23 of the 24 players to be relegated are now known, click below to see who will be relegated and who still has a chance to survive…
Because players can survive by finishing in the top 64 of the two year list or by finishing in the top eight of the one-year list for those outside of the 64, it is hard to say just when someone is safe and when they might still be in danger of losing their tour place. To avoid confusion therefore I have decided to keep this simple and list who will definitely not be able to keep their place on tour via either list.
To find links for the rankings, the draw and anything else that might be relevant, please click here to view my post from yesterday.
To view the latest scores from Sheffield, click here.
Players who now cannot stay on the main tour for 2009/10:
- Ian Preece (66th, 12170 points) – Defeat to Daniel Wells in round two sees the former IBSF champion lose his tour place
- Andrew Norman (74th, 11126 points) – Opening match loss to Matt Couch proves the fatal blow
- James McBain (76th, 10413 points) – Had a strong first round win against Chris Breen, a 10-3 defeat to David Morris ended his chances
- Rodney Goggins (77th, 10413 points) – Despite a good effort, he goes down 10-7 to Martin Gould and sees his hopes ended
- Jamie Jones (78th, 10288 points) – Did really well to reach the third round but needing to reach the Crucible to stay on tour it was always going to be an uphill task. Eventually went down to Andrew Higginson on Wednesday.
- Stephen Craigie (79th, 9901 points) – Lost 10-5 to Lee Spick who scored well towards the end of their match
- Kuldesh Johal (80th, 9688 points) – Bows out following a narrow defeat to China’s Jin Long
- Vincent Muldoon (81st, 9513 points) – Put up a great fight but lost 10-8 to Jimmy White
- Supoj Saenla (82nd, 9488 points) – Loses a thriller with Liu Song
- Andy Lee (83rd, 9313 points) – Defeat to the impressive Peter Lines confirmed his relegation on Saturday evening
- Aditya Mehta (84th, 9313 points) – India’s sole professional loses a close match with Lewis Roberts and with it his tour spot
- Andrew Pagett (85th, 9288 points) – Despite winning his opening match, a 10-3 defeat to Stuart Pettman saw him lose his place on Monday
- Lewis Roberts (86th, 9288 points) – Good effort but the experienced Davies ends his hopes
- Scott MacKenzie (87th, 9923 points) – Lost 10-9 to Wayne Cooper to end not just his stay on the tour, but possibly his snooker career
- Robert Stephen (88th, 9138 points) – Hammered 10-3 in his opener by a flying Matt Selt
- Paul Davison (89th, 9063 points) – Lost heavily to Andrew Pagett early on
- Wayne Cooper (90th, 8838 points) – Defeated by Joe Delaney to end his slim chances of survival
- Stefan Mazrocis (91st, 8751 points) – Lost his preliminary qualifying match with Tony Knowles to end slim hopes of survival
- Liu Chuang (92nd, 8725 points) – Lost 10-5 to Supoj Saenla to end his two year spell on the tour
- David Grace (93rd, 7913 points) – Fought back after a disappointing opening session, but went down 10-6 to Simon Bedford to end his hopes of survival
- Michael Georgiou (94th, 7038 points) – Lost 10-8 to Matt Couch to finish off a fairly miserable season
- Chris McBreen (95th, 7038 points) – Having endured a torrid season, Chris lost out against James McBain to see his stay on the tour come to an end
- Declan Hughes (96th, 6138 points) – Has not won a match all season or participated in a ranking event match in 2009
Final points and positions on the two-year list are given.
Rankings Tracker
28/2
After his win this afternoon, Matt Selt has crucially jumped up from 68th to 63rd on the two year list which as it stands would see him not only keep his place on the tour, but start in the second round of ranking events next season rather than in the first. In doing so this puts Jin Long out of the 64, but not only is he looking good to reclaim that place as he leads Kuldesh Johal at the moment, he is also well up on the one-year list in any case.
