On Saturday morning Mark Selby will raise the curtain on the 2017 world snooker championships and begin the defence of the title he won for a second time twelve months ago. Meanwhile, on table two starting his campaign at the same time as Selby will be the man that ended his last defence two years ago in the shape of Anthony McGill.
Also starting his campaign on Saturday is Ronnie O'Sullivan with the five times world champion playing in the afternoon for his opening session and on Sunday afternoon to a finish. Judd Trump is one of the heavy favourites too and he has until Tuesday to prepare for his opening exchanges in this championship.
Of the qualifiers, only 5 of the 16 players ranked between 17 and 32 have qualified (who would have been seeded through to the final round under the previous structure back in 2014). Of those five three of them are seeded 30, 31 and 32. There are five debutants in the field as Gary Wilson, Noppon Saengkham, Yan Bingtao, Zhou Yuelong and David Grace will appear at the Crucible for the very first time. For Yan Bingtao he has managed it in his very first season as professional.
Of the qualifiers, only 5 of the 16 players ranked between 17 and 32 have qualified (who would have been seeded through to the final round under the previous structure back in 2014). Of those five three of them are seeded 30, 31 and 32. There are five debutants in the field as Gary Wilson, Noppon Saengkham, Yan Bingtao, Zhou Yuelong and David Grace will appear at the Crucible for the very first time. For Yan Bingtao he has managed it in his very first season as professional.
There are plenty of special events going on alongside the snooker this year as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the World Snooker Championships taking place at the Crucible. Missing the green carpet event for me is the only downside of not arriving on the Friday and being around on the first weekend.
One of the interesting things in this world championships for me will be the battle in the TV coverage between the BBC and Eurosport. Eurosport have been covering a lot more snooker this year since the start of the new deal that was announced a year ago, and for me they're improving all the time.
It has also come out in the last few days that Alan McManus will be on the Eurosport team which is big news for them. If the BBC continue to stick with the some of the same voices that have been in their commentary box for so long then they risk people (including myself) switching to Eurosport.
Cliff Thorburn and Barry Hearn completed the draw on the World Snooker Facebook Page as they utilised the Facebook Live feature, which is the same way that the final two days of world championship qualifying were broadcast. Let's take a look at how the draw shapes up and who I think will be the ones to watch for this year's world title.
Cliff Thorburn and Barry Hearn completed the draw on the World Snooker Facebook Page as they utilised the Facebook Live feature, which is the same way that the final two days of world championship qualifying were broadcast. Let's take a look at how the draw shapes up and who I think will be the ones to watch for this year's world title.
Quarter 1
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Fergal O'Brien (Saturday 15th 10am and 7pm)
Ryan Day Vs Xiao Guodong (Wednesday 19th 10am and 7pm)
Neil Robertson Vs Noppon Saengkham (Wednesday 19th 2.30pm and Thursday 20th 1pm)
Marco Fu Vs Luca Brecel (Sunday 16th 7pm and Monday 17th 7pm)
The obvious place to start is with the defending champion Mark Selby. Selby has had a much better season as a two time world champion than he did the season after winning his first. International champion, UK champion and China Open winner are among his triumphs in recent times and form like that is going to make him very difficult to beat. The draw for the first couple of rounds looks one that he should get through easily enough. Fergal O'Brien his first round opponent is the new holder of the longest ever professional snooker frame, having played out a 2 hour and 3 minute decider in the final qualifying round against David Gilbert. That beats the previous record by over 20 minutes and that for me is a sign that laws on slow play need to be tightened up a bit. Unfortunately for O'Brien I can not see him offering enough resistance to make this a late night finish on Saturday.
Ryan Day just sneaked into the top 16, courtesy of Selby beating Mark Williams in the China Open final. He is the only member of the top 16 not to have won a ranking event in the last two years, and in fact he has never won a ranking event at all. His form has been decent this season but he is always quite inconsistent, which never bodes well for a championship campaign. A lot of pressure is on him as the lone Welshman in the draw and he happens to have drawn one of the stronger qualifiers. Xiao Guodong eased through qualifying with very easy victories against Sam Baird (who made the last 16 a year ago) and Mark King, with plenty of power scoring. He has played at the Crucible before and on that occasion he came very close to Ali Carter. This time I fancy him to go one better.
Marco Fu is someone who has been touted most of the year as one to watch for this years world's. Fu made the semi-finals last year before Selby halted his run. Since then he has made the semi-finals at the UK Championship and the Masters scoring very heavily, just as he did to cruise to victory in Scotland just before Christmas. However, Fu's record at the Crucible is far from good. Last year's run to the semi-finals was the first time he had made it past the Last 16 since 2006. Luca Brecel is his round one opponent having qualified for the second time, his first appearance coming in 2012 as a 17 year old. If Brecel can score heavily he is capable of really getting on a run of frames and making life very tough for Fu, but the worry for the Belgian will be the tactical frames.
