Rankings Update: Brown And Zhou Chasing
The remainder of the WST Pro Series, running from March 9 to 21, will be crucial in the race to qualify for both the Cazoo Tour Championship and the Betfred World Championship.
Catch me if you can: Hawkins remains ahead of Zhou
At the end of the WST Pro Series, the top eight players on the one-year ranking list will go through to Celtic Manor for the Cazoo Tour Championship to compete for a top prize of £150,000.
The top seven players on the list as it stands are safe, with eighth-placed Barry Hawkins the only one in danger, with a tally of £112,500. Jordan Brown, with £100,000, and Zhou Yuelong with £85,500, are the only two players who can catch him.
Zhou has already made it through the first phase of the WST Pro Series and will compete in the second phase next week. Brown and Hawkins are in action in the first phase this week. The eventual winner of the tournament will earn between £30,500 and £34,000 – depending on whether he finishes first or second in the first two group phases.
Prize money is:
First group stage
Winner: £4,000
Runner-up: £3,000
3rd Place: £2,500
4th Place: £2,000
5th Place: £1,500
6th Place: £1,000
7th Place: £500
8th Place: £0
Second group stage
Winner: £10,000
Runner-up: £7,500
3rd place: £5,000
4th place: £4,000
5th place: £3,000
6th place: £2,000
7th place: £1,500
8th place: £1,000
Final group stage
Winner: £20,000
Runner-up: £10,000
3rd place: £7,500
4th place: £5,000
5th place: £4,000
6th place: £3,000
7th place: £2,000
8th place: £1,000
For all players who do not make it to Celtic Manor, the WST Pro Series is the last counting event before seeding is confirmed for the Betfred World Championship. The qualifying rounds for snooker’s biggest event start on April 7, with only the top 16 on the official two-year list (as it stands at the end of the Cazoo Tour Championship) seeded through to the Crucible.
Will last year’s semi-finalist McGill be back at the Crucible this year?
Click here for the Race to the Crucible. Anthony McGill is currently in 16th place, but having already been knocked out of the WST Pro Series he cannot add to his total. Zhou is in 17th, just £5,250 behind, so if he makes it through to the final stage of the WST Pro Series he will go ahead of McGill. Joe Perry and Stuart Bingham both need to win the WST Pro Series to have a chance of climbing into the top 16.
Jack Lisowski reached the final of last week’s BetVictor Gibraltar Open, and despite losing 4-0 to Judd Trump, the £20,000 pay day boosted him to 13th and he now looks well placed for a Crucible spot.
Trump’s £50,000 prize money brought his tally at the top of the one-year list to £504,500 and he also banks the £150,000 bonus for finishing top of the BetVictor European Series rankings. Mark Selby needed tor each the final to snatch the bonus, but when he fell at the last 32 stage his hopes were over.
At the top of the two-year list, Trump’s tally is £1,846,000, more than double that of second-placed Ronnie O’Sullivan. Matthew Selt reached the semi-finals and he is up from 35th to 31st, while Stuart Carrington appeared in the last four of a ranking event for the second time in his career and he climbs eight places to 51st.