Neil Robertson was the defending champion,[2] but he was beaten 2–4 in the Group 1 semi-final by Stuart Bingham.

[4] Remaining places were then allocated to winners of European Tour events (in the order they were played) and then, if required, to winners of the 2016 Snooker Shoot-Out, 2016 Six-red World Championship and 2016 World Seniors Championship.

After the 2016 International Championship there had only been 14 different winners and, with only one event left, Stuart Bingham, who was 8th in the one-year ranking list, qualified at that stage.

During the China Championship Marco Fu withdrew and Joe Perry, 9th on the one-year ranking list, replaced him.

At that stage John Higgins was the only non-qualified player left in the China Championship and, since he was 10th on the one-year ranking list, he therefore became the final qualifier.