Ryan Day just sneaked into the top 16, courtesy of Selby beating Mark Williams in the China Open final. He is the only member of the top 16 not to have won a ranking event in the last two years, and in fact he has never won a ranking event at all. His form has been decent this season but he is always quite inconsistent, which never bodes well for a championship campaign. A lot of pressure is on him as the lone Welshman in the draw and he happens to have drawn one of the stronger qualifiers. Xiao Guodong eased through qualifying with very easy victories against Sam Baird (who made the last 16 a year ago) and Mark King, with plenty of power scoring. He has played at the Crucible before and on that occasion he came very close to Ali Carter. This time I fancy him to go one better.
Marco Fu is someone who has been touted most of the year as one to watch for this years world's. Fu made the semi-finals last year before Selby halted his run. Since then he has made the semi-finals at the UK Championship and the Masters scoring very heavily, just as he did to cruise to victory in Scotland just before Christmas. However, Fu's record at the Crucible is far from good. Last year's run to the semi-finals was the first time he had made it past the Last 16 since 2006. Luca Brecel is his round one opponent having qualified for the second time, his first appearance coming in 2012 as a 17 year old. If Brecel can score heavily he is capable of really getting on a run of frames and making life very tough for Fu, but the worry for the Belgian will be the tactical frames.
My opening quarter choice is one of my front runners for the worlds this year Neil Robertson. Robertson may not have had the best of second halves to the season, but for me that means he comes in as a something of a dark horse. He showed good signs at the Masters before losing to O'Sullivan, and then again at the Grand Prix when he beat O'Sullivan before losing to eventual champion Hawkins. If he can bring his form from the start of the season, when he won the Riga Masters, and made the World Open semi's with plenty of high scoring, then he will be very hard to beat in Sheffield as he can win sessions and matches by any margin.
The 2010 champion has had a mixed record since, with first round losses in 2011 (the Crucible Curse), 2013 and last year but all to very tough opponents. In 2012 he lost out to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals who went on to win the title, in 2014 Mark Selby edged him out in the semi-finals when Robertson was flying and probably would have gone on to win a second title. He lost a decider in the 2015 quarter-finals to Barry Hawkins and had he have come through then he may have gone on to win that year as well. Skipping the China Open to me is a signal of intent, and something that Selby did last year before his successful campaign. Deliberately taking a month to prepare is something that will look silly if it backfires. He is one player that for me is able to peak his game for the Triple Crown events as he has showed with a number of good Crucible runs, two UK titles and a Masters title as well as two further Masters finals. That is the sort of evidence of what he can do with thorough preparation and is not surprise to me that he has given extra time to prioritise a run in Sheffield, because he could certainly have had a second world title before now.
The 2010 champion has had a mixed record since, with first round losses in 2011 (the Crucible Curse), 2013 and last year but all to very tough opponents. In 2012 he lost out to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals who went on to win the title, in 2014 Mark Selby edged him out in the semi-finals when Robertson was flying and probably would have gone on to win a second title. He lost a decider in the 2015 quarter-finals to Barry Hawkins and had he have come through then he may have gone on to win that year as well. Skipping the China Open to me is a signal of intent, and something that Selby did last year before his successful campaign. Deliberately taking a month to prepare is something that will look silly if it backfires. He is one player that for me is able to peak his game for the Triple Crown events as he has showed with a number of good Crucible runs, two UK titles and a Masters title as well as two further Masters finals. That is the sort of evidence of what he can do with thorough preparation and is not surprise to me that he has given extra time to prioritise a run in Sheffield, because he could certainly have had a second world title before now.
Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson
Quarter 2
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Shaun Murphy Vs Yan Bingtao (Sunday 16th 10am and Monday 17th 2.30pm)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Gary Wilson (Saturday 15th 2.30pm and Sunday 16th 2.30pm)
Liang Wenbo Vs Stuart Carrington (Tuesday 18th 10am and 7pm)
Ding Junhui Vs Zhou Yuelong (Monday 17th 10am and Tuesday 18th 2.30pm)
Top of the list of things to talk about in the second quarter of the draw is another match between Shaun Murphy and Yan Bingtao. The pair have already met on three occasions, which is quite a few given Yan's age and the amount of time he has been on the scene. First Yan beat Murphy as a 15 year old at the Champion of Champions after Yan was part of the winning World Cup team in 2015. Murphy got his own back at this seasons International Championship with a narrow 6-5 win which went to the wire, will Yan chalked up another win in December in German Masters qualifying. Yan's talents have been displayed throughout the season but this will still be his biggest test such as the atmosphere and environment of playing at the Crucible.
