This season it runs from February 13 to 19 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and it will feature 128 of the world’s leading green baize stars, in a flat draw with all players starting in the first round.

Ronnie O’Sullivan won the title last season, beating Neil Robertson 9-5 in the final. The player nicknamed the Rocket generated plenty of headlines earlier in the tournament when he turned down the chance of a maximum break because he felt the 147 bonus of £10,000 was too low.

Other winners in recent years include John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby.

This time the tournament is part of the new Coral Home Nations series, which has a £1 million bonus up for grabs for any player who wins all four events – in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales,

Total prize money for each of the Home Nations events will be £366,000, with the winner to receive £70,000. All four tournaments will be televised by Eurosport and the Welsh Open will also be on BBC Wales.

Mark Williams was the last home favourite to win the Welsh Open, back in 1999. Neath’s Michael White, the rising star who won his first ranking title in 2015, hopes he can be the man to end that long drought.

“This is a great time to be a snooker professional,” said White. “There’s a lot of money to be won if you do well and more importantly the chance to win trophies for the players who want success the most. My game is back where it should be and hopefully that will lead to good results.”

Whoever wins the Coral Welsh Open will also receive a unique piece of silverware, as for the first time the trophy has been named after six-time World Champion Ray Reardon.

Reardon, now age 83, dominated snooker for much of the 1970s, winning his sixth world title at the Crucible in 1978. He said: “It’s quite something to have the Welsh Open trophy named after me. I’m ecstatic about it. It’s a real honour.”

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn added: “Ray was a pioneer for snooker and played a key role in its development as a major television sport. He was a tremendous player and remains a fine ambassador.”

Tickets for the Welsh Open are on sale now and start at just £10. Book fast because certain sessions will be sold out soon. For details call 029 2022 44 88 or visit www.worldsnooker.com/tickets