The final event of the inaugural Home Nations begins on Monday when the Welsh Open gets underway. This was the one tournament in the series which was already established with the other three tournaments new this year. This is an historical event which has an illustrious roll of honour.
Recent Winners
2016 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2015 – John Higgins
2014 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2013 – Stephen Maguire
2012 – Ding Junhui
2011 – John Higgins
2010 – John Higgins
2009 – Ali Carter
2008 – Mark Selby
2007 – Neil Robertson
The Format
This tournament follows the same format as the other ones in the Home Nations series. The first round up to the last 16 are all over the best of seven frames with the last 32 and last 16 all played in one hectic day on Thursday.
From there the quarter finals are the best of nine frames before a rise to the best of 11 for the semi-finals and the title is decided over the best of 17 frames. 128 players have entered the tournament and the draw has already been pre-drawn.
Top Quarter
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is the number one seed this week so this is his quarter. In terms of the top 16 members looking to dethrone him from his perch Mark Williams, Marco Fu and Neil Robertson are the men in question but they are not the only ones who can do some damage from this quarter.
Northern Ireland Open champion Mark King, former German Masters winner Martin Gould, Tom Ford, Ricky Walden and the former world champion Graeme Dott are just some of the other players in this quarter who will fancy lengthy runs.
Second Quarter
This is the section of the draw which contains John Higgins, the winner here two years ago. Higgins is joined in this quarter by Judd Trump which immediately makes it a competitive section without factoring Barry Hawkins and Ali Carter into the equation.
This is another quarter with plenty of dangers. Recent German Masters champion Anthony Hamilton is in here as are Dave Gilbert, World Grand Prix finalist Ryan Day, Luca Brecel and Ben Woollaston so this will take some coming through.
Third Quarter
Stuart Bingham is the headline name in this quarter. The former finalist here is matched up alongside Ding Junhui, Joe Perry and Liang Wenbo in terms of top 16 players in the field but as with the other quarters the talent doesn’t end there.
Robin Hull defends his Shootout title next week but plays here first while Indian Open champion Anthony McGill is also in this quarter. Welsh stars Matthew Stevens, Michael White, Jamie Jones and Dominic Dale will hope for big runs in their home event while former winner Stephen Maguire will be aiming to get back on track too.
Bottom Quarter
As ever when he isn’t the defending champion of a tournament the world champion Mark Selby heads the bottom quarter. The other top 16 players going up against him in this section are Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson.
There is never a quarter without dangerous outsiders in it but you would have to say this one has fewer than the others. That said Matt Selt, Michael Holt and Yan Bingtao are capable of going deep in any tournament they enter.
Betting
In these Home Nation events I’ve been taking a player in each quarter in the hope that we can get some through to the weekend where the cash is paid out and I’m not abandoning that tactic.
My main bet comes in the top quarter where I thought Neil Robertson turned a corner with his form in the World Grand Prix. He mentioned in an interview during that event how he had worked hard on the practice table and made something click and when the Australian is confident he can take care of anyone. A win over O’Sullivan in Preston will have done his confidence and belief no harm at all and 14/1 is a big price for such a talent.
In the second quarter I’m going to take the former champion Ali Carter. He showed in Berlin that he is in good touch and I’ll allow him his defeat in the World Grand Prix as he had been playing a fair amount of snooker recently. Even then he only lost in a deciding frame so he was still battling. This is a competitive section but Carter is playing as well as anyone and is overpriced at 66/1.
Joe Perry has been in good touch in recent times and he has a good record here having been to the semi-final of this tournament twice in the last three years. Perry made the final of The Masters and was only beaten in a deciding frame in a great match with Liang Wenbo in Preston last week so in a section where Stuart Bingham looks bang out of form and Ding might have another things on his mind Perry is big at 66/1.
In the bottom quarter all eyes will be on Mark Selby but he hasn’t looked himself since the turn of the year which opens the door for someone else. Shaun Murphy doesn’t look on top of his game either so I fancy Mark Allen could be the one to come through here. Allen isn’t playing badly but keeps running into opponents on top form. That doesn’t look to be the case here so he’s worth a go at 33/1.
Tips
Back N.Robertson to win Welsh Open (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 15.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back M.Allen to win Welsh Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back A.Carter to win Welsh Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Perry to win Welsh Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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