So after the jazzy affair that was Power Snooker at the weekend, this week sees the snooker circuit return to the cubicles in Sheffield as the tour’s qualifiers bid for a place in Berlin next February in the German Masters qualifiers…
- Click here to view the livescoring for this event at World Snooker
- Click here to view the draw in full
- Click here to view the order of play
While the introduction of events such as the PTCs and the Shootout grabbed much of the headlines during last season, for me the real success story of 2011 was in fact the new German Masters tournament as eventually won by Mark Williams. The enthusiasm of the crowds was infectious, even following the withdrawal of the ever-popular Ronnie O’Sullivan which for me spoke volumes.
As a result you can be sure that this will not have been lost on the players and that those involved during this week’s qualifiers will be trying their hardest to book their place on the plane for the 2012 edition of the tournament.
As was the case last season the qualifiers will adopt a flatter format than normal, with just three rounds as opposed to the usual four (excluding tonight’s pre-qualifying matches), which sees the players ranked between 33-99 face off from the start before the winners go through to play each other and then the winners of those matches through to meet those ranked between 17-32.
One important point to be made in respect of the rankings is that points earned this week will not come into play until after the venue stage of this event is played in February. As this time comes after the season’s second seedings revision, I will therefore not be adding the points earned this week to my list until after the PTC12 event in January. If anyone is not sure as to why that is the case please do feel free to contact me.