Murphy should be Yan's inspiration as the last player to win the world title as a qualifier all the way back in 2005. 12 years on, Murphy has appeared in two further world finals in 2009 and 2015 and reached the latter stages on further occasions, including varying quarter-finals in 2013 and 2014. The one in 2014 may be most relevant given that it was a 13-3 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan who he may meet in the last 16 if he can get through. Murphy has shown good form in recent months, winning in Gibraltar as well as scoring heavily at the China Open and finding his great long potting at the World Grand Prix and the tournaments since. He will certainly be well prepared for another assault on the world title and the devilishly tough draw he will have to get through to triumph in Sheffield once more.
We mentioned O'Sullivan briefly there and for once he is not favourite for the title. That may be a result of the fact that he struggled a year ago when he lost in the last 16 and bashed up his dressing room following his round one win. In fact his behaviour in the last couple of years at the Crucible has been odd at times showing quite a short fuse. Despite some of that, he is the Masters champion and made the final of the UK Championships so despite Selby and Trump moving ahead in the betting, O'Sullivan is still going to be tough to beat. The alarming thing is some of the turnarounds in the shorter matches that we've seen as O'Sullivan lost big leads in Berlin and Cardiff before another early exit recently in Beijing. He may not have things all his own way in round one either. Gary Wilson may be a Crucible debutant but he has also made a full ranking final back in 2015 at the China Open. His run through the qualifiers featured a final round thrashing of Michael White as well as eight centuries across the three matches including a maximum 147 break.
Then there is Liang Wenbo, one of four Chinese players featuring in this quarter of the draw. Coming into this tournament he has had very little form with an early exit to McLeod in Beijing, as well as first round exits at the Players Championship and the Gibraltar Open. Aside from the World Grand Prix he has really under performed since Christmas. Liang has not got the best world championship record either. A quarter-final on debut in 2008 is the only time he has passed the first round. Last year was the first time he had qualified since 2012, though now he will play at the Crucible for the first time as one of the seeded players. Stuart Carrington is his round one opponent. Carrington has qualified before two years ago, and shined this year in the qualifiers with a big win against Mark Williams as well as another experienced head in Andrew Higginson. Carrington is a very heavy scorer and seems to improve every time I see him, so it would not surprise me at all here if he were to upset the odds on Liang.
It is the Chinese number one Ding Junhui who is my second quarter choice. Ding showed for me a great level of progress and maturity in his game last year. To respond to dropping out of the top 16 just a couple of years after winning five ranking titles in one season, by winning the three qualifying matches with ease and then going on all the way to his first world final was an unbelievable effort. He has now built up a lot of world championship experience from his 2011 semi-final with Trump to now, and at the age of 30 it feels like he has been around for a very long time. Despite his age and the amount of time he has been around, the fact he is yet to win a world title is no disaster. For a long time he has been one of the lone Chinese hopes and with that comes a lot of pressure. In the last couple of years though players like Liang Wenbo have stepped up, while others like Zhou Yuelong and now Yan Bingtao are coming through and that may divert some of the attention away from Ding a little bit.
Playing Zhou Yuelong in round one is not an easy match on paper, as we all know the talent he has, but in the two meetings they have had, one of which was very recent, Ding has handed out a couple of thrashings. On Crucible debut it will be equally as difficult for Zhou and that is where Ding's experience should tell. Then there is the matter of an out of form Liang or a qualifier in Carrington who, while I rate him very highly as I have mentioned, you would not expect to beat Ding over 25 frames. Any further than that very much depends how he performs on the day because there would be some very evenly matched opposition. Ding has impressed me this season, winning in Shanghai to get back in the winners circle and complete his turnaround in form after coming back into the top 16 after last year's world championship. Then he backed it up by reaching the International final in November before tragedy struck earlier on in 2017 when his mother sadly passed away. That obviously affected his performances for a few tournaments. At the Players Championship he looked to be getting back to his usual self making the semi-finals before losing a tight tussle against Marco Fu, and then in Beijing he made the quarter-finals to back up those thoughts and remind us that he is a contender for this title. All in all, it has been an impressive 12 months from Ponds Forge in 2016 to now with so much overcome in between. Having fought through so much it feels now that it would be fitting for him to go one step further than last year and lift the title. With so many exciting Chinese players involved this year to soak up some of the pressure and attention, now is the time that Ding can get down to business.
