While the change to a money based ranking list might not take effect until the start of next season, with tour places at stake and every pound, dollar or Euro earned during this season to count, already the latest provisional money list is something that a number of people, both players and fans, will be keeping an eye on.
I have touched on this before, but with a couple of ranking events down and now at the halfway point of the season’s European Tour, now seems like a good time to take an early look at how the race for main tour places next year is shaping up and how players can survive…
- Click here to view the latest provisional money list
- Click here to view the latest European Order of Merit
- Click here to view the latest Asian Order of Merit
- Click here to view the indicative prize money schedule for 2013/14
- Click here to view my previous explanation of the provisional money list
What is the provisional money list?
As explained during my previous article back in May and within the text at the top of the latest provisional money list page, simply put, the table includes all money earned during last season (2012/13), and from the current 2013/14 season.
This list will be continually updated during the course of this season and the final totals will be used to determine both the rankings and tour places for the start of the 2014/15 season.
How will tour places be decided?
At the end of this season, all players ranked outside of the top 64 on the money list, who do not have a two-year tour card, or re-qualify through the European/Asian Order of Merit, will be relegated from the tour – NOT the points list.
Already therefore, we are more than halfway through a race which by the end of this season, will determine a large number of the players who will be on the tour for the 2014/15 campaign.
Who is already safe?
Those who do not have to worry (for this season at least), are those players who were able to earn a two-year tour card for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, either via the Q School, international competitions or by other means.
All of these players have been highlighted in green on the latest provisional money list.
Who is at risk?
In short – everyone else.
All players who retained their main tour places for this season by finishing in the top 64 at the end of the 2012/13 campaign, or who began their two-year tour cards at the start of 2012/13, must regain their place for the 2014/15 season.
Of course those in the upper echelons of the list will have nothing to worry about, but the closer they are to the all-important ‘top 64’ point, the more nervous they will be.
How can players survive?
Essentially, there are three ways for those players at risk to retain their tour cards for the 2014/15 season, without the need to re-qualify via Q School:
- By finishing in the top 64 of the latest provisional money list at the end of the 2014/15 season.
Traditionally the cut-off point for tour survival, the top 64 will again remain on tour at the end of this season, although as already stated, this will be on the money list, NOT the points based list currently in operation.
What is the cut-off point likely to be? It is very difficult to call, particularly given that this will be the first year in which prize money will decide tour places, but a very rough guess would be somewhere around the £40,000-£50,000 mark.
At the time of writing, India’s Aditya Mehta currently sits in 64th place with a total of £25,184 to his name.
Although yet to be confirmed, assuming that the same rules are applied as they were for this season, these players will earn a one-year card for the 2014/15 season.
- By finishing in the top eight of the European Order of Merit, not already qualified for the main tour
This is actually unchanged from last season, however then with no current professionals dropping from the tour at the end of 2012/13, this effectively allowed the top eight amateurs on the PTC list to graduate to the professional circuit.
This year however, with so many professionals set to finish outside of the top 64 on the money list, who do not already have a tour card for next season, these eight players are likely to be made up on a mix of both current professional and amateurs.
At the time of writing with four of the season’s eight European Tour events completed, those currently in place to retain tour places via this route are:
- Scott Donaldson
- David Grace
- Martin O’Donnell
- Michael Wasley
- Daniel Wells
- Robbie Williams
- Peter Lines
- Tony Drago/Mike Dunn
All of these players have been highlighted in blue on the latest provisional money list.
Although yet to be confirmed, assuming that the same rules are applied as they were for this season, these players will earn a two-year card for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.
- By finishing in the top four of the Asian Order of Merit, not already qualified for the main tour
Similar to the European list, the top four performers on the Asian Order of Merit, not already qualified, will gain/retain a place on the tour for the 2014/15 season.
At the time of writing, those players are:
- Scott Donaldson
- Liu Chuang
- Tian Pengfei
- (nine players tied)
You will notice that at present, Scott Donaldson is set to re-qualify through both lists, so which would World Snooker take him from?
The tour qualification structure states that players who ‘double qualify’ will be taken from the list on which they qualified first chronologically, so on that basis I would assume that he would qualify through the European list first, given that the final European Tour event is scheduled to be played before the fourth and final Asian Tour event.
All of these players have been highlighted in orange on the latest provisional money list.
Although yet to be confirmed, assuming that the same rules are applied as they were for this season, these players will earn a two-year card for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons.
What are the main points of interest?
While in general the same players head the money based list as they do the current points list, there are a number of exceptions. Some players who while clearly inside the top 64 on the points list, are in danger on the money list and vice versa.
As an illustration, those currently outside of the top 64 on the money list, who are inside that bracket on the points list are:
- Peter Lines, Liu Chuang, Mike Dunn, James Wattana, Adam Duffy
On the flip side, those currently inside the to 64 on the money list and set to survive, who are currently outside that bracket on points are:
- Pankaj Advani, Ian Burns, Luca Brecel, Sam Baird, Aditya Mehta
There are other players notably ‘out of position’ such as Jamie Jones, who despite having been in the top 32 of the official rankings relatively recently, is only 57th on the money list following a poor campaign last year, while Gerard Greene’s run to the final of the ET4 event last weekend has brought him back into play on the money list, as well as all but securing his tour place via the European Order of Merit.
With so much money still to be earned and the possibility for players currently well down the money list to be able to soar up the table with one good run in a major tournament, there is still much to play for.
While there may be a long way to go, however, it is interesting (to me anyway), to flag up who is well set and who has work to do over the coming months and there will of course be regular updates to follow here at PSB…
Any questions?
If you have any questions, please do drop me a tweet @prosnookerblog or email me at prosnookerblog@gmail.com