Murphy has been invited as Brazil Masters champion and Higgins receives a wildcard in the absence of Ronnie O'Sullivan, the ten times champion, who is not playing in the early part of the season.
The full line-up and details of matches are here.
I think the format - two groups of five - is much better than last year's but O'Sullivan's non-appearance is a blow to this event because he has been so dominant since the shot-clock was introduced. Financially, it's a blow to him too: the winner takes £50,000 plus it's £1,000 a frame.
The number of tournaments on the circuit has grown but the amount played in the UK, the game's traditional home, has reduced, so the Premier League is important for bringing live snooker to places otherwise starved of seeing the world's best players.
I think the format - two groups of five - is much better than last year's but O'Sullivan's non-appearance is a blow to this event because he has been so dominant since the shot-clock was introduced. Financially, it's a blow to him too: the winner takes £50,000 plus it's £1,000 a frame.
The number of tournaments on the circuit has grown but the amount played in the UK, the game's traditional home, has reduced, so the Premier League is important for bringing live snooker to places otherwise starved of seeing the world's best players.
18 comments:
I'm surprised that Higgins has been chosen here rather than Maguire or Williams for instance. On what criteria? He's had a terrible season. Maguire has won a PTC and been runnee-up in a ranking event twice, he's reached the semi finals at the Crucible as well. Williams is ranked higher and has also been twice a finalist. Or is it the case that players have been invited but have declined?
I assume the thinking is: if we can't have this year's world champion, we'll have last year's
A real shame Maguire wasn't selected. I completely agree, Monique.
Since this tournament is all about exposure, I think I would have opted for Ali Carter, since the world finalists are the two most exposed players of the season.
Anyway, are they still having a 15/20 second shot clock? Hardly seems worth it if Ronnie isn't in the mix.
So I suppose if you live in Ireland, Scotland or Wales you'll have to starve then? Very democratic!
Can't wait to see Peter Ebdon play with the shot clock. Recognized to be one of the slowest players around, wouldn't it be something to see him win this thing... ;-)I for one think that he can do it as i'm sure he can play a lot faster while still maintaining a good level of play. And even though i'm not especially routing for him (I alway say may the best man win), it should be interesting.
Hmmm, I guess this is a situation where Ronnie might take a look at one of Peter's matches without being afraid to fall asleep...
The shot-clock is back to 25 seconds
Premier league snooker without ronnie is like the champions league with Barcelona,i predict viewing figures to slump
"The shot-clock is back to 25 seconds" (9:18)
Sure Dave, but those 25 seconds will run mighty fast for a player who's natural rythm is a lot slower than this. That being said, I know he used to play much faster years ago, so the word natural may not apply here. In any case, it would'n surprise me at all to see Peter knock a couple of centuries in this situation. He may be slow, but he's a talented player.
I will absolutely piss my sides if Ebdon goes on to win this. It would be the greatest victory of all time in snooker.
I think It's a big blow to this and every event that Ronnie doesn't play in TBH.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if the shot clock actually helped Ebdon. He's definitely a player than can play much quicker than he often ends up playing in the heat of battle. With the knowledge that he hasn't got time to waste, he may stop looking for problems that often aren't there and revert to a quicker tempo, certainly when in the balls. I don't necessarily think the shot clock will be as much of a problem to him as some people think.
In this full up calendar of events all over the place, how can the Premier League be justified anymore with it wiping out the whole Autumn off the calendar effectively, then there being a gridlock of rankers after Xmas.
It served a purpose when there were only 6 rankers as it plugged a gap but its had its day now and Ronnies absence will signal its death knell i feel.
How Hearn cant persuade Sky to show a proper ranker instead of this irrelevant exhibition is beyond me.
And the miniscule town halls in obscure towns its being played in, gimme a break? The darts PL is played in the o2, SECC, NEC, etc all the big arenas in the big UK cities whilst snooker is stuck in the dark ages playing to one man and his dog.
Dave,
Great blog by the way. Do you know why no dates for the Premier League have been scheduled in Scotland this year? It seems somewhat strange and considering there are no ranking tournaments in Scotland anymore, when it provides a number of the game's leading players, shouldn't World Snooker be catering for fans here with at least one night of Premier League action?
It does seem odd I agree, however one of the PTCs will be at Ravenscraig later in the year.
Can fans go to watch the PTC's or is it closed off for spectators?
Do you know the dates of that PTC at Ravenscraig Dave, I can't see it listed on the World Snooker website.
I believe it will be the fifth EPTC from December 13-16. It should be open to spectators.
Cheers Dave that's useful information, much appreciated you are a legend mate
Post a Comment