Murphy should be Yan's inspiration as the last player to win the world title as a qualifier all the way back in 2005. 12 years on, Murphy has appeared in two further world finals in 2009 and 2015 and reached the latter stages on further occasions, including varying quarter-finals in 2013 and 2014. The one in 2014 may be most relevant given that it was a 13-3 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan who he may meet in the last 16 if he can get through. Murphy has shown good form in recent months, winning in Gibraltar as well as scoring heavily at the China Open and finding his great long potting at the World Grand Prix and the tournaments since. He will certainly be well prepared for another assault on the world title and the devilishly tough draw he will have to get through to triumph in Sheffield once more.
We mentioned O'Sullivan briefly there and for once he is not favourite for the title. That may be a result of the fact that he struggled a year ago when he lost in the last 16 and bashed up his dressing room following his round one win. In fact his behaviour in the last couple of years at the Crucible has been odd at times showing quite a short fuse. Despite some of that, he is the Masters champion and made the final of the UK Championships so despite Selby and Trump moving ahead in the betting, O'Sullivan is still going to be tough to beat. The alarming thing is some of the turnarounds in the shorter matches that we've seen as O'Sullivan lost big leads in Berlin and Cardiff before another early exit recently in Beijing. He may not have things all his own way in round one either. Gary Wilson may be a Crucible debutant but he has also made a full ranking final back in 2015 at the China Open. His run through the qualifiers featured a final round thrashing of Michael White as well as eight centuries across the three matches including a maximum 147 break.
Then there is Liang Wenbo, one of four Chinese players featuring in this quarter of the draw. Coming into this tournament he has had very little form with an early exit to McLeod in Beijing, as well as first round exits at the Players Championship and the Gibraltar Open. Aside from the World Grand Prix he has really under performed since Christmas. Liang has not got the best world championship record either. A quarter-final on debut in 2008 is the only time he has passed the first round. Last year was the first time he had qualified since 2012, though now he will play at the Crucible for the first time as one of the seeded players. Stuart Carrington is his round one opponent. Carrington has qualified before two years ago, and shined this year in the qualifiers with a big win against Mark Williams as well as another experienced head in Andrew Higginson. Carrington is a very heavy scorer and seems to improve every time I see him, so it would not surprise me at all here if he were to upset the odds on Liang.
It is the Chinese number one Ding Junhui who is my second quarter choice. Ding showed for me a great level of progress and maturity in his game last year. To respond to dropping out of the top 16 just a couple of years after winning five ranking titles in one season, by winning the three qualifying matches with ease and then going on all the way to his first world final was an unbelievable effort. He has now built up a lot of world championship experience from his 2011 semi-final with Trump to now, and at the age of 30 it feels like he has been around for a very long time. Despite his age and the amount of time he has been around, the fact he is yet to win a world title is no disaster. For a long time he has been one of the lone Chinese hopes and with that comes a lot of pressure. In the last couple of years though players like Liang Wenbo have stepped up, while others like Zhou Yuelong and now Yan Bingtao are coming through and that may divert some of the attention away from Ding a little bit.
Playing Zhou Yuelong in round one is not an easy match on paper, as we all know the talent he has, but in the two meetings they have had, one of which was very recent, Ding has handed out a couple of thrashings. On Crucible debut it will be equally as difficult for Zhou and that is where Ding's experience should tell. Then there is the matter of an out of form Liang or a qualifier in Carrington who, while I rate him very highly as I have mentioned, you would not expect to beat Ding over 25 frames. Any further than that very much depends how he performs on the day because there would be some very evenly matched opposition. Ding has impressed me this season, winning in Shanghai to get back in the winners circle and complete his turnaround in form after coming back into the top 16 after last year's world championship. Then he backed it up by reaching the International final in November before tragedy struck earlier on in 2017 when his mother sadly passed away. That obviously affected his performances for a few tournaments. At the Players Championship he looked to be getting back to his usual self making the semi-finals before losing a tight tussle against Marco Fu, and then in Beijing he made the quarter-finals to back up those thoughts and remind us that he is a contender for this title. All in all, it has been an impressive 12 months from Ponds Forge in 2016 to now with so much overcome in between. Having fought through so much it feels now that it would be fitting for him to go one step further than last year and lift the title. With so many exciting Chinese players involved this year to soak up some of the pressure and attention, now is the time that Ding can get down to business.
