It is a fantastic line-up with World Champion Mark Selby fronting, and the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Judd Trump in attendance. Of the top 16 in the two year rankings, three of those players have failed to make it in the shape of defending Players Champion (under the old format) Mark Allen, Joe Perry who desperately needed to qualify for this in order to aid his chances of making the World Championships without having to qualify, and Kyren Wilson who has not had the best second half of the season.
That means there are three guys from outside of the top 16 who will be hoping to make a climb into it by the end of the week. World Grand Prix runner-up Ryan Day is 16 in the provisional seedings so a good week here could secure him a spot in the draw for the Crucible automatically. Northern Irish Open champion Mark King needs a couple of big wins to put himself in the mix for automatic Crucible qualification, and German Masters champion Anthony Hamilton is crucially only on the first year of a fresh two year tour card.
As in the Grand Prix the draw is 1 Vs 16, 9 Vs 8 etc. which throws up some very interesting round one matches, when the tournament begins on Monday night. The format is the best-of-9 frames over two tables for the opening round, and then on just one table for the quarter-finals. The semi-finals are on Friday night and Saturday night over the best-of-11 frames (there is no play on Saturday afternoon because of ITV 4's Racing coverage commitments). All in all the players are playing for £125,000 which is certainly one of the bigger prizes on tour this season.
Now lets take a look at what we can expect this week.
Quarter 1
Last 16 Draw:
Mark Selby Vs Ryan Day - Mark Selby may be the number one seed, and as the UK and International Champion, no one was going to run him close for that right. However, in recent weeks I would say that Ryan Day is the man in form. He has been able to climb into the 16 from a position in the 20's coming into the Grand Prix. Playing brilliant snooker, he made the final of that tournament in Preston before losing to Barry Hawkins. Then over at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry he made the final of the Winners Group in Championship League, before flying straight to Gibraltar. Needing good results to make it into this event he went on to the semi-finals and seems to be full of confidence. A good week here would see him in a fantastic position to be seeded to at the World Championships which is massive. It is always hard to go against Selby but over best-of 7's and best-of 9's he is slightly more vulnerable as all top players are. Last 32 exits in Gibraltar, Cardiff and Preston line up with that and the fact that he has taken an expected dip after his Pre-Christmas exploits. No one can play well in every single game or tournament. For me I have to go with the man who is flying with confidence and recent results.
Prediction: Day to upset the top seed 5-3
Marco Fu Vs Anthony McGill - This will be a very interesting first round match for me. Fu was in good form at the Masters and at the Grand Prix after his Scottish Open win in December. He has also had a couple of weeks off after skipping the Shoot-Out and his Gibraltar Open defence following a Last 64 thumping against Ross Muir. I was at the venue and watched bits of that game, and he did not seem to be at the races at all. He will want to come back strong here in this match and I think it will be a closely fought one with McGill. The Scotsman obviously won the Shoot-Out recently, but either side of that win he had early exits in the Gibraltar Open, the Welsh Open and the German Masters. McGill also lost in the World Grand Prix to Fu 4-2, and the head to head generally is in favour of Fu who has won each of their previous matches.
Prediction: Fu to win a tight tussle 5-4.
Quarter Choice: Ryan Day
Quarter 2
Last 16 Draw:
Ding Junhui Vs John Higgins - Ding Junhui and John Higgins have played out some classic contests in the past, not least their most recent one in the Champion of Champions semi-finals. Ding made four centuries there and still ended up losing in a decider. On the whole though he has a very good head to head record against Higgins especially in more recent years, and I think Higgins is a player that gets the best out of Ding. He may have lost to David Gilbert in a tight one in Gibraltar in the Last 64 and fell at the first hurdle in Cardiff to Robin Hull, but he has been going through a tough time for reasons that all in the snooker world should know about. In the Grand Prix he was unlucky to lose to Shaun Murphy in the last 16 and if you go back to the autumn he was playing brilliant snooker. Higgins was in the same boat during the pre Christmas period playing some of the best stuff he has in his magnificent career. Since Christmas though he has fallen early in quite a few tournaments. He lost in the first round of the Masters, had not qualified for the German Masters, before further first round exits in the World Grand Prix and Welsh Open. With that all in mind I expect another tight match, but for me the Chinese player is a slight favourite here.
Prediction: Ding to win 5-3
Stuart Bingham Vs Anthony Hamilton - In this match we have two ranking event winners from February. First off, Anthony Hamilton was a surprise winner at the German Masters in early February and on the way to that win he beat some of the worlds very best. He looked every bit a ranking winner that week and deserved his long awaited triumph. Whether he can keep it going is another question though, and here he has an especially difficult outing. Stuart Bingham claimed his first ranking title since becoming World Champion in May 2015, by winning the Welsh Open a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see him get that title and it was almost as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders when he picked up the trophy. Having taken the Gibraltar week off he will fresh coming into Llandudno and full of confidence, and I think he will play with a great freedom after his victory in Cardiff. All in all I'll give Bingham the edge here, as someone in form who has played very well in Llandudno in previous years, while Hamilton has had a couple of earlier exits since winning in Berlin.
