It's fantastic that we can continue to honour Paul's memory in this way, and for many of those that knew him best the Paul Hunter Classic is still a very emotional occasion, where I'm sure all of the players discuss their best stories and memories of Paul. However, as with all of these European Tour events it seems, we haven't got a full field of players involved. Despite winning the title two years ago and saying he needed to play more "smaller events" this year, Ronnie O'Sullivan has again given the weekend a miss and is yet to begin his season. Neil Robertson has also surprisingly skipped this event after also missing Riga, along with Ding Junhui who didn't play in any of last season's 6 European Tour events either. Other than that the only other notable absentees are Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Jimmy White who only managed to stay on tour for this season and next by his performances in the European Tour events of last year.
Those are the main stories coming into this week, so here's how the draw lines up this week in Germany:
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Barry Hawkins Vs Zhang Yong
Kyren Wilson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gary Wilson Vs Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Bingham Vs John Higgins
Mark King Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Jones Vs Amateur Qualifier
Lee Walker Vs Sydney Wilson
Rory McLeod Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen Vs Sanderson Lam
Ian Burns Vs Amateur Qualifier
Duane Jones Vs Steven Hallworth
Martin O'Donnell Vs Thanwat Thirapongpaiboon
Peter Lines Vs Rod Lawler
Jack Lisowski Vs Lu Chenwei
Thor Chuan Leong Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liang Wenbo Vs Noppon Saengkham
This section is one filled with top quality players including both the champion of the first European Tour event from much earlier this month, and the defending champion from last year's Paul Hunter Classic. Alongside Hawkins and Allen we have tie of the round as Australian Open champion John Higgins takes on World Champion Stuart Bingham in a mouth watering tie. Liang Wenbo also had a good event in Latvia making the quarters and it'd be good to see him back in good form.
Mark Allen of course is the defending champion of the Paul Hunter Classic and always has to be up there in people's minds as a favourite for these European Tour events. He's won 3 ET events in the last two seasons before this one, starting this season with a last 16 exit to Graeme Dott at the Riga Open. His start to the season hasn't really fired much as yet with a Last 32 exit in Australia to add to his showing in Latvia, and I have to think he's more likely to get going once there is a rhythm to the season of regular events, but you can never count him out of a European Tour event.
John Higgins had a good start to the season in the World Cup with Stephen Maguire and winning the Australian Open, yet a loss to an amateur in the first round of ET1 has left him unseeded for this event. What that has now left him is an unfortunate first round draw with Stuart Bingham. It's tough to call between the two, but something tells me that playing Bingham in the first round of an event where he has to play possibly three matches on one day, the third of which has the possibility of being against Barry Hawkins is not going to have a positive outcome for Higgins. The Scot's form in these tour events over the last couple of years has been very hit and miss with early 128 round exits being mixed last 16 and last 8 showings at best.
Stuart Bingham meanwhile I think will thrive on the fact that he is to play Higgins in round one and has a tough section of the draw, because it's time for him to perform you feel after Last 32 exits in Australia and Riga. It's one thing being World Champion in name, but it's another performing like a world champion thereafter, with the weight of expectation on your shoulders. Now that the first couple of events are out of the way, I think Stuart Bingham will have worked off the cobwebs and will be determined to get going with some impressive showings. However, an early exit in this event with a tough section to get through will soon have the same people who doubted Selby's ability to perform as World Champion, will soon be on Stuart's back too.
Barry Hawkins will be full of confidence having qualified for the Players Championship finals already after winning event one of the European Tour, taking the pressure off of him for now. In many ways Hawkins is quite underrated. Many people see him as a bit of a one trick pony who seems to save his best for the Crucible, whilst not really showing much promise through the other 11 months of the year. That's miles away from the truth. The reason Hawkins is able to play so well when it matters is by honing his skills in these smaller events when there isn't quite as much pressure and he can relax playing good snooker. Again Hawkins has that tough section where he will likely face one of Bingham or Higgins in the Last 32, and as has been shown since the Tours inception, it's tough to win back to back ET events.
Liang Wenbo is one player who could well go under the radar this week. He made the quarter-finals of the Riga Open and followed that up with Shanghai qualification in a tough match with Andy Higginson. If Wenbo could get through to the Last 16 on Sunday he would do so without playing anybody ranked higher than himself, and when he's in form that's something he can do without wasting ever so much energy. Bringing as full a tank of energy as possible into the latter stages is incredibly important and those that make a Sunday surge, generally are the ones who can make life as easy for themselves as possible. Don't be surprised if Wenbo puts up a real challenge to win in Germany this weekend.