Quarter Choice: Ding Junhui
Quarter 3
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Ebdon (Sunday 16th 2.30pm and Monday 17th 10am)
Kyren Wilson Vs David Grace (Saturday 15th 2.30pm and Sunday 16th 10am)
Mark Allen Vs Jimmy Robertson (Sunday 16th 7pm and Monday 17th 7pm)
John Higgins Vs Martin Gould (Monday 17th 2.30pm and Tuesday 18th 10am)
The top match in this quarter is the former world champions battle between Stuart Bingham and Peter Ebdon. Ebdon's qualifying route was one filled with drama and tension as he overcame Michael Holt on the black 10-9 in the final round. He had to come through a decider the round before that as well against Jack Lisowski so he is still able to pull matches out in this long format and wear down his opponents in a way very few can. It is fair to say he is not the force he once was, and in tune with that he has not made it through the opening round at the Crucible since 2008, despite winning the China Open in 2009 and 2012. Bingham meanwhile is the much more recent champion having conquered the world in 2015. It was one of the all time great triumphs when you consider that he had never reached the one table set-up prior to that. The Crucible curse got him in 2016 as he lost in the first round to Carter, and he did struggle in his year as world champion with Ebdon overcoming him 6-3 during the 2015 UK Championships at the Last 32 stage. Bingham did hit form in Cardiff back in February as he took the Welsh open title which was a huge win for him and he has played much better this season on the whole now that there is less pressure on his shoulders. Overall, that will make him a tougher prospect for Ebdon than in their 2015 UK clash.
Kyren Wilson showed a lot of bottle last year as he came through the qualifiers and then, on his second appearance at the Crucible, sent Joe Perry and Mark Allen packing before losing to Mark Selby. His form has been patchy at times this season though he did reach the Indian Open final and the semi's of the Irish Open and recently finding his form to reach the last four in Beijing. If he shows his best form in Sheffield then he has the potential to make it out of this quarter and into the one table stage. Round one may not necessarily be an easy ride as takes on David Grace. Grace of course made the semi-finals of the 2015 UK Championships and is now on his Crucible debut and as a proud Yorkshire-man he will have a lot of support in. If Wilson is on his game he should have the edge here, though if he is not quite there Grace is good enough to take his chances as long as he can hold off the debutant nerves.
Martin Gould will have been one of the qualifiers that the seeds wanted to avoid in the draw, but it is John Higgins who was the man to line up next to his number. Higgins had a good spell of form in the first half of the season that saw him win the China Championships and Champion of Champions as well as reaching the final of his tournament and narrowly losing in the UK quarter-finals. Since the turnaround that left him on the wrong side of a 9-4 Scottish Open final loss to Marco Fu, Higgins has not reached the same heights. In the recent China open he squandered a 4-1 lead against Mark Williams, as well as seeing Ding Junhui win all of the five frames required from 4-0 down in the Players Championship. Very unusual results for Higgins. On top of that came first round exits at the Masters, World Grand Prix and the Welsh open. Last year at the Crucible was the first time Higgins had made it passed the second round since winning in 2011, and even then when he lost to McManus he could have gone on further. He is not immune to an upset having exited in round one in 2013 and 2014. For Martin Gould, he has never been outstanding at the Crucible but given his quality there is no reason why. Last year he lost in round one as a seed to Ding Junhui in the worst draw he could have had, while in 2012 he succumbed to the pressure of being a seed for the very first time. Better results have come as a qualifier, beating Marco Fu in 2010 and 2011, though he failed to complete that hat trick in 2014. Gould has enough quality with his heavy scoring and long potting to put Higgins under pressure at a very early stage.
My third quarter choice though is one many may not agree with, Mark Allen. Allen may not be the name that jumps out at you in this section but for me there is not a clear name to go for or an obvious choice. If you share my thought that Higgins will lose in round one then that may clear more of a path for Allen who is certainly as strong as anyone else in this section. It is fair to say that he has not had the greatest season of his career, and he is well aware of that as his social media will suggest, and is working hard to put that right. Even if he ends up playing Higgins in round two, he has had enough results against the Scot to suggest he can pull another out, with this years Masters being a great example of that. His first round opponent Jimmy Robertson is by no means a pushover, but he does play the type of game that suits Allen a lot more getting things open and playing positively. He has scored pretty well through the year making 30 centuries at a strong rate, which may suggest that any reason for an astounding seven last 16 exits with only one quarter-final, lies in other aspects of the game.
