This week’s Welsh Open has implications on both the Players Championship lineup and the BetVictor Series winner.
While the remaining eight contenders will primarily be focussed on capturing the title at the Venue Cymru, for most of them there’s significantly more to play for.
Only 16 players from the one-year rankings list will be invited to compete in next week’s Players Championship.
The BetVictor Series, meanwhile, is nearing its climax after an eight-event swing on the calendar, with a £150,000 bonus set to be awarded to the best performer on its order of merit.
Welsh Open quarter-final draw
Joe O’Connor vs Pang Junxu
Shaun Murphy vs Yuan Sijun
Mark Allen vs Robert Milkins
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Tian Pengfei
At the start of the week there were numerous permutations involved in the respective races, but the outlook is much clearer now.
Let’s take a look then at what is needed from each player left.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
BetVictor Series: O’Sullivan is not in contention.
Players Championship: The Rocket needs to reach the Welsh Open final to safeguard his spot in Wolverhampton. Anything less and he’ll fail to qualify for the event he previously won in 2018 and 2019.
Mark Allen
BetVictor Series: Allen is provisionally second behind Ali Carter. However, a win against Robert Milkins in the Welsh Open quarter-finals would give him enough prize money to leapfrog the Captain into first and establish an unassailable lead over the other chasing players.
Players Championship: Having accumulated more than a half a million pounds in prize money this season already, Allen will be the top seed for the Players Championship.
Shaun Murphy
BetVictor Series: Murphy is not in contention.
Players Championship: Murphy is provisionally in 12th place in the one-year rankings and will definitely qualify.
Robert Milkins
BetVictor Series: To finish in first place, Milkins needs to win the Welsh Open title. The £80,000 champion’s cheque in Llandudno would see the Milkman finish £3,500 in front of Carter.
Players Championship: Milkins is in 18th place on the one-year list as things stand. Depending on the other results, the Englishman could qualify for the Players Championship by reaching the Welsh Open semi-finals, but he may need to reach the final to guarantee his spot in Wolverhampton.
Provisional | Players Championship | Rankings |
---|---|---|
1 | Mark Allen | £516,000 (Q) |
2 | Ryan Day | £144,000 (Q) |
3 | Kyren Wilson | £141,500 (Q) |
4 | Ali Carter | £136,000 (Q) |
5 | Ding Junhui | £130,500 (Q) |
6 | Mark Selby | £125,500 (Q) |
7 | Luca Brecel | £116,000 (Q) |
8 | Jack Lisowski | £115,000 (Q) |
9 | Gary Wilson | £107,500 (Q) |
10 | Judd Trump | £105,500 (Q) |
11 | Tom Ford | £103,500 (Q) |
12 | Shaun Murphy | £88,000 (Q) |
13 | Zhou Yuelong | £79,500 (Q) |
14 | Chris Wakelin | £73,500 |
15 | Joe O’Connor | £72,000 |
16 | Mark Williams | £71,500 |
— | — | — |
18 | Robert Milkins | £70,500 |
21 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £60,500 |
31 | Tian Pengfei | £46,000 |
32 | Yuan Sijun | £43,500 |
34 | Pang Junxu | £42,000 |
(Q) = already qualified |
Joe O’Connor
BetVictor Series: O’Connor is the only other player who can attain the £150,000 bonus. The Englishman first needs Milkins to beat Allen, and then O’Connor needs to win the Welsh Open title. Doing so would take his BetVictor Series tally to £123,500 – the same as Carter’s, but O’Connor would prevail on countback.
Players Championship: O’Connor is provisionally in 15th spot on this list and in line to qualify. Like Milkins, O’Connor can guarantee his place in the Players Championship by reaching the final. Anything less and he’ll be relying on other results going his way.
Tian Pengfei
BetVictor Series: Tian is not in contention.
Players Championship: Tian needs to win the Welsh Open in order to qualify for next week’s ranking event.
Pang Junxu
BetVictor Series: Pang is not in contention.
Players Championship: Pang needs to win the Welsh Open in order to qualify for next week’s ranking event.
Yuan Sijun
BetVictor Series: Yuan is not in contention.
Players Championship: Yuan needs to win the Welsh Open in order to qualify for next week’s ranking event.
Provisional | BetVictor Series | Rankings |
---|---|---|
1 | Ali Carter | £123,500 |
2 | Mark Allen | £121,000 |
3 | £116,000 | |
4 | £108,500 | |
5 | £97,500 | |
6 | £93,500 | |
7 | £73,500 | |
8 | £63,000 | |
9 | £61,000 | |
10 | Robert Milkins | £58,000 |
11 | £56,000 | |
12 | Joe O’Connor | £54,500 |
Featured photo credit: WST