Quarter Winner: Liang Wenbo
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Davis Vs Paul Davison
Eden Sharav Vs Mitchell Mann
David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mike Dunn Vs Ross Muir
Tony Drago Vs Stuart Carrington
Matthew Stevens Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael White W/O Chris Melling
Shaun Murphy Vs Barry Pinches
Zak Surety Vs Zhang Anda
Craig Steadman Vs Fraser Patrick
Luca Brecel Vs Gareth Allen
Peter Ebdon Vs Rhys Clark
Alfie Burden Vs Amateur Qualfier
Robbie Williams Vs Amateur Qualifier
Ben Woollaston Vs Jamie Burnett
Quarter number 2 doesn't quite have the same names as it's predecessor, but we still have plenty of big guns in this section. Shaun Murphy already has his name on the trophy twice at the Paul Hunter Classic, albeit before the foundation of the European Tour, and of course he won two European Tour events last year. Ben Woollaston made the semi-finals in Riga to get his season going along nicely, while Michael White is always a danger, and was unfortunate to draw eventual champion Hawkins at the Last 16 stage in ET1. Alan McManus made the quarter-finals of the first event, while the likes of Mark Davis, Peter Ebdon, Matthew Stevens and Luca Brecel can all do a lot of damage when in fine form.
Ben Woollaston is a quality player when it comes to these European Tour events, and I found it unsurprising that he started off the season by making the Riga semi-finals. Last year's Tour events saw a minor blip for Ben as he failed to qualify for the PC Finals, and he knows that he can do better than that. The way his section looks I think he would be a strong shout for at least the Last 16 if he's on his usual form, although his first round tie against Jamie Burnett certainly doesn't give him the easiest of opponents. Having said that, Jamie is a lot more hit and miss than Ben and 7 times out of 10 I'd expect Woollaston to come out on top which is a more than fair ratio.
Michael White is another man more than capable of a big run in these European Tour events, and he's already been helped this weekend by a first round walkover. Whether that will help him in round two when his opponent will already have a better grip of the table conditions than he will remains to be seen of course. Having burst through into the winners circle in India last season you expect White to kick on and contend for a lot more of these events in the long run. He was unlucky to meet the form horse and eventual winner Barry Hawkins in the Last 16, and while his section is far from easy, an in form White is one you'd expect to make at least the quarter-finals this weekend.
Shaun Murphy is a massive contender for this weekend in Furth I feel. His record in recent times in the European Tour has seen him win 3 events from his last 8 starts, with a semi-final and last 16 thrown in for good measure. Two of those wins and the semi-final appearance came last season while the last 16 appearance was this season in Riga where he lost out to Matt Selt. Shaun has also got his name on the Paul Hunter Classic trophy (which for this season is made out of beautiful Waterford Crystal). In fact I believe that outside of England, Germany is by far Shaun's favourite place to play, he won the Ruhr Open and made the German Masters final last season and regularly goes out to Germany doing all sorts of exhibitions. Such a playing record in Germany as a whole cannot be ignored, some players often have one area where they play well, and Germany appears to be one for Shaun. There's no doubt that after a start to the season that's not much to write home about, he'll be working very hard to put that right, and he could well do that and more over the weekend.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Graeme Dott Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Dominic Dale Vs Yu De Lu
Jamie Cope Vs Amateur Qualifier
Robert Milkins Vs Amateur Qualifier
Anthony McGill Vs Daniel Wells
Fergal O'Brien Vs Xiao Guodong
Joe Perry Vs Michael Wasley
Judd Trump Vs Amateur Qualifier
Ken Doherty Vs Tian Pengfei
Michael Georgiou Vs Zhou Yuelong
Michael Leslie Vs Joe Swail
Sean O'Sullivan Vs Allan Taylor
Michael Holt Vs Amateur
Robin Hull Vs Amateur
Andrew Higginson Vs Sam Baird
Matt Selt Vs Lu Ning
As we enter the bottom half the big names just keep on coming at you, as we look at last years finalist Judd Trump, along with Players Champion of 2015 Joe Perry, the two of whom could meet in what would be a brilliant Last 64 tie. Graeme Dott will be hoping for more of the same after his semi-final appearance in Latvia, while Matt Selt keeps moving on up after reaching the last 8 on that weekend. Yet again there are plenty of others who can do damage including Robert Milkins and Michael Holt, while two other players inside of the world's top 32 take on each other as Fergal O'Brien plays Xiao Guodong.
Joe Perry is the players champion and finished inside the qualifying places on both European and Asian Tours last season so clearly likes playing in this format, going on to win the PC Finals. He was also unlucky in the first of the ET events this season to lose out in the Last 64 in a deciding frame, to eventual runner-up Tom Ford. What that has left Joe is a tough possible Last 64 clash this time around as he may face Judd Trump and that will be a tough one for both guys. In fact the whole road through this tournament looks to be paved on a rocky road for Joe, who will need to be on top form to get through it.
Graeme Dott also finds himself in that mini section and again his route is far from easy, though he'll obviously be full of confidence following his appearance in the Riga semi-finals. The one thing for Graeme in recent years is that he's failed to go on a consistent run of having these good results in events which is why he's slipped outside of the top 16, though he's certainly close to getting back in. We all know Graeme is good enough to do so and it would be good for him to go on a run of consistently mixing around the last 16 stage of these European Tours to continue to build his confidence, though that is a tough ask this week with his draw.
