A day after the UK Championship concludes the Scottish Open, the third Home Nations event of the season, begins up in Glasgow with the majority of the big names heading up across the border looking for one last big pay day before Christmas.
Neil Robertson won the title 12 months ago and he is here to defend his crown. Mark Williams and Mark Selby are giving the tournament a miss but the rest of the top band of players are competing in what should be a great week.
Recent Winners
2017 – Neil Robertson
2016 – Marco Fu
The Format
I shouldn’t need to go into the format now given that this is the third year of Home Nations events but for those new to the scene from the first round until the quarter finals the tournament is the best of seven frames. Those quarter finals are the best of nine with the two semi-finals being the best of 11 frames. The champion will be determined on Sunday in a final which is the first to nine frames. The draw has already been pre-drawn and is a knockout event throughout.
Top Quarter
Neil Robertson is the number one seed as the defending champion and it is he who heads up the top quarter of the draw. He is joined in this section by the Paul Hunter Classic champion Kyren Wilson and a Shaun Murphy who is out of form but who should surely come good soon. The high profile absentees mean that Ali Carter is seeded 16 this week and he is in this quarter as a result.
Joe Perry is in good form and he is one of the unseeded players in this quarter with UK Championship quarter finalist Martin O’Donnell, Mark King, UK semi-finalist Tom Ford and Li Hang all in this part of the draw. Michael White, Michael Holt and the talented Sam Craigie ensure that this is a decent section competitively.
Second Quarter
Judd Trump is the main man in this part of the draw. He goes off in search of successive Home Nations titles having won in Northern Ireland last month. Barry Hawkins is seeded to be his biggest danger but UK Championship semi-finalist and winner of the other Home Nations event this term Stuart Bingham will have something to say about that, as will Stephen Maguire in his home tournament.
Jimmy White will be a popular addition to this part of the draw. There are a lot of low ranked players in this quarter with Northern Ireland semi-finalist Eden Sharav probably the pick of the other men in it. Hossein Vafaei can be dangerous while Zhou Yuelong often likes these formats and it would be no surprise were he to come through a fair distance.
Third Quarter
It is the local man John Higgins who is seeded to come out of the third quarter. It has been highly documented that he isn’t happy with his game so this tournament might have come around at a good time for him. UK Championship finalist Mark Allen is seeded to be his main danger but how much he has left in his tank remains to be seen. Former winner Marco Fu and Luca Brecel make up the seeds in the section.
Liang Wenbo has a win in a Home Nations event to his name and so he is entitled to be a danger in this tournament. Alan McManus had a couple of good wins in the UK Championship and will be looking to go well here too. Graeme Dott, Anthony McGill and Scott Donaldson will all be wanting to do well in their home tournament while Yan Bingtao and Peter Ebdon have big runs in them as well.
Bottom Quarter
UK Championship winner Ronnie O’Sullivan is the main draw in the bottom quarter of the competition. He is looking for successive finals in Home Nations tournaments and back-to-back titles after his win in York. Ding Junhui is the other main seed in the section with Ryan Day and Jack Lisowski the other top 16 players in the quarter.
Dave Gilbert was scoring like a dream in York. He is in this quarter with Ricky Walden, European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson,Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Matthew Stevens, Mark Davis and Anthony Hamilton all in this part of the draw. Zhao Xintong, Noppon Saengkham and Robert Milkins are also hiding here.
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Betting
As ever I’ll take a man in each quarter in the draw in the hope of getting a couple out of the best of sevens. In the top quarter I’m priced in on Shaun Murphy. To be fair he’s been the square root of useless for much of the season but I’ve seen players look at things from the commentary box before and then come out refreshed and revived and ready to launch a decent tilt at the next event. The one good thing about going out of the UK Championship early is that there is no danger of him being burnt out this week.Unless he’s lost an arm Murphy can’t be 50/1 for a tournament. I don’t think he has lost an arm so I’ll be on him in the top quarter.
In the second quarter Stuart Bingham has already won a tournament for me this season and even though his price has come down as a result I’m happy to be on him again. He did nothing wrong in the UK Championship going down to a special break from Mark Allen in the deciding frame of the semi-final so he shouldn’t be too down by how that worked out. Bingham won the English Open so we know he has wins in these events in him. Even at 18/1 I think Bingham is worth a go this week.
With John Higgins hating snooker right now and Mark Allen surely running on a low petrol tank there could be a monster upset in the third quarter. I took Peter Ebdon in the UK Championship and he ran into an insane performance by Dave Gilbert who made four tons against him in a 6-4 win but given that he was beaten by a freak showing in York there is no reason to leave him out of our plans here. This quarter has to open up and it could very easily be Ebdon who comes through it. He was a quarter finalist in Belfast and I’ll pay to see if he can find a couple more wins.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is the man to beat in the bottom part of the draw but he might also be running out of gas so I think it might be worth chancing someone at a price in this section too. Noppon Saengkham fits the bill for me at a huge price. Saengkham made the quarters of the English Open and the semis in the World Open so he is going along well enough this season. He wouldn’t face O’Sullivan until the quarter final here which gives plenty of time for someone to take care of the Rocket. At a three figure price the Thai is worthy of support to me.
Tips
PLACED – Back S.Murphy to win Scottish Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back S.Bingham to win Scottish Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back P.Ebdon to win Scottish Open (e/w) or a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back N.Saengkham to win Scottish Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
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