Prediction: Bingham to make it through a 5-2 winner.
Quarter Choice: Ding Junhui
Quarter 3
Last 16 Draw:
Barry Hawkins Vs Neil Robertson - This match between the two left handers may be the tie of round one. Barry Hawkins has been in superb form in the last couple of months. A winner at the Grand Prix at the start of February, it took a tight decider in the quarters of the Welsh Open to end his winning run. For me he is making the game look so easy, and he was doing so in Gibraltar last weekend until Shaun Murphy was potting long balls from everywhere against him in the Last 16. As for Neil Robertson he has been short on stunning results which may be down to a losing a little confidence after a poor run, but since the Masters I think he has been playing OK. The big breaks were coming back despite an early exit in Cardiff, and he was steam rolling opponents in Gibraltar before running into the in form Ryan Day. If both players are at their best I can't see this being anything but close, and it may just be the confidence of Hawkins that makes the difference in the end and how easy the game seems to be fair him amongst the reds currently.
Prediction: Hawkins to edge it 5-4.
Ali Carter Vs Shaun Murphy - This is another great match up between two players who get on very well but also serve up brilliantly tight matches when they play each other. Their 2012 UK Championship semi-final was a superb advert for snooker and something I still remember well over four years on. Murphy will be riding high after winning in Gibraltar, and very often after winning a tournament he gets on a roll and more great results follow on from it. His form in the spring of 2014 and 2015 is an example of that, and even last year when he won the Grand Prix in Llandudno and followed straight up by making the semi-finals of the Players Championship. Murphy had been looking decent for a while and things fell into place at the weekend for a top performance. It has to be said though that Carter has the edge on Murphy in the head to head and has won their last couple of meetings. The Captain himself has been playing well, as he showed in reaching the German Masters final, where he was striking the ball beautifully. His Last 16 loss in the Grand Prix was a very tight match with Mark King, while he lost to a man in Hossein Vafei Ayouri who finished with two centuries in their Last 32 match at the Welsh Open. Missing Gibraltar and the Shoot-Out has also given him two weeks off to get ready for this big week and come in fresh. That may have given him an advantage if this match was early in the week, given Murphy's short turnaround but this game is not until Wednesday afternoon giving him as much time as he could have had before having to play here. I certainly expect a tight tussle here and it is very tough to say who will have the edge.
Prediction: Murphy to win a close encounter 5-4.
Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 4
Last 16 Draw:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Liang Wenbo - After the previous meeting between O'Sullivan and Liang this will be a very interesting match. They have met twice this season and on both occasions, at the Masters and the Shanghai Masters, O'Sullivan won in deciders. At the Masters Liang missed match ball black to win 6-4 and he will have to put that out of his mind to win this time around. Meanwhile, in Shanghai Liang led 4-1 before losing 5-4. O'Sullivan seemed to be struggling a little in the Welsh Open and the Grand Prix after a heavy schedule, so the two weeks he has had off since then may help his chances of making a big challenge for the title this week and I think he'll be back on form this week. As for Liang, he made the semi-finals of the Grand Prix but suffered early exits in Cardiff and Gibraltar and while I think he will give O'Sullivan a good challenge, after their previous two meetings he will have to prove he can get over the line against him.
Prediction: O'Sullivan to win 5-3.
Judd Trump Vs Mark King - On paper and current form this could be a very one sided match. Trump is in top form having made the final in Gibraltar as well as narrowly losing out in the Welsh Open final against Stuart Bingham prior to that. He has been pretty consistent all year making at least the semi-finals in the three home nations events, whilst also making the International Championship semi finals and winning the European Masters. As for King he is in this thanks to the famous win in Northern Ireland, and he has had the odd result since. At the German Masters he overcame Ronnie O'Sullivan from 4-1 behind to make the Last 16. On top of that he made the Grand Prix quarter-finals with tight victories over Maguire and Carter. Early exits in Cardiff and Gibraltar are not quite up there with the big boys like Trump, and it is much more likely to be King that has an off day here in Llandudno based on current form. For me Trump is the man to watch this week, coming so close in Cardiff and Gibraltar suggest that big things are on the way for him and I see absolutely no reason why he cannot go home with the trophy. Shaun Murphy even went as far to say that he was the best in the world right now, following their Gibraltar Open final
Prediction: Trump to ease through 5-1
Quarter Choice: Judd Trump
Tournament Winner Selection: Judd Trump
As I mentioned earlier in the piece the tournament is covered on ITV4 and with 16 superb players involved it should be a real cracker and a great event to lead into a two week break from snooker that follows prior to the China Open.
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