The second annual Pink Ribbon Pro-Am gets under way at the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester today with a number of high profile players contesting the charity event.
Last year, the tournament officially opened what was then a hopeful venture by Paul Mount to introduce a new snooker academy to the South West of England.
However, both the event and the academy has turned into maginficent success stories with a PTC event held at the location last season while more of the series is due to be hosted there over the coming months.
As for the Pink Ribbon Pro-Am, it is a wonderful opportunity for some of the professional and amateur players alike to get some much needed match practice in before the new season really gets under way in three weeks – and all for a very good cause.
The winner takes away £2,400 but a significant amount of the proceeds are raised for Breast Cancer Awareness.
£6,000 was impressively amounted 12 months ago and, with more than double the entry list this time around, the donation is likely to rise further.
Michael Holt is the defending champion after his 6-5 victory over Jimmy White in the inaugural event in 2010 – with ‘The Whirlwind’ knowing better than most the importance of cancer awareness having beaten testicular cancer in the past.
Holt and White are among the favourites to go far again this year but the standard should be high with world champion John Higgins and fellow Scots Graeme Dott and Stephen Maguire also in the field.
The tournament runs from 1-5 of June.
