Scottish Open Snooker 2024 Predictions: Xiao Guodong could be big winner

Next up on the Snooker Calendar is the 3rd home nations event of the season as the players return to the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh for the Scottish Open.

This is the 3rd time it’s been hosted in this arena and the same player has won both the last two events here with Gary Wilson pulling off a shock two years ago to win the trophy and then managing to defend it last year with a win over Noppon Saengkham in the final.

As with the other home nations events the format has changed slightly this year with 32 players seeded through to the 1st round to play 32 qualifiers. Below you can find my Scottish Open Snooker 2024 predictions.

0.5pts Each Way - Xiao Guodong to win Outright @ 20/1

My first pick for this event is the in form Xiao Guodong.

Guodong has stepped up his game this season, made it into the top 16 for the first time in his career briefly and won his first ranking event of his career with some superb performances in the Wuhan Open.

He showed it wasn’t a fluke too, with another good run in the International Championship 1 frame away from making another final with a defeat to Chris Wakelin in the semis.

He again followed that up with another great run in the Champion of Champions with wins over Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Allen to reach the final, coming from 3-0 behind in the first two matches.

Faces Xu Si first up, a player he’s won all four head-to-heads against, including a 5-0 last time the two met.

0.5pts Each Way  - Pang Junxu to win Outright @ 28/1

My second pick is Pang Junxu, a player i’ve been backing regularly this season and one I think is getting very close to winning his first ranking event.

He’s always had the talent and potential but his consistency has been what’s impressed me this season, his recent 6-2 defeat to Moody in UK Qualifying was his first heavy defeat of the season, he’s regularly been beating very good players and the majority of his defeats have been very narrow one against very good players.

He reached the semi finals of the Northern Ireland Open earlier this season and he’s had wins against Allen, Robertson and O’Sullivan as well beating Brecel three times.

Likely faces Ronnie again in the last 32 should they both win but he certainly won’t be fearing ‘The Rocket’ after his recent victory over him and based on current form Pang could be considered favourite.

With Judd Trump withdrawing from this quarter his run to the latter stages looks considerably easier than it did a few days ago and 28/1 looks a good each way bet for me.

0.25pts Each Way - Joe O’Connor to win Outright @ 100/1

My final pick and biggest outsider that I’m backing this week is Joe O’Connor.

With very little form to show this season it’s easy to see why O’Connor is such a big price but he’s always been a player I’ve rated highly and there are a couple of reasons I like his odds here.

When O’Connor does hit form he’s capable of consistently beating top players, he’s two quarters, two semis and a final in his career and when he does go on these runs it’s rarely because the draw has opened up, he likes to do it the hard way.

He’ll have good memories of playing at this venue, he reached his first ranking event final here two years ago and that was another example of him doing it the hard way, beating Xintong, Ding, Mark Williams, Walden and Robertson on his way to the final.

He’s also started playing with a new cue recently and immediately won a pro-am event with it and looked to be cueing well at the shootout this week so that could give him a bit of a confidence boost that he’s been lacking in recent months.

Check out the rest of our Snooker Betting Tips over at Betfred Insights.