Allen has been up for the big events though this season and that is a huge positive in my book. Semi-finals back to back at the China Championship and Champion of Champions included very good wins over Mark Selby in both events. He showed for much of the Irish Open an ability to grind results out when he was desperate to. The UK Championships saw him make a maximum in the early rounds, and a big fightback from 4-0 down against Ryan Day before losing to Higgins. That loss was balanced out at the Masters, showing that he has had enough big results, heavy scoring wins but also plenty of hard fought and gritty victories to demonstrate the all-round game required to go far in Sheffield. The Crucible record of the Northern Irishman offers a lot more promise from 2009-2011 than it has since. In 2009 he beat O'Sullivan on the way to the semi-finals, and he only marginally missed out on the one table stages again a year later, before making the quarters again in 2011. Since then he has suffered first round exits in 2012 and 2013, and last 16 losses in the three years since, running into the century machine Robertson in 2014, losing narrowly to Hawkins in 2015 and then not getting out of the blocks in one of the rare 'nightmare sessions' that you see at the Crucible against Kyren Wilson in 2016. All told, he has shown enough in the past and this season to suggest he can go far in Sheffield and silence those that doubt him, and even win his first major triple crown event.
Kyren Wilson showed a lot of bottle last year as he came through the qualifiers and then, on his second appearance at the Crucible, sent Joe Perry and Mark Allen packing before losing to Mark Selby. His form has been patchy at times this season though he did reach the Indian Open final and the semi's of the Irish Open and recently finding his form to reach the last four in Beijing. If he shows his best form in Sheffield then he has the potential to make it out of this quarter and into the one table stage. Round one may not necessarily be an easy ride as takes on David Grace. Grace of course made the semi-finals of the 2015 UK Championships and is now on his Crucible debut and as a proud Yorkshire-man he will have a lot of support in. If Wilson is on his game he should have the edge here, though if he is not quite there Grace is good enough to take his chances as long as he can hold off the debutant nerves.
Martin Gould will have been one of the qualifiers that the seeds wanted to avoid in the draw, but it is John Higgins who was the man to line up next to his number. Higgins had a good spell of form in the first half of the season that saw him win the China Championships and Champion of Champions as well as reaching the final of his tournament and narrowly losing in the UK quarter-finals. Since the turnaround that left him on the wrong side of a 9-4 Scottish Open final loss to Marco Fu, Higgins has not reached the same heights. In the recent China open he squandered a 4-1 lead against Mark Williams, as well as seeing Ding Junhui win all of the five frames required from 4-0 down in the Players Championship. Very unusual results for Higgins. On top of that came first round exits at the Masters, World Grand Prix and the Welsh open. Last year at the Crucible was the first time Higgins had made it passed the second round since winning in 2011, and even then when he lost to McManus he could have gone on further. He is not immune to an upset having exited in round one in 2013 and 2014. For Martin Gould, he has never been outstanding at the Crucible but given his quality there is no reason why. Last year he lost in round one as a seed to Ding Junhui in the worst draw he could have had, while in 2012 he succumbed to the pressure of being a seed for the very first time. Better results have come as a qualifier, beating Marco Fu in 2010 and 2011, though he failed to complete that hat trick in 2014. Gould has enough quality with his heavy scoring and long potting to put Higgins under pressure at a very early stage.
My third quarter choice though is one many may not agree with, Mark Allen. Allen may not be the name that jumps out at you in this section but for me there is not a clear name to go for or an obvious choice. If you share my thought that Higgins will lose in round one then that may clear more of a path for Allen who is certainly as strong as anyone else in this section. It is fair to say that he has not had the greatest season of his career, and he is well aware of that as his social media will suggest, and is working hard to put that right. Even if he ends up playing Higgins in round two, he has had enough results against the Scot to suggest he can pull another out, with this years Masters being a great example of that. His first round opponent Jimmy Robertson is by no means a pushover, but he does play the type of game that suits Allen a lot more getting things open and playing positively. He has scored pretty well through the year making 30 centuries at a strong rate, which may suggest that any reason for an astounding seven last 16 exits with only one quarter-final, lies in other aspects of the game.
Allen has been up for the big events though this season and that is a huge positive in my book. Semi-finals back to back at the China Championship and Champion of Champions included very good wins over Mark Selby in both events. He showed for much of the Irish Open an ability to grind results out when he was desperate to. The UK Championships saw him make a maximum in the early rounds, and a big fightback from 4-0 down against Ryan Day before losing to Higgins. That loss was balanced out at the Masters, showing that he has had enough big results, heavy scoring wins but also plenty of hard fought and gritty victories to demonstrate the all-round game required to go far in Sheffield. The Crucible record of the Northern Irishman offers a lot more promise from 2009-2011 than it has since. In 2009 he beat O'Sullivan on the way to the semi-finals, and he only marginally missed out on the one table stages again a year later, before making the quarters again in 2011. Since then he has suffered first round exits in 2012 and 2013, and last 16 losses in the three years since, running into the century machine Robertson in 2014, losing narrowly to Hawkins in 2015 and then not getting out of the blocks in one of the rare 'nightmare sessions' that you see at the Crucible against Kyren Wilson in 2016. All told, he has shown enough in the past and this season to suggest he can go far in Sheffield and silence those that doubt him, and even win his first major triple crown event.
