After many gruelling days of Q School, we finally have 12 players willing to flex their muscles to compete in the professional tour. Four Q School qualifiers will be making their debut seasons, the youngest of which is 16 years-old.
The likes of Michael Georgiou, Michael White, Reanne Evans, Alfie Burden and Craig Steadman failed to get back on tour via Q School. That’s how tough it was and one can say that the final 12 deserve to become professional snooker players.
So who are they? I wrote a little blurb about each one below. I hope you enjoy it!
Event 1
Lee Walker
Lee Walker’s been around for a long time, hasn’t he?
Walker became pro for the first time in 1994 and stayed on the tour until 2006. After returning for one season the year after, he became pro again in 2014 via Q School. He has stayed on tour via Order of Merits twice since then.
The 1993 World Championship quarter-finalist has made some impressive results. He reached his first ranking semi-final in the 2018 Gibraltar Open and the Paul Hunter Classic quarter-finals the following year. Walker defeated defending World Champion Judd Trump on his way to the English Open quarter-final this season.
After beating 2012 World Championship quarter-finalist Jamie Jones, he was victorious against Simon Blackwell 4-1 in the final round.
Peter Devlin
It is always nice to see someone qualifying for the professional tour for the first time! Just the tweet below shows how much it means to him.
It was clear Devlin was going places after winning the 2016 England Under-21 Championship at the age of 19. The past winners include Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O’Sullivan, so that tournament has a lot of pedigree. He reached the Last 32 of the 2017 World Under-21 Championship and is a regular participant in Q School, English Amateur Tour and the Challenge Tour. Devlin came through a tough road, defeating former pros Kuldesh Johal, Thor Chuan Leong and finally John Astley in the quarter-finals.
Also, he does a lot of rap songs on Youtube. It wouldn’t be a bad things to hear his walk-on music being one of his songs instead!
Simon Lichtenberg
Simon Lichtenberg qualified for the main tour two years ago by winning the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships. He defeated Welsh hot prospect Tyler Rees 6-3. He endured a very difficult stint on the pro tour, winning just four matches in two years. The most impressive wins for the German was 5-2 against Ken Doherty in the 2018 World Open and 4-1 against Ryan Day in the 2020 Welsh Open.
Lichtenberg has immediately bounced back onto the professional tour by defeating former pro Leo Fernandez in the final qualifying round. He joins compatriot and Challenge Tour winner Lukas Kleckers for next season.
Fan Zhengyi
Fan Zhengyi beat Luo Honghao 7-6 to win the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship to qualify for the main tour as a debutant. He is one of the many young prospects from China and was expect to impress. Fan won just seven matches during his first two years. His most impressive achievement was reaching the Last 32 of a ranking event for the first time. He defeated both Riley Parsons and Chris Wakelin on deciders before losing to Shaun Murphy. It’s strange to see losing finalist Luo make the Top 64 and the champion who beat him didn’t.
Fan defeated Challenge Tour Play-Off participants Jake Nicholson and Oliver Brown and beat two-time ranking event winner Michael White 4-2 in the final round.
Event 2
Jamie Jones
Jamie Jones achieved a lot when he was a professional. His highest ranking was No. 29, he reached two ranking semi-finals and the World Championship quarter-finals in 2012. Unfortunately, he was suspended after he was accused of being part of a plan to fix a 2016 match between fellow Welshman David John and Graeme Dott. Though he wasn’t found guilty of match-fixing, he was suspended for failing to report that corrupt approach, which caused him to fall off the tour in 2019.
Now, with the worst year of his life behind him, Jones attempted to return to the professional ranks at the 2020 WSF Open, but lost to Steven Hallworth in the Last 64. After losing to Lee Walker in the penultimate match in Event 1, he qualified for the main tour by beating 2018 Snooker Shoot-Out champion Michael Georgiou 4-0.
Zak Surety
This will be Zak Surety’s second professional stint as a snooker professional. Surety won the EBSA Amateur Cup play-offs in 2014 to make his professional debut. His best achievements were reaching the Last 32 of the 2015 China Open and the 2016 European Masters. He finished his second season ranked No. 85 and dropped off the tour.
Surety came through a tough route to earn qualifcation onto the main tour. He defeated the likes of Alfie Burden and Jake Nicholson along the way before finally beating Leo Fernandez 4-1 in the final round.
