While most eyes are now on the Crucible, this Monday sees the quarter-finals of the revived Scottish Professional Championship get underway as the remaining eight players battle it out at the Lucky Break Snooker Club in Glasgow. Click below for a round-up of the preliminary matches staged last week and all that you need to know about the final stages…
The Scottish Professional Championship returns to Scotland after a 22 year absence at the Lucky Break Snooker Club in Clydebank, Glasgow this week. The 2011 event marks the first time that the event has been held since John Rea defeated Murdo MacLeod 6-5 in the 1989 final and it was in fact Rea who has now resurrected this prestigious event and opened it up to all Scottish professionals and ex-professionals.
The Format
The top four ranked Scottish professionals on the professional circuit (John Higgins, Stephen Maguire, Stephen Hendry and Graeme Dott), were seeded through to the Quarter Finals.
The other five current professionals – Marcus Campbell, Jamie Burnett, Alan McManus, Anthony McGill & James McBain were seeded into the Final Qualifying Round and were joined by three ex-professionals who qualified to that round from three sections of three players.
James McBain, as the lowest ranked of the current Scottish Professionals was randomly drawn to play against one of the four other current Scottish professionals.
Matches are all the best of 9 frames up to and including the Semi Finals, and the Final best of 11 frames.
The Qualifying Rounds
QUALIFIER 1
Steve Wylie 5-1 John Rae
Mark Boyle 5-1 David McClelland
Mark Boyle 5-1 Steve Wylie
QUALIFIER 2
Scott McKenzie 5-2 Craig McGillivary
Richy McDonald 5-0 Murdo McLeod
Richy McDonald 5-2 Scott McKenzie
QUALIFIER 3
John Lardner 5-4 Billy Snaddon
Paul McPhillips 5-2 Giulio Rae
Paul McPhillips 5-2 John Lardner
The Preliminary Rounds
Jamie Burnett 5-3 Paul McPhillips – Jamie Burnett won first two frames but McPhillips soon showed he can still compete at a high level winning the next three to level the match. Jamie’s class however was to eventually shine through as he took the next two for victory.
Alan McManus 5-1 Mark Boyle – According to the watching spectators, Alan produced a tactical masterclass to see off his opponent Mark Boyle who was of course a professional as recently as 2009/10. Mark commented after the match that he could only learn from playing someone like Alan having spent most of night on the top cushion.
James McBain 5-3 Marcus Campbell – A high quality encounter, James began with a break of 63 to win the first before Marcus responded with 106 to level. James though was to make breaks of 58 and 88 en route to a 4-1 lead and despite breaks of 116 and 6o from Marcus to close gap to one frame, James held his nerve to secure a last eight match with Graeme Dott.
Anthony McGill 5-1 Richy McDonald – Richy McDonald gave McGill an early scare with a 53 break to win the opening frame but McGill soon proved to be too strong, winning the next five frames which included a 126 clearance in frame four.
QUARTER FINALS
John Higgins vs Jamie Burnett (11th April 2011, 7:30pm)
Stephen Hendry vs Alan McManus (11th April 2011, 2:15pm)
Graeme Dott vs James McBain (12th April 2011, 2:15pm)
Stephen Maguire vs Anthony McGill (12th April 2011, 7:30pm)
SEMI-FINALS
Higgins/Burnett v Hendry/McManus (13th April 2011, 2:15pm)
Dott/McBain v Maguire/McGill (13th April 2011, 7:30pm)
There will be further updates here at PSB throughout the week while you can also find the latest results over at the Scottish Snooker website.