# 2015–16 snooker season

The 2015–16 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 7 May 2015 and 2 May 2016.
The World Grand Prix became a ranking event featuring the top 32 players on a one-year money list, having been a non-ranking event the previous season.

## New professional players

Countries:
* Australia
* Brazil
* China
* Egypt
* England
* Iran
* Isle of Man
* Pakistan
* Scotland
* Thailand
* Wales
The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2015 World Championship, and the 30 players earning a two-year card the previous year automatically qualified for the season. The top eight players from the European Tour Order of Merit and top four players from the Asian Tour Order of Merit, who had not already qualified for the Main Tour, also qualified. Another two players came from the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs, and a further eight places were available through the 2015 Q School. The rest of the places on to the tour came from amateur events and national governing body nominations. Hossein Vafaei's two-year tour card will commence this season. All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons.

## Calendar

The following tables outline the dates and results of all World Snooker Tour, World Ladies Billiards and Snooker, seniors, and other events.

### World Snooker Tour

| Start | Finish | Tournament | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
| 15 Jun | 21 Jun | World Cup† | Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China | China B | 4‍–‍1 | Scotland |
| 29 Jun | 5 Jul | Australian Goldfields Open | Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia | John Higgins (SCO) | 9‍–‍8 | Martin Gould (ENG) |
| 29 Jul | 2 Aug | European Tour – Event 1‡ | Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia | Barry Hawkins (ENG) | 4‍–‍1 | Tom Ford (ENG) |
| 26 Aug | 30 Aug | European Tour – Event 2‡ | Stadhalle in Fürth, Germany | Ali Carter (ENG) | 4‍–‍3 | Shaun Murphy (ENG) |
| 7 Sep | 12 Sep | Six-red World Championship† | Fashion Island Shopping Mall in Bangkok, Thailand | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA) | 8‍–‍2 | Liang Wenbo (CHN) |
| 14 Sep | 20 Sep | Shanghai Masters | Shanghai Grand Stage in Shanghai, China | Kyren Wilson (ENG) | 10‍–‍9 | Judd Trump (ENG) |
| 7 Oct | 11 Oct | European Tour – Event 3‡ | RWE-Sporthalle in Mülheim, Germany | Rory McLeod (ENG) | 4‍–‍2 | Tian Pengfei (CHN) |
| 19 Oct | 23 Oct | Asian Tour – Event 1‡ | Haining Sports Center in Haining, China | Ding Junhui (CHN) | 4‍–‍3 | Ricky Walden (ENG) |
| 25 Oct | 1 Nov | International Championship | Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre in Daqing, China | John Higgins (SCO) | 10‍–‍5 | David Gilbert (ENG) |
| 4 Nov | 8 Nov | European Tour – Event 4‡ | Universiada Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria | Mark Allen (NIR) | 4‍–‍0 | Ryan Day (WAL) |
| 10 Nov | 15 Nov | Champion of Champions† | Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England | Neil Robertson (AUS) | 10‍–‍5 | Mark Allen (NIR) |
| 24 Nov | 6 Dec | UK Championship | Barbican Centre in York, England | Neil Robertson (AUS) | 10‍–‍5 | Liang Wenbo (CHN) |
| 9 Dec | 13 Dec | European Tour – Event 5‡ | Tercentenary Sports Hall, Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar, Gibraltar | Marco Fu (HKG) | 4‍–‍1 | Michael White (WAL) |
| 10 Jan | 17 Jan | Masters† | Alexandra Palace in London, England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) | 10‍–‍1 | Barry Hawkins (ENG) |
| 3 Feb | 7 Feb | German Masters | Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany | Martin Gould (ENG) | 9‍–‍5 | Luca Brecel (BEL) |
| 12 Feb | 14 Feb | Shoot Out† | Hexagon Theatre in Reading, England | Robin Hull (FIN) | 1‍–‍0 | Luca Brecel (BEL) |
| 15 Feb | 21 Feb | Welsh Open | Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) | 9‍–‍5 | Neil Robertson (AUS) |
| 23 Feb | 28 Feb | European Tour – Event 6‡ | Gdynia Sports Arena in Gdynia, Poland | Mark Selby (ENG) | 4‍–‍1 | Martin Gould (ENG) |
| 4 Jan | 3 Mar | Championship League† | Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, England | Judd Trump (ENG) | 3‍–‍2 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| 8 Mar | 13 Mar | World Grand Prix | Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales | Shaun Murphy (ENG) | 10‍–‍9 | Stuart Bingham (ENG) |
| 22 Mar | 27 Mar | Players Tour Championship Finals | EventCity in Manchester, England | Mark Allen (NIR) | 10‍–‍6 | Ricky Walden (ENG) |
| 28 Mar | 3 Apr | China Open | Beijing University Students' Gymnasium in Beijing, China | Judd Trump (ENG) | 10‍–‍4 | Ricky Walden (ENG) |
| 16 Apr | 2 May | World Championship | Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England | Mark Selby (ENG) | 18‍–‍14 | Ding Junhui (CHN) |
* Ranking event
* ‡ Minor-ranking event
* † Non-ranking event

