GRAND PRIX TO BE SCRAPPED?

Mystery surrounds the fate of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix following the publication of a provisional calendar today on worldsnooker.com.

The calendar merely lists dates for 'BBC events' but does not specify what they are.

Why not? It can only be because there is some change to their exact composition.

There's no way the 888.com World Championship, Saga Insurance Masters or Maplin UK Championship will be changed so that leaves the Grand Prix, first staged in 1984, as the tournament under threat.

The BBC will still be showing a tournament that week.

The question is, what will it be?

There are three possibilities:
1) It's the Grand Prix
2) It's the Grand Prix with a different name (as when it was the LG Cup)
or
3) It's a completely different event

After the controversy of the round robin format, has the tournament now been ditched altogether?

And what will replace it?

Watch this space!

Also, the Shanghai Masters has been moved forward two days to now start on a Monday and end on a Sunday.

This will hardly be good news for John Higgins, whose World Series event in Moscow is scheduled for September 27-28, a day before the Shanghai tournament begins.