The World Snooker Tour says some of its leading players including current world champion Luca Brecel will face disciplinary action if they opt to skip the Northern Ireland Open in order to play in a non-sanctioned event in Macau.
Mark Selby, John Higgins, Ali Carter and Brecel who are all currently ranked within the world's top 11, as well as Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, will be referred to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) Disciplinary Committee for breach of their player contract if they participate in the Macau Snooker Masters.
The Northern Ireland Open is due to run in Belfast later this month from 22-29 October and its latter stages clash with the timing of the exhibition tournament in the special administrative city and region to the south of China.
While acknowledging that players are not obliged to enter every WST event, in a statement the tour said turning down an opportunity to take part in one of its own events in order to play in a non-sanctioned one would be regarded as a breach of contract.
"It is without doubt that playing in a non-sanctioned event instead of playing in a WST event is detrimental to that WST event," the tour said.
"Unfortunately, despite engaging in email correspondence and phone calls intended to best explain our position and enable the players to make informed decisions, five players (four of whom are ranked within the top 16) have decided not to compete in the Northern Ireland Open and have withdrawn their entry in order to play in Macau.
"These players are Mark Selby, John Higgins, Luca Brecel, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter, none of whom will therefore appear in Belfast.
"As a result, if these players decide to participate in the exhibition in Macau, the WST will have no alternative but to refer them to the WPBSA Disciplinary Committee for breach of their player contract, and this has been clearly communicated to the players.
"Taking necessary action in these circumstances protects WST events on behalf of the fans who attend and follow our events through television and social media, our sponsors/commercial partners, broadcasters/streaming partners and most importantly, the other 125 members of the WST."
On Wednesday, the draw for the opening round of the Northern Ireland Open was made with Ronnie O'Sullivan taking on Ahmed Aly Elsayed and Mark Allen facing Ben Mertens in his bid to win a third title in a row.
First round ties
Mark Allen v Ben Mertens
Ricky Walden v Ben Woollaston
Jack Lisowski v Rebecca Kenna
Robert Milkins v Cao Yupeng
Shaun Murphy v Ryan Thomerson
Ryan Day v Ma Hailong
Gary Wilson v Louis Heathcote
Neil Robertson v Wu Yize
Judd Trump v Jenson Kendrick
Anthony McGill v Jimmy White
Robbie McGuigan v Muhammad Asif
Hossein Vafaei v Mark Joyce
Kyren Wilson v Sam Craigie
Mark Williams v Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins v Elliot Slessor
David Gilbert v Joel Connolly
Tom Ford v Haydon Pinhey
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ahmed Aly Elsayed
