Next week will see the start of the 2015/16 Kreativ Dental European Tour as snooker returns to Latvia for the Kaspersky Lab Riga Open.
As was the case during last season, the series will be made up of six events, with prize mone earned counting towards both the official two-year ranking list and also the European Order of Merit.
The players have been seeded for Riga in accordance with the updated world ranking list following the Australian Goldfields Open, before the European Order of Merit will be used to determine seedings for future events, beginning with the Paul Hunter Classic at the end of August.
Again, 24 players will also qualify from the European Order of Merit to compete in the Players Championship later in the season, together with eight players from the Asian Order of Merit.
In terms of main tour places on offer, as has been the norm for a number of seasons now, the eight highest players on the European Order of Merit at the end of the season, not already inside of the top 64 of the main world ranking list or already qualified for next season, will earn a fresh two-year tour card from the start of 2016/17.
This means that for those players currently outside of the top 64 and on the second year of their current tour cards, each of the six Kreativ Dental European Tour events will take on extra significance this season, culminating in next year’s Gdynia Open.
Finally, the events will also be important to amateur players looking to get on tour, not only through the main European Order of Merit, but also through the EBSA Order of Merit. Like last season, this will see the top 16 performing amateurs qualify for the EBSA play-offs at the end of the season, with a further two main tour places ultimately on offer.
With big prize money and main tour places at stake then, the Kreativ Dental European Tour remains a significant part of this season’s calendar and you can keep track of all of the latest developments here and at worldsnooker.com.
