Tag: Gerard Greene

Tour Survival 2015/16 – Player by Player

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Lines3

As the nights draw in and the clocks go back, it is also that time of the year when I take a close look at the battle for tour places from the start of the 2016/17 season. As regular readers will be well aware, to fully understand how each of the current tour players are currently placed, it is necessary to analyse a number of different ranking lists and orders of merit.

With two of the biggest money events to come in the International Championship and UK Championship tournaments, today I take my first player-by-player look at the current state of play and flag up some of the surprise names with work to do if they are to remain on tour for another season…

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Tour Survival 2016: The Early Running

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balls

Two ranking tournaments into the 2015/16 campaign, already it is possible to identify some of the players who are sure of being on the main tour next season and perhaps more importantly, those whose places are at real risk.

With every pound, dollar or euro to be earned during the remainder of this season likely to be crucial, today I take my customary look at the likely qualification criteria and look at some of those to follow over the coming months…

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2015/16 – Stories to Follow

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Bingham4

While the wait goes on for information as to the various seeding cut-offs and other ranking information for the 2015/16 season, the action is now very much underway with the qualifiers for the Australian Goldfields Open this week in Crawley.

As was the case last year, it is interesting then to take a look at the current world ranking list and try to pick out a few potential stories that may well develop during the next months.

After all, already a year ago it was possible to see that Ding Junhui would have an excellent chance of claiming the world number one ranking (which he did in December), while players such as Stephen Maguire and Nigel Bond would have work to do in order to stay inside the top 16 and top 64 respectively…

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2014/15: Money To Defend, Themes To Follow

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Ding

For those of us who like to keep an eye on all things rankings related, during each season there are usually a number of themes to follow just from a look at the various ranking lists.

For example a couple of seasons ago, it was only a matter of time before Judd Trump became number one, given the relative lack of points that he was defending compared to those above him, while last season it was the likes of Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui who were well placed to climb to the top of the list due to lesser performances two years previously.

This year has of course seen a change to a prize-money based ranking list, but the premise of a two-year rolling system remains the same and so below I take a look at a few themes that I will be following as the season progresses.

To assist, @joanneballantyn has also helped to put together the usual ‘money to defend’ lists (available here), which show which points will be coming off at each cut-off point.

Click below for more…

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Closing In On The Cut: Crucible 2014 (Updated)

matt2745 6 Comments

Selby

Following the conclusion of the 2014 Haikou World Open yesterday, the picture is now somewhat clearer as far as the World Championship seedings are concerned, with the identity of the top 16 players seeded through to the Crucible Theatre now confirmed.

Still, there are still changes that can occur during the upcoming Players Championship Grand Finals tournament in Preston, both to the placing of the seeds in the main draw and also the top 64 bracket…

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