It was the first of two invitational World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) competitions in the 2002–03 season.

It was the third time that O'Sullivan had won the Scottish Masters in his career, and he was awarded £65,000 from a prize fund pool of £205,000.

[1] The 2002 competition was the first of two World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) invitational events of the 2002–03 season, the other being the 2003 Masters.

[2][3] Sponsored by the cigarette brand Regal,[1] it had a prize fund of £205,000;[3] the host broadcaster was BBC Scotland.

[3] Four competitors were given wild cards to enter the tournament:[4] they were the 2002 Masters and Welsh Open champion Paul Hunter, Mark King,[5] Jimmy White,[4] and the champion of the 16-player Scottish Masters qualifying tournament and world number 22 Drew Henry.

[7] Before the tournament, Higgins stated that his four-month break from competing would assist his ardour and interest in the game: "I've moved house twice, got married and become a dad for the first time, so it's been hectic.

[7][9] Stephen Lee, the 2002 Snooker Writers' Association Player of the Year and provisional world number one,[10] made a break of 76, a 72 clearance and runs of 41, 40, 36 and 30 in defeating Scotland's Drew Henry 5–1.

[11] Henry won the fourth frame 60–37 but losing a 58–0 lead in the fifth due to a kick on a red ball.

[20] Lee took 103 minutes to whitewash Mark Williams 6–0 with breaks of 43, 46, 70, 122, 51 and 73; he accumulated more aggregate points than his opponent, 519–99.

After Hendry missed a red while on a break of 65, O'Sullivan made a 69 clearance to further increase his lead by one frame.

Hendry claimed three successive frames to tie the match before O'Sullivan made breaks of 76, 136 and 62 to win 6–3 and the second berth in the final.

[26] O'Sullivan then produced breaks of 43, 112, 52 and 91 to claim four frames in a row within 43 minutes and win the tournament with a 9–4 victory.

[27] It was O'Sullivan's third Scottish Masters tournament win after his victories in 1998 and 2000,[26] and equalled a record Hendry had held.

[27] He stated he wanted to win approximately 50 to 60 championships to keep him motivated before his retirement and knew that reaching the level of Steve Davis and Hendry would be difficult.

[30][31] Higgins commented that O'Sullivan deserved to win the tournament, and admitted to have not taken advantage of his opportunities:[30] "Even when I got back to 5–4 I couldn't put any pressure on him.

[5] Drew Henry won the tournament and earned the final wild card spot for the Scottish Masters by defeating Dominic Dale, Robin Hull, Joe Swail and Ali Carter over four rounds.