The UK Seedings Race
There are just two events remaining before the final seeding list is set for this year’s Betway UK Championship in York.
The first of this season’s ‘triple crown’ events runs from 28 November – 10 December 2017 at the York Barbican and will see world number one Mark Selby look to successfully defend the title that he claimed for a second time almost a year ago.
Seeding structure
As has been the case since 2013, the draw for the tournament is seeded in a unique manner which sees each of the 128 players placed specifically in the draw. This means that seed 1 will play seed 128 in the opening round, seed 2 will face number 127 and so on, while the winner of 1 v 128 will then meet the winner of the contest between players 64 and 65 in the second round.
The relevant seeding list will be that issued following the conclusion of the International Championship on 5 November, with the latest provisional seeding list, taking into account minimum points already earned and points to be deducted by that date, available to view HERE.
In previous seasons the list has been complicated by the presence of Invitational Tour Card (ITC) holders, who were seeded after all main tour professionals, rather than according to their ranking position. However, this has changed for 2017 following a recent announcement by World Snooker that ITC holders will now be seeded by their ranking position.
The standings
So what can still change? The final two counting events prior to the all-important cut-off for the UK Championship are next week’s English Open and the International Championship, the venue stages of which get underway at the end of the month.
The draw for the English Open is now available HERE, while the qualifiers for the International Championship have already concluded with the final stages draw available HERE.
In recent years it has been common to see the field completed by players from the Q School Ranking List as top-up players, however there is no guarantee for this in 2017 as we have seen from recent events that have required a preliminary round due to the number of professional entries.
With £5,000 at stake for a first round win, the matches between players ranked 64/65, 63/66 often prove crucial at the end of the season when it comes down to the all-important cut-off point for tour survival. The likes of former world champion Ken Doherty and recent European Masters semi-finalist Cao Yupeng, still ranked outside of the world’s 64 will be particularly dangerous draws for those above them, while players who have climbed the rankings in recent months such as Luca Brecel and Zhou Yuelong will be hoping for a more straightforward start.
The final seeding list following the International Championship will also be used to determine the seedings for the Northern Ireland Open, with only the top 16 seeded and placed in the draw at that event.
Keep checking back here at wpbsa.com for further updates.
