Tour Championship beckons as Ronnie O’Sullivan and World Snooker come to blows

Snooker is entering a pivotal phase of the campaign, with two of the biggest events in our sport, the Tour Championship and the World Championship, all poised to put the finishing touches on a season that has been odd in many ways.

You only have to look at the eight-man line-up for the Tour Championship to see that, as no member of the famous Class of 92 qualified and some of those who will be attending the event in Hull are struggling Finding the excellent preseason form that got them there.

As always it’s still a very strong field with quality and experience throughout the draw but it’s going to be strange working on such a big tournament and not having the likes of Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the mix too see. More on O’Sullivan later.

Regardless, the Tour championship is a big deal for a number of reasons. It’s impossible to escape the fact that many fans see it as the perfect preparation for the World Cup, given its proximity to the melting pot on the calendar and, more importantly, the multi-session matches are the closest many Sheffield players will be experience the whole year – with the exception of a final.

But this week is so much more than a warm-up for the Crucible. The Tour championship is a huge event in itself that grows in importance every year, and just qualifying is an achievement in itself. If you make the cut for that week, you’ll know you’ve had a good season.

Who will make it to the Tour championship in time?

What’s interesting about this year’s overtime is the contrasting recent fortunes of many players. They’ve placed Mark Allen number one, and deservedly so, on the back of a brilliant campaign, but it looks like his early-season efforts are catching up on him right now.

Same goes for British Open winner Ryan Day and then you have the likes of Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby who seem to be peaking just in time for spring.

You can add Ali Carter to that category, as well as Ding Junhui, who returned to form just a few weeks ago by winning the Six Reds World Championship in Thailand. When you throw Welsh Open hero Robert Milkins and European Masters winner Kyren Wilson into the mix, it’s an intriguing sight.

One would think Selby will prove to be a tough nut to crack his victory at the WST Classic on Wednesday. He played brilliantly that final day, beating Higgins, Carter and Pang Junxu with real authority. In fact, it’s the best I’ve seen him play in a long time.

I think he’ll beat Day first, especially considering Day hasn’t been at his best since losing to Judd Trump at the Masters. After that, we could enjoy a semifinal if Selby meets Murphy in the last four.

But I’d be remiss not to mention Selby’s surprisingly poor record at ITV events. For a man who’s won just about everything there is to win in the game, both at home and abroad, it’s remarkable to think he’s never reached a final in front of the ITV cameras. It’s not just that, he’s never displayed the brilliant snooker that we know he’s capable of and I’m sure he’ll be interested in setting that right in Hull.

I have to mention the WST Classic which I thought was a real success. World Snooker gets a lot of criticism, too much in my opinion, but to stage a ranking event with £80,000 for the winner within a month was a true triumph and a huge credit to those who worked so hard behind the scenes to bring it about to make it happen.

was it perfect Maybe not. Three laps on the final day were probably too much, but apart from that I can only see positive things. We must not forget that this tournament was not on the calendar before we lost the Turkish Masters and World Snooker did well to fill that gap on such short notice.

The smoking hot Murphy will be imagining his chances

Another man enjoying himself at Leicester was Gibraltar Open winner Carter and his quarter-final with Wilson could prove to be a real fight, a match that could well play out differently from Murphy and Milkins.

I know he suffered an early exit last week, but overall Murphy’s form has been stunning and his demolition at the Players Championship was just that – an absolute demolition job.

But he failed to beat Milkins when the pair met in the Welsh Open final a week earlier and it will be interesting to see if Milkins can maintain that form here. It should be a great game whoever wins.

Murphy should be thinking about his chances this week. The Players Series often produces multiple tournament winners and Neil Robertson filled his boots when he won that event and last season’s Players Championship and reached the final of the World Grand Prix.

Without Robertson to worry about this week, O’Sullivan, Higgins or Trump, his expectations will be high.

Don’t neglect the sleeping giant thing

He won’t be the only one, though, and the match I’m most looking forward to is a repeat of the British Championship final earlier this season, with Ding trying to get revenge on Allen who scored a big one in that match has given up projection.

All credit has to go to Allen for the way he’s been digging and winning games this season that might have gone wrong a few years ago, but he needs to settle in because I don’t think his form is as ​​like before Christmas.

Ding, on the other hand, was clearly enjoying the great feeling of the Six Reds and should offer more of that this week. I think that’s what he needs these days and it came as no surprise that he lost early on when the TV cameras and spectators were absent from the WST Classic.

I can see Ding come alive again at a big event that seems made for him. His pedigree is unquestionable and if there’s a sleeping giant in the field it’s him.

O’Sullivan and World Snooker bang heads

It’s supposed to be a great week, but I can’t end without touching it Battle of words between O’Sullivan and World Snooker Tour Chairman Steve Dawson which has made headlines in recent days.

The main point I want to make is that for the good of sport, and that’s what we’re all interested in, I’d rather see people coming together than having disagreements in the papers.

That doesn’t get you anywhere and I always thought comparisons to other sports were of little use. The Tiger Woods name is often mentioned when it comes to snooker, but golf is a completely different sport, an outdoor sport with a different crowd.

I would agree with O’Sullivan that these are worrying times for snooker. It’s been difficult since the pandemic and I think we should have done more to promote the game in Europe, where we know there is a big appetite for snooker, rather than relying so heavily on China.

Fingers crossed Snooker may return to China in the near future and that would be a huge boost for the sport, but as tournaments like the German Masters have shown, Europe offers a real opportunity. I hope the game officials keep that in mind.

I have no doubt that the people behind the scenes at World Snooker are working hard to get the sport back on track. The pandemic has hit everyone hard, especially snooker, but Dawson is a good man who I trust. The footsteps left by Barry Hearn are big to fill, but while he’s nowhere near as charismatic, Dawson is smart and knows what he’s doing. He will do a good job.

As snooker fans it’s hard for any of us to say for sure what the future holds, but I remain optimistic when the people – fans, players and officials – come together and work hard for the good of the sport.

Many of our biggest stars do a lot to promote snooker, some not enough, but we have a massive month ahead of us to showcase the very best that snooker as a sport has to offer.

Next stop Hull.