World Snooker Championship centuries in a professional match was set in the semi-final between Ding Junhui and Alan McManus, with Ding also setting a new record of seven centuries by one player in a World Championship match. Mark Selby and Marco Fu set a new record for the longest frame of snooker ever played at the Crucible, 76 minutes 11 seconds. Prize money for the 2017 Championship was a record £1,750,000 with the winner receiving £375,000. Prize money for first-round losers was a record £16,000, exceeding the £15,000 players received in 2003. In a high-quality and tightly contested semi-final, defending champion Mark Selby
Mark Selby Order of Merit and therefore qualified to the last 16 of the Finals. He beat Ding Junhui in the Finals in Galway before losing 0–4 to eventual winner Stephen Lee in the quarter-finals. Selby reached the quarter-finals of the German Masters and then got to the final of the Welsh Open, where he lost 6–9 to Ding. Another semi-final followed in the World Open and despite seeing a 5–2 lead slip to a 5–6 defeat against Mark Allen, he looked to be in form at just the right time in the season. However, Selby was forced to withdraw from the