Greene, Lines Earn Tour Cards

Gerard Greene and Peter Lines will return to the main tour next season after both secured two-year tour cards at this year’s EBSA play-offs on Wednesday.

Held alongside the Betfred World Championship qualifiers at Ponds Forge, the event saw the best placed eight players on the 2016/17 EBSA Order of Merit, taken from performances at the Paul Hunter Classic and Gibraltar Open events, battle it out for two tour cards.

Greene, who was relegated from the tour following defeat to Peter Ebdon at last year’s World Championship qualifiers, defeated Ian Glover 4-2 in his opening match, before then seeing off Steven Hallworth 4-1 to claim the tour card. Northern Ireland’s Greene was an ever-present on the tour from 1993-2016 and will now return for at least two more years following his success.

Similarly, Lines will also return to the circuit following a year out after he defeated Ben Jones (4-2) and then Zack Richardson 4-0 to secure his new tour card. The 2017 World Seniors champion had already come close to regaining his card earlier in the week via the one-year ranking list following his performances throughout the season as an amateur, but fell short after his defeat to Gary Wilson.

The Leeds veteran will now rejoin his son Oliver on the circuit and like Greene will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Anthony Hamilton, who have returned to the world’s top 64 with strong performances having seen their ranking totals reset to zero.

To see who has already qualified for next season’s main tour, read our updated article.