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| The scene in Preston before the drama kicked in |
It was a very tight race the entire way through as the 16 players competed for the spots with the likes of James Cahill and Jackson Page coming incredibly close to claiming tour spots. In all it means that eight out of the twelve cards given away in this years Q School went to players who were members of the tour during the 2016/2017 season.
Five of the eight matches in the penultimate round went down to the final frame just to increase the tension even further. Of those deciders, Hu Hao lost out to Duane Jones having led 3-1 and missing a tough cut back black in the decider to move 38 points in front with just 35 left. When Jones' chance came though he cleared with ease and let out a fist pump just to show what it meant.
If Duane dodged a big bullet then so too did Sanderson Lam. Lam's deciding frame with Lu Ning went down to the final pink. After missing match ball brown Lam had to sit and watch as Lu attempted the clearance, but the Chinese players missed pink into the middle pocket left Lam a shot from range which he took to get into the final round.
The man he would face in the final round also had to come through the hard way. Joe Swail had to see off Joel Walker in a deciding frame to progress into the final round. The moment of the match came in frame four with Swail wading in with a break of 119 but it nearly mattered not when Walker was clearing in the decider. Missing a difficult red along the side cushion when screwing up for the blue proved the vital moment, as Walker could not win the subsequent safety battle on the final red and his chances of returning to the tour went with it.
The deciders did not end there as Alex Davies overcame Zhang Yong. Davies had led 3-1 in the match before Zhang played himself back into the contest with runs of 61 and 70 forced the final frame. Both players missed chances in the decider, but Zhang's proved the most costly when he found the jaws from close range on an easy red to the middle. The consolation for Zhang was that his three frames won on the morning were enough when combined with his tally for the rest of events one and two, to earn him one of the four order of merit cards.
One final decider was to come with James Cahill coming out the right side of a very close battle against Ashley Carty. This was a very entertaining match that saw twists and turns galore. A run of 56 was not enough to give Cahill the opener, as he had to sit and watch Carty clear the table in cool style with a 71. Cahill returned the favour in the second with a counter attack of 64 to square the match before taking the third frame to lead 2-1. Another 64 clearance came soon after and Cahill was one away from the final round at 3-1.
Carty would not give in and he came in with contributions of 62 in the fifth and a high pressured 73 after Cahill's chance to win was scuppered by a kick. Both players had chances in the final frame but it was Cahill who dominated at the key times and he was relieved to eventually come through a tense battle.
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| Cahill could not keep a bright start going in the final round |
In the final round it just became too much for the 21 year-old with an early 2-0 lead against Paul Davison being squandered. Davison had much more time off before the final round after beating Thomas Dowling 4-0 in pretty quick time. However, it was Cahill that took the momentum of his previous match forward as he got off to a perfect start in the opening couple of frames.
It did not last long though as the York potter heeped the pressure back on with a flawless 111 break in the third being quickly backed up with a 72 contribution to level the contest at 2-2. From here the pressure really seemed to get on top of his young opponent, who could be seen rehearsing his cue action at the back of the table between shots. He had cause to bemoan his luck and look to the heavens on a couple of occasions with an unlucky in-off featuring in the closing frame when he had a good chance to score.
After losing a disappointing fifth frame Cahill threw his cue on to the table in disgust before heading out of the arena, and he struggled to recover. His best chance in frame six came after snookering Davison on the final red which yielded a foul and a free ball. Taking the pink as the "free red" sent him back up the table perfectly for the yellow to play on the final red which was in the baulk end and with the remaining colours in the middle of the table, Cahill could easily have forced the decider. However, stretching slightly on the yellow appeared to cause the mistake as he faltered on what seemed a simple enough shot and landing perfectly on the red meant it was a costly mistake indeed. Davison's victory meant that Martin O'Donnell was given the final order of merit card.
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| Davison capitalised while Cahill toiled |
It was to be heartbreak though for Jackson Page who missed out on an order of merit tour card despite winning the same number of frames as O'Donnell. Page lost out 4-1 in round five and just by winning a second frame, which he certainly had chances to, he would have overtaken O'Donnell and secured a place on tour for the next two seasons. Had Joe Swail beaten Sanderson Lam in the final round Page would have gotten the order of merit card that subsequently went to Swail upon his defeat, with Page watching on in the arena all afternoon hoping results would go his way.
Duane Jones contest with Alex Davies was the only one of the final four that did not have order of merit repercussions, and having dodged a major bullet earlier in the day, Jones pounced on his opponents errors and just about managed to avoid going to a final frame decider with a run of 65. A top run of 83 in the fourth put the Welshman in charge of the tie at 3-1 before he eventually closed out a 4-2 triumph.
Special mention should go to China's Chen Zifan who earned his tour card outright on the final day for the loss of only one frame from his final two matches, and only conceding five frames in the six matches he played in event two. Taking early leads proved the key to both matches as he had his opponents under pressure early on, and played fairly solid snooker overall as well as showing off some good long range potting.
Sanderson Lam had to dig in and fight hard to earn his tour card against Joe Swail. Runs of 67, 63 and 53 proved too much for the Irishman who had secured an order of merit tour card after winning the third frame to lead 2-1. It did not look as though he was aware of his situation though, with the multi-table set-up and short turnaround between matches, sitting in the arena with his head in his hands after the fifth frame.
One has to wonder if World Snooker and the WPBSA could find room to give Jackson Page a tour card. Having won the same amount of frames on the order of merit as O'Donnell, he is also the current holder of both the World and European Under 18 titles. The winner of the World and European Under 21 titles both get a card, while Page was the European Under 21 runner-up. A case could be made for him taking up the cards of either Rouzi Maimaiti or Leo Fernandez.
Both are halfway through tour cards and are published as such on the official ranking list. Fernandez though is still under suspension and if this remains the case he will not be entering any events in the next season. Meanwhile, Maimaiti has not entered a single event in the first season of his card, which is a similar case as when he was on the circuit in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons when he did not show up or enter any tournaments outside of the Asian Tour. If World Snooker can justify the room for these players, and concede that Page would most likely play in a number of events this season anyway as the number one Q School top-up player, then there is certainly justification for granting him full professional status.
This idea is most likely pushing its luck a bit though and at the age of 15, while this would give great publicity for the game of snooker and a boost to grassroots snooker in the UK, he has also got plenty of time to come back stronger and earn his tour place by right.
Congratulations to all of those players who have earned playing privileges for the next two seasons, and it is not long until the new campaign gets underway with Riga Masters qualifiers commencing at the Preston Guildhall on May 31.
Prior to that I will have my full preview of the new season and players to watch for 2017/2018 up on the blog so keep on the look out for that.
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