It was the 14th and penultimate ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season, following the conclusion of the WST Pro Series and preceding the World Championship.

The draw for the Tour Championship comprised the top eight players based on the single year ranking list.

In a repeat of the 2019 final Australian Neil Robertson played Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan.

[4] The Tour Championship featured the top eight players from the one-year ranking list taking part in a single-elimination tournament.

[6] The event took place at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales, between 22 and 28 March 2021.

[8] It also aired on: Sky Sport in New Zealand; NowTV in Hong Kong; Superstars Online in China; and DAZN across the Americas, Germany, Italy and Spain.

[10] Jordan Brown was the ninth ranked player, acting as the first travelling reserve for the event.

[15] Higgins made the first century break of the event in frame four, and the pair remained tied at 3–3.

[15] After the match, O'Sullivan commented that he had almost pulled out of the event due to his cue stick being in poor condition, and had sent it for repairs twice.

[17] O'Sullivan won the match in frame 18, after Higgins missed a pot on the yellow ball.

[18][19] Lisowski only scored 39 more points over the next four frames, Robertson making two century breaks, and lead 6–2 between sessions.

[21] Robertson claimed that Lisowski would need a "killer instinct" to improve his game going forward.

[22] The third quarter-final was held between English players Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby.

[26] Barring the Snooker Shoot Out, a one-frame tournament, this was the only event in the season Wilson had not scored a single century break.

[31] In a nervy 17th frame, Hawkins won the match 10–7 after potting a long brown ball.

[29] Hawkins later suggested that his loss to Trump at the 2021 German Masters, where he led 5–1, but lost 5–6 played on his mind: "I didn't throw the match away against Judd [Trump] (at the German Masters), but I nearly did the same thing tonight.

I created a lot of opportunities", and cited his form was helped by not competing in some preceding events.

[36] Hawkins led the match 3–0, with breaks of 125 and 138, but O'Sullivan won four straight frames to lead 4–3.

[38][39] O'Sullivan led the final frame 48–0, but Hawkins missed a black ball meaning he required foul shots to win the match.

[41] O'Sullivan won the opening frame, before a century break by Robertson tied the match 1–1.

[42] In the evening session, Robertson made breaks of 93 and 75 to lead 6–4 with O'Sullivan making mistakes in each frame.