By the end of this year, another amateur will became a professional snooker player for the next two seasons. Exciting times.
The qualification rules are slightly different compared to last year. Last year, tour cards were given to the top two players on The Challenge Tour Order of Merit. Brandon Sargeant and David Grace were placed first and second respectively. After a number of suspensions last season, additional places became available. Thus, 3rd placed Mitchell Mann was rewarded the extra spot. However, this time just two places are there for the taking. One for the leader of the Order of Merit. Another will be awarded to the winner of the playoff between the eight best players of this amateur series.
Despite the conclusion of Event 9 earlier this month, there are still two events left. Event 5 was postponed due to a leaked venue and the event, as well as its results and fixtures, are carried over. So Event 10, as well as the reminder of Event 5, will take place in The Winchester in Leicester.
But there is another spanner in the works. Despite leading the pack, Ashley has already qualified! By winning the 2020 WSF Open. he will be a professional players next season. Even so, he still competed in and eventually won Event 9! Whether it is right for someone who has qualified to compete against players who are chasing for a spot is up to debate. Obviously, since Ashley can’t qualify twice, there are two spots up for grabs for the rest of the tour!
So who’s in the running? You can see the draws for Event 5 and Event 10 here.
For context, the Challenge Tour of Merit can be found by clicking here.
The Frontrunners
There are three players who are in the running for the automatic spotL Andrew Pagett, Lukas Kleckers and Dean Young. Three of those players have won an event. They have also featured in the Snooker Shoot-Out, which Young reaching the furthest at Round 3. Interestingly, each one of these players is still in the Event 5 draw as well as participating in the final event.
At the time of writing, the leader of the three is Pagett with £5,075, closely followed by Kleckers (£4,725) and Young (£3,425). For Pagett, there will be ample pressure for him to seal the deal in Event 5. Young is quite far behind the first two, but if he pulls off a fantastic result while the two former professionals lose in the early stages of Event 5, then there is all to play for.
It would be good for snooker for either of the three to qualify. Andrew Pagett competed in the amateur ranks since dropping off the tour in 2015. He almost qualified quite soon via the 2016 IBSF World Snooker Championship but was thrashed 8-1 in the final by current pro Soheil Vahedi. It would be a relief for German snooker Kleckers keeps flying the flag in the professional ranks, as Simon Lichtenberg is likely to be relegated from the main tour.
As for Dean Young, it would be interesting to see if he could succeed where many young Scots have failed. We have seen the likes of Michael Leslie, Chris Totten, Rhys Clark and Ross Muir fail to reach the Top 64 and neither of them are currently playing professional snooker. It would be great for Scottish snooker to be part of its legacy with Scottish youngsters Anthony McGill and Scott Donaldson once the old guard retires in a few years.
The Playoff Contenders
One of the main reasons why the playoff idea was implemented into this year’s tour was to make the amateur circuit more competitive. Players will feel that there is still a chance, even when they are fifth or sixth in the table.
There are three others event winners who are comfortably in the play-off seats. Oliver Brown, Ka Wai Cheung and Jake Nicholson. It seems strange to still see Brown as an amateur. It feels light years away when he whitewashed DIng Junhui 5-0 in the 2014 Wuxi Classic. But he is still kicking, as he reached the Last 16 of the 2019 Gibraltar Open, defeating Michael Holt and Jimmy Robertson in deciders along the way.
Even so, there are a number of challengers in the mix. We have former professional Adam Duffy, Northern Irish talent Robbie McGuigan and 2018 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championship Tyler Rees. More surprisingly, Rory McLeod is in the playoffs. It’s quite odd to get used to the fact that McLeod is an amateur, considering the 2015 Ruhr Open champion beat Judd Trump in the World Championships in 2017!
By the end of this week, we will know which player will become a professional and receive a two-year tour card. We will also know which 8 players will participate in the Challenge Tour Playoffs in Pot Black, Clacton-on-Sea on 29th March. In the meantime, Event 5 starts between 28th – 29th February and Event 10 is on 1st – 2nd March. Who will it be?