Quarter Choice: Mark Allen
Quarter 4
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Barry Hawkins Vs Tom Ford (Wednesday 19th 7pm and Thursday 20th 7pm)
Ali Carter Vs Graeme Dott (Tuesday 18th 7pm and Wednesday 19th at 2.30pm)
Anthony McGill Vs Stephen Maguire (Saturday 15th 10am and 7pm)
Judd Trump Vs Rory McLeod (Tuesday 18th 2.30pm and Wednesday 19th 10am)
The bottom quarter has got a couple of huge treats in it. Judd Trump is the favourite to come through it and one of the huge favourites to win the title. It is easy to see why given that he has won the European Masters and the Players Championship as well as making finals of the English Open, Welsh Open and Gibraltar Open amongst a very consistent season of results. On the other hand, in the triple crown events this season Trump fell at the last 64 stage in the UK Championships before losing a thriller to Marco Fu in the first round of the Masters. Since making the final in 2011 Trump has never lost in round one and I do not expect that to change here. Rory McLeod played lower ranked opposition in each of his three qualifying matches, though he did not win overly convincingly with each finishing up 10-7. His slow play should not be enough to unsettle Trump so McLeod will have to play snooker of a quality that he can very rarely obtain if he is to win. I am always weary of going in on the tournament favourite and with Stephen Maguire added to this section as a qualifier this is a very tough quarter indeed and one that he is by no means a certainty to come out of. His increased consistency though means that he is less likely to have sessions like the first session is his 2013 quarter-final against Shaun Murphy or his first round match last year against Liang Wenbo where he came out on Twitter part way through saying what he would do if he actually managed to turn it around.
I mentioned Stephen Maguire there, and it now feels odd to be calling him a qualifier. Having said that, he admitted in the interview after his third qualifying round win that he came to terms with the fact that he would be heading to Ponds Forge very early on in the season. That may have set him apart from other players that fell out of the top 16 and then failed to make the Crucible. There may be less pressure on him to win now that he is a qualifier, but the facts remain that he is still the bookies favourite to overcome Anthony McGill. The other big pointer is that he has not won a match at the Crucible since he beat Stephen Hendry in the 2012 quarter-finals. McGill meanwhile impressed everyone when he beat Maguire 10-9 in the first round in 2015 and then beat Selby in the second round to reach the quarter-finals on debut. He actually impressed me a lot more by coming back the next year after a relatively quiet season and dispatching Shaun Murphy in round one. He was an underdog on those occasions, and given the reaction amongst the bookies and on social media he almost is again here despite now being a ranking event winner and the seeded player. I certainly think this game will go to the wire, but I think the fact that most of the expectation is on Maguire in this match may let McGill come in under the radar and from his last two seasons in Sheffield we all know the damage he can do.
Graeme Dott and Ali Carter are two who have done a lot of damage here down the years. Carter has made two world finals, losing both to O'Sullivan, while Dott has made three finals and getting the ultimate triumph in 2006. This season though the pair have almost been chalk and cheese. Carter has got back into the winners circle by winning the World Open and struck the ball really well on the way to the German Masters final and Players championship semi's. As for Graeme Dott qualifying here is one of his better performances of the season. He seems to come alive at this time of the year and that showed as he fought back from 4-0 down to beat Jamie Jones 10-8 in the final qualifying round. He can certainly push Carter very close here but the Captain has the edge for me and I have been impressed with him for much of the season. How far he goes depends on how well he can continue applying himself. Since the 2012 final Carter has failed to get past the last 16 at the Crucible, losing at that stage in each of the last four years and in five of the last six world championships. I do think he is playing as well as ever, and despite this being a tough section there is no reason, given his all round game and great experience, that he cannot cause a lot of problems.
