Day 2 of the World Snooker Championship qualifiers saw the completion of Round 1 and another 15 amateurs were involved.
5 of these amateurs made it through to Round 2 by beating professional players.
Most notable of these results was Ben Mertens of Belgium beating last years amateur hero James Cahill 6-2. Cahill went to the Crucible last year and beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round.
Another great result was Jake Nicholson beating Brandon Sargeant – also 6-2.
Sean Maddocks couldn’t emulate those achievements, losing out 6-1 to Fraser Patrick.
The Tiered Draw
When you look at the results from Round 1 it is obvious, to me, that the tiered draw system works.
In total there are 10 amateurs involved in Round 2
The amateurs were all drawn against the lower-ranked professionals with the exception of Wu Yize and Ashley Hugill who were paired together. The winners will go through to meet professionals in the next bracket up and so on.
If the top 16, or even top 48, had been involved, there would most likely have been a lot less of the lower-ranked players and amateurs going into Round 2. Yes, it would have made the headlines if someone like Mertens had beaten someone like Trump, but that would have been lot less likely.
The Round 1 winners will earn at least £5000 for their success and there’s another £5000 if they can win their next match.
Should this system be implemented for all professional events?
I believe all the professional events should use the tiered system to give lower-ranked players a chance to earn money while learning their trade.
It’s common sense really and I don’t know any other sport where the lowest are having to, potentially, play the top players and earn nothing at all if they lose.
