It has been some journey, but today sees the conclusion of the 2012 Q School as the final four qualifiers for the main tour from the event will be confirmed. Click below for a round-up of the action so far…
- Click here to view all of the results from Q School Event Two
- Click here to view the latest updates to the 2012/13 roll call
Trailing 3-0 to John Sutton during his fourth round match this morning, it looked as though Joel Walker might have to wait another year before having another chance to turn professional. From there however his response was to be emphatic, winning the next four frames to come through 4-3, before then racing to a 4-0 victory against former professional Justin Astley to secure a place on the main tour for the first time.
Perhaps most well-known as the winner of the 2010 Rileys ‘Future Stars’ competition, 18-year-old Walker came close to qualifying for the tour via the Q School in 2011 when he reached the fourth round of the second event, while he has since gained valuable experiences during the PTC tournaments with matches against the likes of Ding Junhui and Stephen Lee this season.
Joining Joel on the main tour will be Michael Wasley, who made amends for his deciding frame defeat to Daniel Wells at the previous event, by coming through another close match with Scotland’s Fraser Patrick tonight. As a long-time member of the On Q Promotions pink army, I know that a lot of people in Gloucester will be delighted for Michael and I can’t help but be pleased to see him turn pro also. Click here to read one of the blogs that Michael wrote for PSB back in March 2011.
One man who needs no introduction to snooker fans is veteran Rod Lawler, who ensured that his unbroken professional spell dating back to 1990 will continue for at least another two seasons tonight. Having lost in a decider to Ian Burns at the first event of Q School, Rod dropped just two frames during his five matches in event three, finishing with a 4-0 win against Ireland’s Joe Delaney this evening to qualify.
The final man to qualify is another main tour débutante, as Robbie Williams came through a deciding-frame tussle with Mitchell Mann to complete the 12 Q School qualifiers for 2012. Having already seen off the experienced Adrian Gunnell earlier in the day, Williams rounded off an excellent effort with a century break in the final frame against Mann to seal a place on the main tour for the first time.
Congratulations to all twelve players who have qualified from what is literally a tough school, in particular to the seven who will now be competing on the tour for the first time. Having seen how the likes of David Gilbert and Kurt Maflin were able to take their form into the first few ranking events of last season, it will be interesting to see whether anyone can do the same in 2012/13 and who knows, perhaps make it to either Australia or China straight away.
With the Wuxi Classic qualifiers set to get underway on the 5th June 2012, we will soon see…