By Elliott West
“The fouth major”.
Stephen Hendry’s description of the Tour Championship.
Introduction
Hot on the heels of the conclusion of an emotional victory for Robert Milkins at the Gibraltar Open last week, the top 8 players on Tyne one year ranking list, the cream of the crop of snooker travel this week to somewhere slightly closer to home. It is of course that time in the snooker calendar when the Tour Championship takes place at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, North Wales. Only the best have booked a place at this event and one that various elements of the snooker community have called for this to be classed as the fourth major, joining the other three Triple Crown events.
Nicely placed before the World Championship in April, the Cazoo Tour Championship, offers a clear insight into the stamina and form of the possible contenders for the forthcoming Crucible crown. Last year this title was claimed by Australia’s Neil Robertson, beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-4 in the final.
The Prized Possession
Although Ronnie O’Sullivan has jumped now to number 1 in the world rankings, he will certainly have to pull out all the stops if he is to be victorious in Llandudno. His shock first-round exit to Ben Woollaston at the Gibraltar Open, losing 4-3 may not have worried him but proves that he is certainly vulnerable at this time in his playing career. A match where Ronnie was 3-0 up and let his opponent recover to 3-3. However, he did reach last year’s final so expect a high gear of snooker from the goat.
With a total prize fund of £380,000 and a winner’s slice of £150,0000, this is definitely an attractive tournament. One where each of the 8 players is put through the grinder in this single-elimination tournament with all matches being the best of 19 frames. The third and final event in the Cazoo series and televised on ITV4, this elite group of players will certainly provide value for entertainment and a sporting spectacle of the highest class.
I may curse this but watch out for Zhao Xintong. He plays John Higgins on the first day of play in the afternoon session. This Chinese player has already won the UK Championship and the German Masters and has a great track record of beating Higgins. At the time of writing this, he is already 5-3 up in the match, including a divine black off seven cushions and a 124 clearance to win his third frame in the match and with it being the first to 10 frames, Zhao looks the favourite to claim the win when play resumes tonight.
Exciting Times Ahead
This fourth edition of this tournament certainly provides fans with some great matches. Looking at the draw, there are some real snooker fireworks in prospect including Neil Robertson v Mark Allen, Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mark Williams and Judd Trump v Luca Brecel in this true festival of snooker.
Perhaps the final will be a repeat of last year but with the current trend of shock victors this season, time will definitely tell. If one of the other contenders wins this prized snooker crown, it will propel them into snooker stardom and gain them the status of being a true legend of the game. This is definitely one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and will provide us with a short sprint of snooker adrenaline.
