Ronnie O’Sullivan’s Seeding Dilemma Ahead of World Championship at the Crucible

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s second seeding at the World Championship may prove to be more trouble than it’s worth in his quest to create snooker history at the Crucible next month. The world No. 1 is set to go into the 48th staging of the sport’s biggest event in Sheffield in the bottom half of the draw unless results dictate otherwise at the Tour Championship in Manchester.

Luca Brecel will have top billing at the Crucible as the defending champion, but it is not yet clear what half of the World Championship last-32 draw would provide better prospects of a run to the winning line for O’Sullivan ahead of the Tour Championship, a tournament Brecel failed to qualify for.

Trump is Tour top seed with O’Sullivan the second seed. They are both guaranteed £30,000 from starting their respective title bids in the quarter-finals in Manchester Central, which involves the top 12 players on the sport’s one-year money list.

As the provisional rankings stand, O’Sullivan and Trump are on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals in Sheffield as the undisputed form horses in the sport in claiming 10 major titles between them this term.

O’Sullivan has won the world title in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, and 2022. He needs one more triumph to overtake Stephen Hendry as the most prolific world champion of the modern era.

The Tour Championship will finalize the crucial order of the seedings amid several permutations, setting the stage for what promises to be an exciting and unpredictable World Championship at the Crucible.