The second Q-School event came to a conclusion on Monday as the final four Main Tour places were decided.
The two tournaments in Burton were particularly good for Great Britain as three Englishmen, three Welshmen and two Scots made up the eight names who earned two-year cards for the professional circuit.
Daniel Wells, Sydney Wilson, Eden Sharav and Rhys Clark made it through the first competition last week and have now been joined by Paul Davison, Jason Weston, Gareth Allen and Duane Jones.
The latter dramatically came from 3-1 down against China’s Zhao Xintong – who many had fancied to easily emerge successful from the school – to deny the former amateur World Championship runner-up on the final black.
Jones’ compatriot Allen will also be a rookie on the tour next season but English duo Davison and Weston are returning members.
For Weston, the 44 year-old is back in the big-time after a full dozen years away from the sport at this level.
Unfortunately for the Irish contingent there was to be no joy for the second year running.
David Morris graduated from the 2013 Q-School and has since established himself well inside the world’s top 64 in the rankings.
John Sutton reached the final round last year only to be denied by Craig Steadman while in event one this year ex-pro Leo Fernandez was denied by Scotland’s Clark.
Cork’s Greg Casey went furthest in event two, eventually succumbing to a 4-2 defeat in the penultimate round to Allen.
A notable name that failed in his attempts to rejoin the tour immediately after dropping off was Marcus Campbell, who poignantly tweeted “The End” after his 4-2 loss to Kuldesh Johal.
Attention now turns to the 2015/16 campaign which, believe it or not, starts next week with the Australian Open qualifiers.
