By Elliott West
“Not ideal, but it is what it is”.
World Snooker
Introduction
The WST Classic is almost upon us, a tournament that was quickly put together to fill the hole created in the snooker calendar when an agreement couldn’t be reached with the Turkish organisers over financial backing to hold this year’s Turkish Masters in Antalya. Nevertheless, this is a welcome addition to the tour and gives a nostalgic shout-out to the original tournament held between 1980 and 1992 and won by Steve Davis six times with Steve winning the Mercantile Credit Classic in the final year of play, defeating Stephen Hendry 9-8 in the final at the Bournemouth International Centre in Dorset. The WST Classic will now sit alongside other revamped tournaments in the season such as The British Open, Champion of Champion and the World Grand Prix.
A Ticket to Hull
Due to be held at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, a city that has produced players such as Willie Thorne, Mark Selby and most recently Joe O’Connor, some have suggested that this will be a low-key affair. Yes the snooker gods have decided to stream this event on Matchroom.Live rather than a mainstream channel with a live audience only being allowed into the area for the final day but this tournament is a game changer, offering £80,000 to the eventual champion and a chance for a number of players to take part at the Tour Championship which comes with a bumper £150,000 prize. This event will be unique because it will only feature the top eight players on the one-year list with five players having already booked their places. These are Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day. This only leaves three spots available and will be interesting to see how Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump, the ‘Big Four’ do in the WST Classic. One of these will have to win this tournament if they are to compete in the Tour Championship. Otherwise, none of these four will have enough ranking points and will have to sit it out until the World Championship. So Hull awaits for a few but for many, the ship may have already sailed.
Afterthoughts
The WST Classic was cobbled together at a moment’s notice but bravo to WST for coming up with a workable format. The fact you have to pay to watch, £4.99 for the week or £1.99 for a day’s pass, will probably anger a lot of snooker devotees but I suppose there wasn’t enough time to tender this tournament to the broadcasting big guns such as ITV and Eurosport. This is one that I will have to catch up with on my social media feeds but at least it gives players an earning opportunity. So hopefully we will get a number of players getting a slice of the pie’s £427,000 total prize fund. There are also a number of scenarios that may occur.
Luca Brecel: Needs at least last 32
Jack Lisowski: Needs at least quarter-finals
Gary Wilson: Needs at least semi-finals
Judd Trump: Needs at least the final
Tom Ford: Needs at least the final
Joe O’Connor: Needs at least the final
Zhou Yuelong, Chris Wakelin, Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins, Xiao Guodong, Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Noppon Saengkham and Anthony McGill all need the title.
WST Classic Prize Money
Winner: £80,000
Runner-up: £35,000
Semi-finals: £17,500
Quarter-finals: £11,000
Last 16: £7,500
Last 32: £4,500
Last 64: £3,000
