The draw for this Saturday’s 2022 Champion of Champions Shootout has been completed and can now be announced.

Ultimate Pool’s one-day end-of-season extravaganza takes place at the Players Pool & Snooker Lounge in Newcastle-under-Lyme and features the event winners from this year’s Pro and Challenger Series’. This year’s event winners are:

Pro Series - Michael Hill (Events 1,4 and 6), Chris Melling (Event 2), Jack Whelan (Event 3), Karl Sutton (Event 5), Tom Cousins (Event 7), Shane Thompson (Event 8)

Challenger Series – Neil Brittain (Event 1), Josh Corkett (Event 2), Cameron Tolley (Event 3), Callum Singleton (Event 4), Richie Oliver (Event 5), Jez Graham (Event 6), Ian Ali (Event 7), Peter Mullaney (Event 8).

Due to Michael Hill winning multiple events, as per the tournament rules, the highest ranked players from the professional ranking list who have not won a 2022 Pro Series event are invited. These are fourth-placed Stevie Dempsey and seventh-placed Gareth Potts.

The Draw

A straight knockout event, the random draw is below. Please note, this is the tournament bracket that is now fixed for the duration.

Gareth Potts v Karl Sutton

Neil Brittain v Stevie Dempsey

Josh Corkett v Jez Graham

Richie Oliver v Jack Whelan

Callum Singleton v Cameron Tolley

Tom Cousins v Ian Ali

Shane Thompson v Michael Hill

Peter Mullaney v Chris Melling

Arguably the standout tie of the opening round is Shane Thompson v Michael Hill – a match between Ultimate Pool’s first two number one professionals.

Tom Cousins and Ian Ali come into the event in great form having won titles last weekend, while reigning champion Chris Melling – who defeated Chris Day in the final here just over 12 months ago – starts his title defence against Peter Mullaney, winner of the last Challenger Series event.

The Schedule

There are morning/afternoon (11:00 – 17:00) and evening (19:00-23:30) sessions for the event.

The opening round will be played in the morning/afternoon, with the quarters, semis and final completed in the evening.

Format

All matches in all rounds are races to five frames with a 25-minute match-clock.

Players have 30 seconds per shot for the first 15 minutes, but just 15 seconds for the final 10 minutes of the match.

If the match-clock expires and the scores are tied, a 6-red shootout will be played to determine the match winner.

Prize Money

There is a £25,000 prize fund for this year’s event, with the winner banking £15,000.

How to Watch

Spectators are welcome to attend the venue to watch the action completely free of charge – no need to buy a ticket, just turn up to the venue.

For those who want to watch elsewhere, the whole day will be live on ViaPlay Sports UK, ultimatepool.tv and the Ultimate Pool App. If you want to become an Ultimate Pool subscriber, you can sign up here.