Snooker’s return to live action will continue later this month. The Coral Tour Championship will start from June 20th to 26th at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
That should brighten up any snooker fan’s mood.
The eight most in-form players this season (who are able to attend) will battle to out for the £150,000 prize, a ranking trophy, the Coral Cup and a possible 2020 Champion of Champions place. No pressure then.
Judd Trump and Neil Robertson have won the Players Championship and World Grand Prix respectively, both Coral Cup events. Who will win the third and final tournament?
Recent Changes In The Tour Championship
Recently, World Snooker confirmed the dates of the Tour Championship. A month ago, the idea of the Tour Championship being rescheduled before the World Championship was met with fear due to the coronavirus pandemic. But after snooker’s apparent success in the Championship League last week, there is a new sense of optimism in our little world.
But there are a number of changes. First, the Tour Championship will be held in Milton Keynes and not last year’s venue in Llandudno. Second, the number of frames have changed. Last year, the first, second and third rounds are BO17, BO19 and BO25 respectively. This time, the quarter-finals and semi-finals are BO17 and the final is a BO19 match (first to 10 frames wins). I expect this is to keep up with World Snooker’s stringent organisation on everyone’s wellbeing by reducing some time at the venue.
Thirdly, Ding had withdrawn from the Tour Championship. Ding decided as a safety precaution not to travel to the UK for the tournament, according to World Snooker. Stephen Maguire, who is ninth in the the one-year ranking list, directly took Ding’s spot against Neil Robertson. It slightly confuses me that the seeds can’t simply be reshuffled, so top seed Trump would face bottom seed Maguire. And so on and so forth. But that’s a very minor detail. Every player is incredibly tough to beat anyway, so it shouldn’t matter.
The format can be found here.
Should I Watch The Tour Championship?
Absolutely, yes. It is rapidly becoming one of the more important and lucrative tournaments on the calendar at the moment. This final event of the Coral Cup represents the eight most in-form players this season, so we expect the quality and prestige to be great. The top prize of £150,000, from a total prize fund of £380,000 is huge. This is without getting into the prize for winning the Coral Cup, which has the additional a bonus of £100,000.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has failed to qualify for this event. It’s never nice in any competition where the defending champion doesn’t have a chance of holding onto the title again. He played very well in the Championship League for someone who barely practiced. Like him or not, he brings a lot of coverage and magic into every event.
Unfortunately, the quality of the snooker isn’t likely going to be as good as last year. Last year, The Tour Championship finished two days after the Gibraltar Open, which every player would be in the groove. Due to lockdown in response to the virus, all professionals hadn’t played in months. John Higgins, Yan Bingtao, Shaun Murphy and Maguire didn’t participate in the Championship League. Of those who did, only Trump made it past the first group stage.
The Coral Cup Standings
The Tour Championship is part of the Coral Cup alongside the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship. To win the Coral Cup, a player must earn the highest amount of prize money overall across the series. Below is a table involving all those in the Tour Championship from World Snooker.
| Rank | Player | World Grand Prix (£) | Players Championship (£) | Total |
| 1 | Judd Trump | 7,500 | 125,000 | 132,500 |
| 2 | Neil Robertson | 100,000 | 0 | 100,000 |
| 3 | Yan Bingtao | 0 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 5 | Stephen Maguire | 0 | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| 6 | Shaun Murphy | 0 | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| 7 | John Higgins | 12,500 | 15,000 | 27,500 |
| 11 | Mark Allen | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
| 12 | Mark Selby | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
With £150,000 going to the winner, any player in the draw can lift the Coral Cup, providing results turn in their favour. However, Trump only needs to beat Higgins and earn £40,000 in ranking points to put Higgins, Allen and Selby out of contention. The results here can make a huge difference to how the seeds are placed at the Crucible! For more analysis, please check the WPBSA’s Crucible Seedings Race guide by clicking here.
DRAW
Coral had made Trump the 13-8 favourite to win the Tour Championship back in early June. He is closely followed by Neil Robertson (10-3) and Mark Selby (5-1). You have a better idea of what that means, as I don’t!
There is very little point for me to make predictions. We only got a snapshot of how well some professionals are playing and no doubt they will be practicing harder than before. It’s also been months since we’ve seen Higgins, Yan, Murphy and Maguire play. But it would be slightly awkward if those who participated in the Championship lost in the first round!
Below are the draw, head-to head records (H2H) and most recent match played. Please note that the H2H record from Cuetracker.net excludes Snooker Shoot-Out and Championship League matches.
Judd Trump (1) vs. John Higgins (8)
H2H: John Higgins is leading Judd Trump 13-12
Last Meeting: 2020 Players Championship (Trump won 6-3)
Neil Robertson (4) vs. Stephen Maguire (9)
H2H: Stephen Maguire is leading Neil Robertson 12-8
Last Meeting: 2020 Masters (Maguire won 6-5)
Mark Selby (3) vs. Yan Bingtao (6)
H2H: Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao are drawing 1-1
Last Meeting: 2019 Champion of Champions (Selby won 4-0)
Shaun Murphy (2) vs. Mark Allen (7)
H2H: Shaun Murphy is leading Mark Allen 13-5
Last Meeting: 2020 Players Championship (Murphy won 6-2)
The event will take place between Saturday 20th – Friday 26th June. The coverage will be on ITV4
