Rankings Update: The Road To Southport

The field is now confirmed for this week’s Coral World Grand Prix, the first event in the 2020 Coral Series which runs from February 3 to 9 in Cheltenham. Click here for the draw, with the top 32 on the one-year ranking list in the field.

There are three counting events before the second in the series, the Coral Players Championship in Southport (February 24 to March 1) which will have a 16 man field. Those counting events are this week’s Coral World Grand Prix, next week’s ManBetX Welsh Open and the BetVictor Shoot Out.

Kyren Wilson is currently in 16th place  with £79,500, just £750 ahead of Jack Lisowski in 17th. So the match between those two players on Wednesday in Cheltenham will be crucial.

Ronnie O’Sullivan won the Coral Players Championship and the Coral Tour Championship last season, but this time he needs a deep run in one of the three counting events to make it to Southport. He is currently in 22nd place, £15,000 behind Wilson.

As it stands there are five players inside the top 16 of the one-year list who are outside the top 16 of the official two-year list: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Yan Bingtao, Joe Perry, Graeme Dott and Zhou Yuelong.

And four players inside the top eight of the one-year list who are outside the top eight of the official two-year list : Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Yan Bingtao. Only the top eight after the BetVictor Gibraltar Open will qualify for the Coral Tour Championship in Llandudno (March 17-22).

First round losers at the Coral World Grand Prix receive £5,000. However in the Coral Series, for players losing their opening match, this money does not count towards their ranking on the one-year list, or the official two-year list. Nor does it count towards the Coral Series list where the player earning the most across the three events receives a £100,000 bonus.

Judd Trump won the BetVictor German Masters on Sunday night, beating Neil Robertson 9-6 in the final, to bank £80,000 and extend his lead at the top of the one-year and two-year lists. On the two-year list he is now a massive £571,000 ahead of Robertson, who moves up from third to second.

Graeme Dott reached the semi-finals in Berlin and his £20,000 moves him up from 17th to 14th on the one-year list.

If Robertson had beaten Trump in the final in Germany he would have secured the £150,000 BetVictor European Series bonus after just two of the four events. Trump has kept that race alive, though he still trails Robertson by £35,000. The last two counting events at the BetVictor Shoot Out and the BetVictor Gibraltar Open, which both have a top prize of £50,000. The field for the BetVictor Shoot Out will be announced later this week.

Tickets for all of the above events are on sale now – for details click here.