Matt Selt however is one man who will be absolutely full of confidence such is his current form. Quarter-finals in Australia and Riga have seen him get a good start to the season and one that he'll be very happy with. Matt also finds himself in the opposite mini section in this quarter to the one where Trump, Perry, Dott and McManus find themselves but that doesn't make his draw easy. He could potentially face Andy Higginson in the Last 64 and he looked in decent touch at the Shanghai Masters qualifiers, while Michael Holt or Robin Hull could be waiting in the Last 32 and we all know what they're capable of also, but I fancy it to be either Holt or Selt to come through and make the quarter-final.
Judd Trump made the final here last year and actually came out on top at the Paul Hunter Classic in 2010 before he really broke through and became the force he is now. He'll be disappointed with his season so far losing in the Last 16 of the Riga and quarter-finals of the Australian Open without challenging for titles. Trump comes across to me who is one of those sportsmen with the true winners mentality. Reminiscent to that shown by Jordan Spieth on the Golf tour this year, Trump isn't satisfied making quarter and semi-finals and seeing that as a good weeks work. He sees that as something to build from as he wants to win every tournament he plays in and works hard to do so. Some players on tour are there to make up the numbers, others are consistent at having good runs, but I believe Trump is a born with a winning mentality and we'll see those characteristics this weekend.
Quarter Winner: Judd Trump
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Ryan Day Vs Liam Highfield
David Morris Vs Marco Fu
Gerard Greene Vs Jimmy Robertson
Stephen Maguire Vs Amateur Qualifier
Ali Carter Vs Amateur Qualifier
Aditya Mehta Vs Ian Glover
Cao Yupeng W/O Jason Weston
Oliver Lines Vs Li Hang
Mark Williams Vs Amateur Qualifier
Chris Wakelin Vs David Grace
Joel Walker W/O Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Ricky Walden Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Mark Selby Vs Amateur Qualifier
Scott Donaldson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Darryl Hill Vs Martin Gould
Tom Ford Vs James Cahill
The final quarter sees yet more of the games best and in form players. Mark Selby is a former champion in Furth and will be looking to get his season going at last, along with Ricky Walden who has an interesting stat of losing two matches this season having made 142 breaks in them. Tom Ford of course was the runner-up to Hawkins in Latvia, while Mark Williams still made the Last 16 despite still suffering, following recent shoulder surgery. Ryan Day also had a good run to the quarter-finals of the first Euro Tour event to get going so he could be a danger, as will Martin Gould who missed out on event 1 through illness.
Mark Williams is going to be an interesting prospect to follow this weekend. He is still recovering from shoulder surgery that he underwent in July and that is obviously massive for a snooker player. Despite saying he didn't feel comfortable at the Riga Open he still made the last 16. He's also been having a word on Twitter this week saying in one practice session he was struggling to make a 50 break and plays better on no practice. We all know MJ and that's more likely to be tongue in cheek than anything else, so it'll be a case of waiting and seeing how he goes, but it's very tough to see him challenging for the title and coming through a very tough section without feeling 100%.
Mark Selby will be looking to get his own season going this weekend after some poor performances by his high standards so far. In the World Cup he was under par, and that continued in his Last 16 exit in Bendigo to Jamie Jones, along with his Last 32 exit in Latvia to Ken Doherty. Mark usually goes well in Germany though and is a player much like Shaun Murphy who seems to always do well in front of the German fans, having previously won the Paul Hunter Classic, and beating Shaun in February's German Masters final. He'll be working hard coming into this event to make sure he can get himself going and if he feels at home on the table in front of the Furth crowd I doubt he'll be planning an early flight home.
Stephen Maguire has had a decent start to the season without really pressing on. A world cup final and Australian Open semi are good results, but then to follow with a Last 32 exit in Riga will annoy him. Maguire constantly puts himself in positions to kick forward and possibly win titles but in my view he doesn't convert enough and it's tough to know what that's down to. He hasn't got the easiest section as his possible last 32 opponent could be Ryan Day or Marco Fu and plenty of other tough players await elsewhere in this quarter, so it could easily be another week of frustration for Stephen.
Ricky Walden has had a couple of tough defeats so far in his two early season events, losing in the last 16 in Australia in a tight decider to Stephen Maguire and in the Last 32 of Riga to Ben Woollaston, despite making a 142 break in both of those matches so that shows he's striking the ball fairly well, without producing his best. If he could produce his best snooker where he finds that fluency in the balls where he follows in the heavy 140+ plus breaks with even more centuries and 80+ contributions. I don't think that fluency is ever very far away from Walden's game and the consistency he needs to achieve to go from a regular in the Last 16 to tournament winner, and when he puts that together like he did in Chengdu last year he can be unstoppable. In my view his chances in Furth are going to be very good, as he doesn't seem to be very far away from some more stunning snooker.
Quarter Winner: Ricky Walden
Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Ricky Walden
Predicted Tournament Winner: Shaun Murphy
So then, it looks set to be another fantastic event in Furth and I'm sure all of the players competing both professionals and amateurs will do proud the memory of the great Paul Hunter. As always the whole event through will be live on Eurosport.
