Closing In On The Cut: September 2015

Selby

It feels like a long time since we last saw the players in ranking event action and indeed it has been, as over two months have passed since July’s Australian Goldfields Open.

Next week though the professionals will be back in action at the 2015 Shanghai Masters, with Stuart Bingham looking to defend the title that he won 12 months ago and following the event will also come the second mid-season seeding revision of the current season.

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Hawk Swoops For Riga Title

Hawkins4Barry Hawkins is the 2015 Riga Open champion after the world number eight defeated Leicester’s Tom Ford 4-1 this evening.

Having dropped the opening frame, he made short work of the next four to make the perfect start to the new season, after he elected not to enter last month’s Australian Goldfields Open.

He earns £18,750, which will make certain of his place at this season’s Players Championship event, while his victory will also see him back at the Champion of Champions event this November…

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World Championship 2015: Tour Survival Blog

pondsAfter months of updates and speculation, Wednesday will see the start of the 2015 Betfred World Championship qualifiers and with them, the climax of the race for main tour places for the 2015/16 season.

As is now tradition, this then is the post that will be updated throughout this week’s matches (and the Crucible if necessary), focusing on those players and results that will finally determine who will remain a professional come May and who will be facing a trip to Burton for Q School…

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Tour Survival 2014/15 – Player by Player (February Update)

With the season now into its most critical phase, click below for my latest in-depth, player by player update on the race for main tour places for the 2015/16 season, up to date after the German Masters event.

Below I look at how each player stands on each of the relevant ranking lists and also just why next month’s Gdynia Open is set to be a huge event for some of the players involved…

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Tour Survival 2015: The Early Running

balls2

While the end of the 2014/15 season feels like a long way off, with a two-year ranking list, in reality we are over halfway through the race for main tour places for the 2015/16 season.

With every pound, dollar or Euro earned during this season potentially crucial, already some eyes will be turning to the latest provisional end of season rankings and even from a quick glance, there are some surprising names who despite being apparently safe on the official ranking list, are in fact in the danger zone due to the points that they will be losing over the coming nine months.

So with a couple of ranking events down and two of the season’s six European Tour events completed, below I take an early look at how the race for main tour places next year is shaping up and how players can survive – assuming that there are no as yet unannounced changes to the tour qualification structure…

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