PREVIEW: The WST Pro Series – A Recap

The last time we saw anything of the WST Pro Series was the 25th of January. So I think a recap is justified. This tournament will drag on from the 9th March to 21st March and will feel like a never-ending story so you might as well learn! This tournament is not ideal for us fans but its most important function is giving the entire tour the chance to earn money after the cancellation of snooker events in China. And that’s a good thing.

There will be a ranking title and a possible place in the Champion of Champions at stake. Interestingly, it could make an immediate difference to the Tour Championship line-up and even automatically qualifying for the Crucible…

The Rules

The format of the WST is slightly complicated. You can click on the rules here.

Basically, the format has 16 groups of eight players, competing in a round-robin format. All matches would be BO3. The top two players from each eight-man group qualify for the next round, meaning 32 players will split into four groups of eight. The final group would feature eight players, the top two players from each of the four groups. The finishing leader of the final group will walk away with the trophy. Simple really. Ahem.

Eight groups have been completed already. We’ve seen a board range of successful players here, from Top 16 titans such as Kyren Wilson and Shaun Murphy to underdogs like Louis Heathcote and Luo Honghao. You can find the groups, fixtures and dates on various sources such as World Snooker, Snooker.org and Wikipedia.

It’s hard to go into who are the best people to win this tournament. These BO3 matches are such a lottery, so I’ll just leave them to it.

Looking At The Tour Championship

For those who don’t know, only the top eight players on the current one-year ranking list can qualify here. The Tour Championship is very lucrative, with ranking points, ranking title, Cazoo Cup and money, money, money.

Seven out of eight players have confirmed their places in the Tour Championship. They are Judd Trump, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jack Lisowski and Kyren Wilson. But only Trump (1), Selby (2) and Robertson (3) have confirmed their ranking positions. Which means their opponents have yet to be decided. Not that it makes too much difference as any opponent in the Tour Championship is tough. But would you want to face O’Sullivan in the first round? Not really.

What about the 8th and final place. Barry Hawkins currently holds that place (£112,500). Only two people can overtake him and they are Jordan Brown (£100,000) and Zhou Yuelong (£89,500). Zhou has already qualified for the second stage of the WST Pro Series. Hawkins and Brown have yet to play.

Both Zhou and Brown need to go deep into the tournament and hope that Hawkins falls short.

Automatic Qualification for the Crucible

It’s weird to know that a BO3 round-robin event could be the final chance to be in the Top 16 for the World Championship. It’s not like the China Open, is it? That doesn’t seem right but that’s the reality. Especially since the current Tour Championship line-up are in the Top 16 as it stands.

Looking at Matt Huart’s Race to the Crucible ranking table, it is quite interesting. I’m basing the seeds and prize money on this from now on.

David Gilbert (15th) is vulnerable but is yet to start in the WST Pro Series. But Anthony McGill (16th) is out of this tournament and sits on £227,000.

This means three players can nick a Crucible spot. Zhou (£221,750), Joe Perry (£206,500) and even Stuart Bingham (£200,500) are still in the WST Pro Series and therefore, are able to clinch it if they go far. All to play for.

For an alternative explanation (or a more detailed one!), please click here from WST.

If you want to watch the coverage of the WST Pro Series, you can find all the information by clicking here.