Joe Johnson believes Stephen Lee has more chances to win PTC now – Snooker News
World Snooker Chairman, Barry Hearn made some important announcements during the 2012 World Snooker Championship campaign including the addition of three more Players Tour Championship (PTC) events on the calendar. The addition if these three Asian PTC events
have increased the chances of victory for the players as they will get more opportunities to improve their rankings.
Last season’s PTC Grand Finals was clinched by the English potter Stephen Lee who defeated the former World Snooker Champion and the 2012 Masters snooker event winner, Australia’s Neil Robertson by the score line of 4- 0 at the Bailey Allen Hall in Galway,
Ireland.
The Englishman will definitely be looking to retain the title and has been advised by the former World Snooker Champion Joe Johnson to stay focused during his season campaign because the increased number of PTC events has given him a lot of room to win and
maintain his title. After the announcement of Hearn, there are now 16 PTC events in the recent snooker season.
With impressive performance in the last year’s PTC Grand Finals, Lee was able to improve his ranking and occupy a place in the Top 10 potters. Johnson believes that the Trowbridge potter has many chances to get back into his game and reclaim the PTC title
so he must play sensibly and with no pressure on his mind.
While speaking to the local media about the English cueman, Johnson said, “I talked to Stephen a little bit in Ireland before he won the PTC finals and he put his success down to Barry Hearn introducing more tournaments.”
He added, “Previously, there was so much pressure on winning – he would have to wait two months to play. That is a massive difference for someone who needs the money and has mortgages to pay and everything else and Stephen has done well to make the most
of the opportunities.”
Lee did not have an ideal finish of the last season as he crashed out of the 2012 World Snooker Championship in the opening round against Andrew Higginson by the score line of 10-6. However, he must be looking to begin the recent season campaign with a new
spark in his cue.
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