October on the Baize
As we head into October and the start of another month, today we look ahead to the latest tournaments on the World Snooker Tour and the World Women’s Snooker Tour.
- View the latest provisional seeding list
- View the Masters Race
- View the provisional end of season rankings
888sport European Masters (2-8 October)
Returning for a second year following Judd Trump’s memorable comeback win to defeat Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2016, this time the event heads to Belgium and the city of Lommel for the sixth ranking event of the season.
The qualifiers for the tournament were held nearly two months ago at Preston’s Guild Hall, although the last 128 matches involving world number one Mark Selby, defending champion Trump and home hero Luca Brecel have been held over to the venue stages.
Carrying a top prize of £75,000, the event also marks the third mid-season revision to the seeding list of 2017/18, with the updated list to be used to determine the seedings for the upcoming English Open…
English Open (16-22 October)
Speaking of which, the English Open will be the next event on the calendar with 128 players descending upon the Barnsley Metrodome for the first event of this season’s Home Nations Series.
Like last year, there will be a £1,000,000 bonus on offer to any player who can win all four of the events, while the event will continue to adopt a seeding structure that will see only the top 16 seeds placed specifically in the draw, with the remaining players to be randomly drawn.
The draw for the event will be made during the week commencing 9 October 2017.
Eden Women’s Masters (28-29 October)
As the clocks go back and the end of the month approaches, the World Women’s Snooker Tour continues with its third event of the season, the Eden Women’s Masters.
For the first time, the WLBS circuit heads to Gloucester’s South West Snooker Academy at The Capital Venue, with Reanne Evans looking to defend the title that she last won back in January without the loss of a single frame.
Entries for the event are still being accepted – visit www.wlbsl.com for more information.
International Championship (29 October – 5 November)
As September ends with the qualifiers for the International Championship, October will reach its climax with the start of the venue stages of what has become one of the tour’s most popular events on the calendar with it’s longer format and big money prizes.
Won in recent seasons by John Higgins and Mark Selby, both of whom played some of their very best snooker to do so, not only will it be interesting to see who can win in 2017, but the winner will also claim the final place at this season’s Champion of Champions, which gets underway the following week.
