Barry Hearn makes PTC another route for amateurs to qualify for pro tour – Snooker update
Chairman of World Snooker Barry Hearn has provided the amateur snooker players with another way of qualifying for the professional tour via the upcoming 12 events of the Players Tour Championship.
The snooker chief says it will be another step towards the promotion of the game worldwide.
Now the amateur potters will have another chance to grab a place at the World Snooker Professional Tour through this season’s PTC events. Those young players, who did not finish among the top 64 at the end of the 2011-12 season and have grabbed a place in
the top eight of the PTC Order of Merit list, will be given a tour card for the 2012-13 season.
This new criteria has replaced the older one used for the 2011-12 season. According to the old criteria, the Tour players among the top eight players in the PTC Order of Merit were eligible for the World Snooker Professional Tour.
Hearn said, “This is another step towards opening the game up, giving everybody a chance to qualify and making sure we have the best players on the professional Tour. Last season there were some fantastic performances in the PTC events from amateurs such
as Daniel Wells and Michael Wasley, and this time we are rewarding amateurs and giving them every encouragement to enter the PTC events.”
“We are going into new territories with the PTC series this season and hoping to broadcast some of the European ones on Eurosport. The players are realising now that these events are not to be missed and I hope to see record numbers,” he added.
There are 12 events in the upcoming Players Tour Championship- six in the UK and six in Europe. The Order of Merit list will be finalised according to the prize money won by a player and the top 24 players in the list will through to the PTC Grand Finals.
The World Snooker is determined to promote the game worldwide and increase its viewership all around the world. The world snooker body has made several changes in the eligibility rules and play formats of a couple of tournaments for the same purpose. Recently,
new rules were introduced for the Premier League Snooker play format as well.
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