Oliver Lines
Oliver Lines started off life as a snooker professional strongly after winning the 2014 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships. Lines Jnr. succeeded breaking into the Top 64 within his first two-year card, reaching high as No. 53 in December 2016. Two finishes in Last 16 the 2016 Indian Open and more notably, the 2016 UK Championship certainly helped. However, he went down the rankings and was granted a fresh card as one of the better players outside of the Top 64 via the One Year Ranking List.
Unfortunately, he failed to impress in the 2018–19 and 2019-20 seasons and dropped off the tour. He will rejoin his father on the professional tour by beating snooker veteran Paul Davison 4-2 in the final of Event 2.
Ben Hancorn
We have a 38 year-old debutant on our hands!
Ben Hancorn seems to be around the amateur ranks for a while. He was the 2008 English Amateur Championship finalist, losing to David Grace and stopped playing for a while. But over the past year, he’s been making some headlines. Most famously, he won the 100th English Amateur Snooker Championship in at the Centaur Arena in Cheltenham. He beat Rory McLeod 5-3 in the final. He also attended the European Snooker Championships in Portugal, losing to Heikki Niva in the quarter-finals.
But he qualified via Event 2, defeating Kuldesh Johal 4-2. Below is an interview with him in response to winning the English Amateur Championship this year.
Event 3
Rory McLeod
I feel like we have seen him before…
Rory McLeod is a proper journeyman. He reached the Last 16 World Championships 2011 and in 2017. The Highlander is a minor-ranking event winner too, when he won the 2015 Ruhr Open, beating Tian Pengfei 4-2. After being a professional for 15 seasons in total, he was relegated from the tour last year.
Rory really tried to get back on tour. He tried the Challenge Tour, the 2020 WSF Open, the European Snooker Championships and the Challenge Tour Play-Offs. After losing to Jordan Brown in Round 2 of the World Championship qualifiers, he immediately went to Q School. He secured one of the final tour cards by beating Paul Davison 4-2 to get on tour once again.
Jamie Wilson
Another debutant! Very impressive for someone who is just 16 years-old.
Not much is known about him but I’ve tried to do some digging. James Wilson topped his group in the WSF Junior Open, which included prodigies Robbie McGuigan and Oliver Sykes. He was knocked out by Indian Kreishh Gurbaxani in the Last 32. Wilson is also a member of Cuestars as well.
Wilson won his first tour card the hard way. In Event 3, he defeated former pros Michael Georgiou and Fang Xiongman and defeated Haydon Pinhey in the deciding frame at 4-3. Considering how many young professionals there will be next season (Sean Maddocks, Gao Yang, Iulian Boiko and Aaron Hill are examples), we could be seeing him making strides too!
Farakh Ajaib
Some may not be familiar with Farakh Ajaib. As an amateur top-up after Q School, he was able to play in professional events during the 2018-19 season. Though he was unable to gain any victories, he nicked a number of frames off many professionals, including David Gilbert, Anthony Hamilton and Yuan Sijun. In the first qualifying round of the 2019 World Championship, he clawed back from 7-4 down to level 7-7, only to lose 10-7 to Ian Burns.
Ajaib managed to secure his tour card to make his professional debut on the snooker tour! He prevented Brian Ochoiski from becoming the first-ever French professional snooker player by defeating him 4-2. I have also found an in-depth article on Farakh and I encourage you to read it by clicking here.
Steven Hallworth
Finally, we have one more player who managed to regain his tour card!
Steven Hallworth first secured his tour card for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 season by winning one of the EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-Offs events. Hallworth endured a difficult time as a pro, reaching the Last 32 just once in the 2016 German Masters. He beat both Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Andy Hicks on deciders but was whitewashed by Mark Selby in the main event.
After reaching the Last 16 of the 2020 WSF Open, he had a tough final round against Alfie Burden, who was looking to immediately bounce back onto the tour. After being 2-0 down, Hallworth fought back to win 4-2 and became a professional for the second time in his career.
Great article! Must admit I’m not too familiar with Hancorn or Ajaib, but looking forward to seeing how they get on. Still disappointed that Michael White didn’t quite get there though.
I think all of us are disappointed not to see Michael White immediately back on tour!