I mentioned Stephen Maguire there, and it now feels odd to be calling him a qualifier. Having said that, he admitted in the interview after his third qualifying round win that he came to terms with the fact that he would be heading to Ponds Forge very early on in the season. That may have set him apart from other players that fell out of the top 16 and then failed to make the Crucible. There may be less pressure on him to win now that he is a qualifier, but the facts remain that he is still the bookies favourite to overcome Anthony McGill. The other big pointer is that he has not won a match at the Crucible since he beat Stephen Hendry in the 2012 quarter-finals. McGill meanwhile impressed everyone when he beat Maguire 10-9 in the first round in 2015 and then beat Selby in the second round to reach the quarter-finals on debut. He actually impressed me a lot more by coming back the next year after a relatively quiet season and dispatching Shaun Murphy in round one. He was an underdog on those occasions, and given the reaction amongst the bookies and on social media he almost is again here despite now being a ranking event winner and the seeded player. I certainly think this game will go to the wire, but I think the fact that most of the expectation is on Maguire in this match may let McGill come in under the radar and from his last two seasons in Sheffield we all know the damage he can do.
Graeme Dott and Ali Carter are two who have done a lot of damage here down the years. Carter has made two world finals, losing both to O'Sullivan, while Dott has made three finals and getting the ultimate triumph in 2006. This season though the pair have almost been chalk and cheese. Carter has got back into the winners circle by winning the World Open and struck the ball really well on the way to the German Masters final and Players championship semi's. As for Graeme Dott qualifying here is one of his better performances of the season. He seems to come alive at this time of the year and that showed as he fought back from 4-0 down to beat Jamie Jones 10-8 in the final qualifying round. He can certainly push Carter very close here but the Captain has the edge for me and I have been impressed with him for much of the season. How far he goes depends on how well he can continue applying himself. Since the 2012 final Carter has failed to get past the last 16 at the Crucible, losing at that stage in each of the last four years and in five of the last six world championships. I do think he is playing as well as ever, and despite this being a tough section there is no reason, given his all round game and great experience, that he cannot cause a lot of problems.
My fourth and final quarter choice is a man who has performed very well in Sheffield in the last four years and that is Barry Hawkins. It all started for Hawkins in 2013 when he reached the final with wins against Mark Selby and Ding Junhui along the way. That was the first time that he had made it past the second round and he almost achieved what Bingham went further to do in 2015. In 2014 he came back strong though making the semi-finals, and then doing the same in 2015 with a good comeback against Mark Allen and a very good final session performance to beat an in form Neil Robertson. Then last year he may have missed out on the one table set-up but he was able to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 16. That now means he has beaten a number of the big guns at one point or another at the Crucible.
This season alone he has looked strong. A semi-finalist at the Masters he lost out very narrowly there having been a way in front against Joe Perry, and similar happened in the Irish open final with Mark King. At the German Masters he fell at the quarter-final stage to the eventual winner Anthony Hamilton, as he did in the Gibraltar open last 16 against Shaun Murphy. At the World Grand Prix he went all the way and won the title with victories against Trump and Robertson on the way. For me he has been one of the most consistent players of the season, but also one of the most consistent players at the world championships in most recent years. That combination of venue form and form in recent months must give him a huge amount of confidence and belief that he can go all the way and lift the title. His draw is by no means easy, but in a very tough section there is not an easy route for any of these players to get through, so it is certainly all to play for.
This season alone he has looked strong. A semi-finalist at the Masters he lost out very narrowly there having been a way in front against Joe Perry, and similar happened in the Irish open final with Mark King. At the German Masters he fell at the quarter-final stage to the eventual winner Anthony Hamilton, as he did in the Gibraltar open last 16 against Shaun Murphy. At the World Grand Prix he went all the way and won the title with victories against Trump and Robertson on the way. For me he has been one of the most consistent players of the season, but also one of the most consistent players at the world championships in most recent years. That combination of venue form and form in recent months must give him a huge amount of confidence and belief that he can go all the way and lift the title. His draw is by no means easy, but in a very tough section there is not an easy route for any of these players to get through, so it is certainly all to play for.
Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins
Winner Selection: Neil Robertson
This is going to be a fascinating tournament, because the form and the odds certainly believe that it is one of the most open world championships ever with no clear favourite and more contenders than ever.
For me, I will be at the Crucible watching on Monday afternoon and evening and Tuesday afternoon and evening before heading back home on Wednesday for my birthday. Joining me as my brother for our fourth trip, and my friend for his very first trip.
Wherever you are in the world or however you will be watching this great championship, I hope you enjoy it all as much as I hope to.
This is going to be a fascinating tournament, because the form and the odds certainly believe that it is one of the most open world championships ever with no clear favourite and more contenders than ever.
For me, I will be at the Crucible watching on Monday afternoon and evening and Tuesday afternoon and evening before heading back home on Wednesday for my birthday. Joining me as my brother for our fourth trip, and my friend for his very first trip.
Wherever you are in the world or however you will be watching this great championship, I hope you enjoy it all as much as I hope to.
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