The evening matches however have changed the picture again as victories for Jin Long and Peter Lines move them into the top 64 at the expense of Selt and Rod Lawler who now find themselves just outside, though both can still add to their points tally of course. In danger now is Ian Preece who in 64th position, could really do with a win against Daniel Wells to safeguard his position, particularly as his one-year ranking is not brilliant either…
And finally Atthasit Mahitthi loses what looks to have been a thriller with Jamie Jones to see his season come to an end. He is still in the top eight but I wouldn’t like to say whether he will still be there in a couple of days…
1/3
Another day and another interesting series of changes. The main movers today were Joe Delaney and Liu Song who move secure spots in the top 64, whilst Daniel Wells’ deciding frame victory moves him up into the top eight on the one years (not in the 64). Furthermore Couch and Spick have also taken significant strides to securing their places for another year.
The losers today meanwhile are Ian Preece who now needs a miracle if he is to survive, Atthasit Mahitthi who after a strong season now lies perilously close falling from the top eight, and interestingly David Gray who now lies 64th on the two years and is well down on the one-year list. If he does not defeat Jin Long tomorrow then we could be seeing the exit of a man who was in the top 16 just three years ago…
2/3
And that’s another one gone, Lewis Roberts falls to Paul Davies in the second round and will now finish 86th. I have updated the points and positions in the above list to reflect their final totals.
Despite good early wins, both Andrew Pagett and James McBain have become the latest duo to lose their places following heavy second round defeats tonight. David Gray now finds himself 9-8 down against Jin Long and desperately needs to turn it around, otherwise he will need to have a good in the China Open later this month. David Morris though has effectively secured his spot on the tour for another season and with his win tonight, has shot up into the top 50 on the one-year ranking list, for now at least.
David Gray’s loss to Jin Long, coupled with Rod Lawler’s victory over Matt Selt means that David is now in deep trouble, outside of the top 64 and well down the one year list. He will now need to reach the last 16 out in China or it will be the end for a man who as I say, was in the top 16 just a few years ago.
Rod Lawler’s result meanwhile means that he moves from 67th to 60th in the latest two-year list, nicely inside the top 64, while Selt drops to 66th.
Despite a good effort from Rodney Goggins to hit back at Martin Gould, his run in the tournament has come to an end and so he becomes the 21st man to be relegated from the tour. Patrick Wallace though has recorded a crucial win over Mark Joyce which moves him up into the top eight on the one year list, confirming the relegation of Ian Preece. The remaining match involving Simon Bedford and David Roe now becomes crucial because if Simon loses then he is out, but if he can complete a terrific comeback, he will move above Atthasit Mahitthi and all but secure his place…
And Simon does complete the win and moves himself nicely up ahead of Spick, Wells, Wallace and Mahitthi as a result. So now the situation is pretty clear with 22 of the 24 players to be relegated being confirmed. Only Jamie Jones and David Gray can now realistically change things, Jones by winning his next two matches here and Gray by defeating Tian Pengfei and Marco Fu out in China in a couple of weeks. There are a few other permutations but I’ll go into those should they become more likely!
3/3
Not too much change today, though with their excellent wins both Lee Spick and Daniel Wells have managed to move further up the one-year list and absolutely rubber-stamp their tour status. The other result of note today was the defeat of Patrick Wallace against Tom Ford which means that he now cannot move higher than seventh on the one-year rankings for those outside the 64. He should still be safe, but if both David Gray and Jamie Jones win the two matches they need to stay on the tour, Patrick will lose out.
The only other potential player in danger now is David Roe who lost out to Bedford on Monday night. If three of Couch, Gray, Spick, Jones, Wells and Bedford can overtake him on the two year list then he would be gone as his one-year ranking would not get him into the top eight. This is unlikely but you never know…
4/4
Matt Couch records another fine win against John Parrot and moves higher up both lists. Jamie Jones leads 5-4 going into tonight as he seeks to keep his hopes alive…
And he’s gone, Andrew Higginson turns it around and with a 10-8 win, knocks Jones off the tour. This means that Patrick Wallace is now safe and it is now between David Gray and Atthasit Mahitthi for the final spot. If Gray can defeat Pengfei and Fu then he is safe, otherwise it will be Mahitthi who stays around for another season…
The top eight now looks as follows:
60 Matthew Selt 6825
61 Matthew Couch 6750
62 Lee Spick 6625
63 Daniel Wells 6600
67 Li Hang 6250
68 Simon Bedford 6200
69 Patrick Wallace 5875
70 Atthasit Mahitthi 5850
The remaining chaser is:
73 David Gray 5320