### World Ladies Billiards and Snooker

| Start | Finish | Tournament | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
| 26 Sep | 27 Sep | UK Ladies Championship | Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England | Ng On-Yee (HKG) | 5‍–‍1 | Reanne Evans (ENG) |
| 5 Dec | 6 Dec | Eden Ladies Masters | Cambridge Snooker Centre in Cambridge, England | Reanne Evans (ENG) | 5‍–‍0 | Laura Evans (WAL) |
| 6 Feb | 6 Feb | Connie Gough Trophy | Dunstable Snooker Club in Dunstable, England | Reanne Evans (ENG) | 4‍–‍0 | Maria Catalano (ENG) |
| 5 Mar | 6 Mar | Eden Classic | North East Derbyshire Snooker Club in Chesterfield, England | Reanne Evans (ENG) | 5‍–‍1 | Ng On-Yee (HKG) |
| 2 Apr | 5 Apr | World Ladies Championship | Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England | Reanne Evans (ENG) | 6‍–‍4 | Ng On-Yee (HKG) |

### Seniors events

| Start | Finish | Tournament | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Ref. |
| 30 Jan | 31 Jan | World Seniors Championship | Preston Guild Hall in Preston, England | Mark Davis (ENG) | 2‍–‍1 | Darren Morgan (WAL) | |

### Other events

| Start | Finish | Tournament | Venue | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
| 7 May | 10 May | Vienna Open | 15 Reds Köö Wien Snooker Club in Vienna, Austria | Peter Ebdon (ENG) | 5‍–‍3 | Mark King (ENG) |
| 15 Jul | 19 Jul | Pink Ribbon | The Capital Venue in Gloucester, England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) | 4‍–‍2 | Darryn Walker (ENG) |
| 11 Nov | 14 Nov | General Cup Qualifying Event | General Snooker Club in Hong Kong, China | Zhang Anda (CHN) | 5‍–‍4 | Cao Yupeng (CHN) |
| 16 Nov | 21 Nov | General Cup | General Snooker Club in Hong Kong, China | Marco Fu (HKG) | 7‍–‍3 | Mark Williams (WAL) |

## Points distribution

2015/2016 points distribution for World Snooker Tour ranking and minor-ranking events:
| Tournament/Round→ | R144 | R128 | R96 | R80 | R64 | R48 | R32 | R16 | QF | SF | F | W |
| Asian Tour events | – | 0 | – | – | 400 | – | 800 | 1,300 | 1,750 | 3,500 | 6,500 | 13,500 |
| European Tour events | – | 0 | – | – | 525 | – | 900 | 1,725 | 3,000 | 4,500 | 9,000 | 18,750 |
| Players Championship Grand Finals | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4,000 | 7,000 | 12,500 | 20,000 | 38,000 | 100,000 |
| Australian Goldfields Open | – | 0 | 250 | – | 500 | 1000 | 4,500 | 6,000 | 8,500 | 10,000 | 16,000 | 37,500 |
| Shanghai Masters | – | 0 | 500 | – | 2,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 19,500 | 35,000 | 85,000 |
| International Championship | – | 0 | – | – | 4,000 | – | 7,000 | 12,000 | 17,500 | 30,000 | 65,000 | 125,000 |
| UK Championship | – | 0 | – | – | 4,000 | – | 9,000 | 12,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 70,000 | 150,000 |
| German Masters | – | 0 | – | – | 1,500 | – | 3,000 | 3,750 | 7,500 | 15,000 | 26,250 | 60,000 |
| Welsh Open | – | 0 | – | – | 2,000 | – | 3,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 |
| World Grand Prix | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,500 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 35,000 | 100,000 |
| China Open | – | 0 | – | – | 4,000 | – | 6,500 | 8,000 | 12,500 | 21,000 | 35,000 | 85,000 |
| World Championship | 0 | – | – | 6,600 | – | 9,900 | 13,250 | 22,000 | 33,000 | 66,000 | 137,500 | 330,000 |