As regular readers will know, normally by now after a seedings revision I like to have the latest projected seedings list live and right up to date, but following Monday’s revision I have decided to hold off due to the lack of official clarification as to which points will be removed at the season’s crucial second cut-off, which will decide amongst other things, who will be part of the Masters. Click below a more detailed discussion…
- Click here to view the projected seedings list as of cut-off point one
- Click here to view the 2012/13 calendar, including cut-off points
Introduction
As readers may recall, prior to the first cut-off point this season, there was some uncertainty as to which points would be removed after UKPTC2. Initially I had taken an educated guess, based upon discounting events staged over two years prior to cut-off point, that events from the first three PTC events of 2010 would be removed.
It turned out however that World Snooker would deduct the points from just the first two PTC events of 2010, presumably because up until that point, only two PTC events had been staged thus far in the 2012/13 season.
Revision Two
The second cut-off now comes after the International Championship tournament on 4th November 2012. This will decide the seedings/competitors for the UK Championship, German Masters, Masters and Shoot Out tournaments
The tournaments that took place between now and then in 2010 are as follows:
- PTC3 – (6th-8th August 2010)
- PTC4 – (14th-16th August 2010)
- EPTC1 – (26th-29th August 2010)
- Shanghai Masters – (6th-12th September 2010)
- World Open – (18th-26th September 2010)
- EPTC2 – (30th September-10th October 2010)
- PTC5 – (7th-10th October 2010)
- PTC6 – (14th-17th October 2010)
- EPTC3 – (22nd-24th October 2010)
- EPTC4 – (28th-31st October 2010)
In comparison, the tournaments to be staged in the corresponding period in 2012 can be set out as follows:
- EPTC1 – (23-26th August 2012)
- UKPTC3 – (5th-9th September 2012)
- Shanghai Masters – (17th-23rd September 2012)
- APTC2 – (23rd-27th September 2012)
- EPTC2 – (5th-7th October 2012)
- EPTC3 – (18th-21st October 2012)
- International Championship – (28th October-4th November 2012)
So what is the answer?
One interpretation is that with four new PTC events to be added (discounting the APTC2 event), as well as two full-ranking events within each period, World Snooker will simply remove the points from the next four PTC events staged in 2010, as well as the World Open and Shanghai Masters.
Chronologically therefore, the points from PTC3, PTC4, EPTC1 and EPTC2, in addition to those from the World Open and Shanghai Masters tournaments could be set to fall.
This is the approach that has been suggested by the people who update the relevant pages at Wikipedia, though this appears to be based on nothing more than my above theory.
How else could they do it? The issue of the World Open is at first sight a curious one given the fact that there is now a World Open tournament which takes place later in the season, though it was notable last term that the event was treated as an entirely new tournament, as demonstrated by the decision to install John Higgins as top seed, rather than 2010 champion Neil Robertson. On this basis, I would expect the points from the 2010 event to be dropped at the next revision.
The big question therefore seems to be regarding which PTC points will come off and when. On paper the idea that World Snooker will deduct the points from a PTC event when another is played would appear to be a reasonable one, but to me there are a couple of obvious flaws to this theory.
The first is of course the fact that APTCs excluded, there are two fewer PTC events this season in comparison to two years ago, so when would the other two be removed?
The second factor is that the points for the first two PTC events from 2010 were actually taken off much earlier in the season, ie the points for PTC2 were not taken off after UKPTC2 this season, but earlier on following I think the Wuxi Classic, though I am open to correction on this.
All in all then, it appears to me to be very difficult to say with any certainty which points will have been removed by the time of the second cut-off, and as a result I am very reluctant to prepare a projected seedings list based on nothing more than a theory. I know that there are a few players who follow the list that I produce on this site and the last thing that I would want is for someone to think that they have qualified for the Masters, only for me to have been wrong!
I do find it strange that this far into the season, we seem to be no closer to knowing just how World Snooker are going to treat what in reality is a massive issue for the players. Of course the calendar is constantly evolving, even now at this stage of the season, but I had hoped for more certainty by now concerning this issue.
It is surely important that some sort of clarification is forthcoming so that everyone knows where they stand, not just for me as a blogger, but the for the players themselves. I know from the traffic on my site and the emails/comments I receive, that while rankings might not be quite as important as they once were, they are still very important to both players and fans alike.
Personally, I do not see what would be wrong with a system more akin to that employed in tennis where points remain for a period of 52 calendar weeks before being removed, no more, no less. I do find it odd to have a two-year ranking list where there are points being deducted before two years are up and others that are remaining for longer than two years, even if only by a few days. With a more arbitrary cut-off, at least everybody would know where they stand and we would have a true two-year system.
But that personal thought aside, if anybody hears anything then do feel free to let me know and once the situation has been clarified, I will of course post the updated list here at PSB…