in Belfast produced a further 57 centuries. Joe Perry made the tournament's highest break, a 145 in his last-64 match against Michael White.[1]
- ^ "Tournament centuries". snookerinfo.co.uk. 8 August 2023. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.