Race to the Cazoo Players Championship 2021
There is just one event to be completed before the final field is set for the Cazoo Players Championship which will return from 22-28 February 2021.
The top 16 players on the current one-year ranking list following next week’s BetVictor Welsh Open will qualify to play at the second leg of the Cazoo Series, which follows Judd Trump’s success at the World Grand Prix before Christmas.
Latest position as of 10/02/2021:
1st – Judd Trump – £450,500
2nd – Neil Robertson – £246,000
3rd – Mark Selby – £245,500
4th – Jack Lisowski – £109,500
5th – Kyren Wilson – £108,000
6th – Ronnie O’Sullivan – £93,500
7th – Zhou Yuelong – £76,000
8th – Barry Hawkins – £73,000
9th – John Higgins – £70,500
10th – Ryan Day – £69,000
11th – Ding Junhui – £62,500
12th – Martin Gould – £62,000
13th – Lu Ning – £59,500
14th – Stuart Bingham – £53,000
15th – Jamie Jones – £48,000
16th – Zhao Xintong – £46,500
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17th – Joe Perry – £44,500
18th – Anthony McGill – £44,000
19th – David Grace – £42,000
20th – Shaun Murphy – £41,500
21st – Tom Ford – £41,000
22nd – Hossein Vafaei – £40,500
23rd – Yan Bingtao – £40,000
24th – Robert Milkins – £37,500
Heading into next week’s Welsh Open, the top 10 players on the one-year list are already mathematically assured of their places at the Players Championship.
With a top prize of £70,000 to be won at the Celtic Manor, the first player who can still mathematically be caught is Ding Junhui, although a very specific set of results would have to happen for this to transpire. The Chinese ace who would miss out on the Players Championship if he were to lose his opening match to Lyu Haotian at the Welsh Open and six of the following were to happen:
- Martin Gould or Lu Ning reaches the last 64
- Stuart Bingham reaches the quarter-finals
- Jamie Jones, Zhao Xintong, Joe Perry or Anthony McGill reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 13 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
With Stuart Bingham and Jamie Jones on course to meet at the last 16 stage, with Zhao Xintong and Joe Perry drawn together in the third quarter, Ding is all but guaranteed of his place.
Similar can be said for this season’s European Masters finalist Martin Gould, who would only be ousted if he were to lose early to Mitchell Mann and see five of the following outcomes come to pass:
- Lu Ning reaches the last 64
- Stuart Bingham reaches the quarter-finals
- Jamie Jones, Zhao Xintong, Joe Perry, Anthony McGill or David Grace reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 13 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
Again, with Bingham, Jones and in fact David Grace all within the same section in the second quarter, only one of the trio can overtake Gould, meaning that it would take an extraordinary set of results for the Pinner Potter to miss out.
Next up is China’s Lu Ning, who just £2,500 behind Gould is also well-placed to qualify for the tournament for what would be the first time in his career. He faces Welsh amateur Dylan Emery in the opening round next week and should he lose, would be safe unless four of the following results were to happen:
- Stuart Bingham reaches the last 16
- Jamie Jones, Zhao Xintong, Joe Perry, Anthony McGill, David Grace, Shaun Murphy, Tom Ford, Hossein Vafaei or Yan Bingtao reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 13 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
It is perhaps 14th placed Stuart Bingham however who represents the first player who can be said to find himself in real risk of being overtaken if he were to suffer an opening round loss to Robert Milkins in Wales. For that to happen, three of the following would need to happen:
- Jamie Jones or Zhao Xintong reaches the last 16
- Joe Perry or Anthony McGill reaches the quarter-finals
- One of the next 13 players reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 16 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
The penultimate name currently inside the all-important top 16 on the one-year ranking list is Jamie Jones, who has banked an impressive £48,000 on his return to the tour this season. Drawn against Yuan Sijun in the first round, two of the following would need to happen for Jones to miss out if he were to lose early:
- Zhao Xintong reaches the last 64
- Joe Perry or Anthony McGill reaches the last 32
- David Grace, Shaun Murphy, Tom Ford or Hossein Vafaei reaches the last 16
- Yan Bingtao reaches the quarter-finals
- One of the next 14 players reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 25 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
The final player on the bubble is Zhao Xintong, who takes a £2,000 lead over closest challenger Joe Perry into next week’s Welsh Open. Facing a tricky opener against Luca Brecel with Judd Trump potentially ahead in the fourth round, Zhao could also come up against Perry at the last 16 stage.
An early exit however and Zhao would miss out if just one of the following results were to happen:
- Joe Perry or Anthony McGill reaches the last 64
- David Grace, Shaun Murphy, Tom Ford, Hossein Vafaei or Yan Bingtao reaches the last 16
- Robert Milkins reaches the quarter-finals
- One of the next 14 players reaches the semi-finals
- One of the next 27 players reaches the final
- One of the remaining players wins the tournament
Ultimately, with a top prize of £70,000 to be won next week, every player in the draw is still in with a mathematical chance of qualifying for the Players Championship and so there will be plenty of sub-plots to follow throughout the Welsh Open.
The final draw will also be seeded in accordance with the one-year ranking list giving us a further story to monitor, with top ranked Judd Trump poised to meet the 16th placed qualifier and so on.
You will be able to follow all of the latest movements in the qualification race and provisional draw right here during our Players Championship Daily Blog next week.
