| Tournament Name: | 2015 Betway UK Championship |
| Venue: | Barbican Centre |
| Location: | York |
| Country: | England |
| Organisation: | World Snooker |
| Format: | Ranking event |
| Total Prize Fund: | £732,000 |
| Winners Share: | £150,000 |
| Highest Break: | (147) |
| Score: | 10–5 |
| Previous: | 2014 |
| Next: | 2016 |
The 2015 UK Championship (officially the 2015 Betway UK Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 November and 6 December 2015 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2015/2016 season.[1]
The 2014 champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, who had not played in professional competition since April, decided not to defend his title.[2] He made his debut as a pundit during the tournament, providing in-studio expert analysis for Eurosport alongside Jimmy White.[3]
On the opening day of the tournament, amateur player Adam Duffy defeated world number 9 and two-time UK Champion Ding Junhui 6–2, a result that was described as "one of the biggest upsets in UK Championship history".[4] In the sixth frame of his third-round match against Neil Robertson, Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh came close to achieving his first maximum break in professional competition, but missed the final black off the spot.[5]
The final between Australia's Neil Robertson and China's Liang Wenbo marked the first time that a British player did not compete in the UK Championship final.[6] In the sixth frame, Robertson made the 115th official maximum break in professional competition, and the first 147 break ever attained in a Triple Crown snooker final, for which he earned £44,000 (a rolling prize of £40,000 for a 147 break, plus the tournament's £4,000 highest break prize).[7] It was the fourth time in a row, that a maximum was made in a UK Championship. Robertson went on to defeat Liang 10–5 to claim his second UK Championship title, and the 11th ranking title of his career.[8]
A record 104 centuries were made during the tournament, including nine from Robertson and eight from Liang.
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
The "rolling 147 prize" for a maximum break stands at £40,000 (8 ranking events since it was last won, £5,000 added for each ranking event)
| Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Jan Verhaas. Barbican Centre, York, England, 6 December 2015. | |||
| Liang Wenbo (28) | 5–10 | Neil Robertson (3) | |
| Afternoon: 40–71, 16–69 (60),,,,,, Evening: 90–27 (82),,,,,, | |||
| 110 | Highest break | 147 | |
| 1 | Century breaks | 2 | |
| 4 | 50+ breaks | 6 | |
Source: World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (worldsnookerdata.com)[9]