After a week off since the Masters (which I have mostly spent watching some brilliant movies) it's time to get back into the snooker swing of things with the third group of the Championship League on Monday and Tuesday which if followed on Wednesday and Thursday with Group 4.
So far we've seen newly crowned Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan get into the Championship League winners group after winning group 1 prior to the Masters, and then Judd Trump booked his place in the final group by taking group 2 glory.
In Group 3 we have Mark Selby, Joe Perry, Mark Williams and Ricky Walden continuing from group 2, with the three new players of Michael White, Stephen Maguire and Marco Fu coming in.
Mark Selby was a quarter-finalist at the Masters before running into a rampant Ronnie, and you get the feeling that he isn't too far away from victory as his game has been there or thereabouts all season. So far Mark has only played in group 2, where he topped the group in the round robin stages with six wins from six before losing out in the semi-finals to eventual group winner Judd Trump.
Joe Perry has also only featured in group two so far where he finished up in third place in the group with three wins, and then losing out in the semi-finals to Mark Williams. Joe lost out in the first round of the Masters to eventual finalist Barry Hawkins who was striking it brilliantly at the Palace, so Joe had another unlucky draw there as seems to have happened a lot in the big events this season.
Mark Williams seems to be finding his form now after playing in the first two groups of the Championship League. He finished second in the round robin stages of both, losing out in the semi-finals of group one to Robert Milkins, before then losing in the group two final to Judd Trump. He wasn't far away at the Masters either losing 6-5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Ricky Walden is struggling badly and has just been hanging on in the Championship League. In group one he just managed a fourth place round robin finish and lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final, before heading into group two where he only finished in fifth place and comes into group three as the 'lucky loser' so to speak. At the Masters he didn't have a great deal of fun losing 6-0 in round one to Mark Selby which must sit as a distinct low point for Walden in a season where there hasn't been many high's so far. He's probably one man who is a relegation candidate in group 3.
Michael White turns up to the Championship League for his first snooker of 2016 after narrowly missing out on a place in the Masters. Having also failed to qualify for the German Masters this is the only snooker White could look forward to before the China Open qualifier, followed quickly by his Shoot-Out defence and home tournament at the Welsh Open. He may start off slow but I actually expect him to go fairly well in this group and is certainly a contender to win it.
Stephen Maguire is another of the new introductions in group 3 and I think he will go well too. He was unlucky against Judd Trump in the Masters last week and has qualified for the German Masters in a week or so, so will be looking for a good warm up here and usually plays the Championship League well to get as much match practice out of it as he can.
Last but not least there is Marco Fu who suffered a first round whitewash in the Masters against Neil Robertson after coming down with a virus right before the event. It will be interesting to see how he is feeling and whether he has fully gotten over the virus yet, which he should've done but you never know.
If I had to pick out one guy to win Group 3 of the Championship League though I would go for Mark Selby just because I think he's playing well at the moment but not getting a lot for it, and will be looking to kick on ahead of his German Masters defence.
I will of course be back with updates throughout groups 3 and 4, and I may even write a little piece ahead of the World Seniors Championship that follows on the Saturday and Sunday between the Championship League and German Masters, so keep an eye out for all of that.
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