The snooker tour heads back to Germany this week for the Ruhr Open, the latest tournament on the European Tour schedule. Not only are the players looking for a decent run to boost their chances of making the PTC finals but the winner here could make the Champion of Champions.
That should add to the competitiveness of a tournament which the big names sometimes use as pure practice time for the bigger events to come over the next couple of months.
With the schedule about to get really heavy some of the big names in the game have decided not to make the trip here but with the likes of Mark Selby, Stuart Bingham, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump in the field we’re certain to get some decent snooker.
The format for this tournament is the same as the other European Tour events. Each match is the best of seven frames throughout with half the field playing down to the last 16 on Friday and the other half doing the same on Saturday. The tournament concludes from the last 16 onwards on Sunday.
As always the way I play these European Tour events is to take a player from each quarter in the hope I can get a couple through to Sunday and from there these tournaments can be won by anyone. Boylesports are paying four places and in a 128 runner field I’ll use those places.
In the top quarter Ali Carter is the number one seed having landed the Paul Hunter Classic in the last European Tour event. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if Carter launched another tilt at a title this weekend but I prefer to look elsewhere in the section as Marco Fu, Stuart Bingham and Liang Wenbo are in the top part of that quarter.
On the other side of the quarter there isn’t a standout big name so given that Ben Woollaston has a decent record in these sort of events I’m going to chance that he can have a run here. He will be in the quarter final and one win from a pay out before he meets anyone too daunting so he looks a good place to start our assault on the event.
The second quarter is headlined by Judd Trump and Mark Williams and I’m sure they will be popular but I’m going to take a chance on a man who has just landed his first professional title and could be riding the crest of a wave.
That man is Kyren Wilson, the recent Shanghai Masters winner. He will have to beat some decent talent in order to go deep this weekend but he did that in Shanghai so we know he has it in him. If he is in that form here he might just have the motivation needed to provide a big weekend here.
The third quarter looks a competitive one with Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire, Michael White and Graeme Dott in it and I would imagine we will get plenty of last frame deciders in this part of the draw but one man who could be ready to whack his season into life is Ricky Walden.
Walden is often a slow starter to the year but when he works himself into form he’s one of the best players in the world. We’ve got some big events to come including an overseas one so I’m sure he’ll be practicing hard and at 33/1 he could be overpriced this weekend.
The bottom quarter is another open affair with Barry Hawkins the main seed in that part of the draw. Hawkins has already won a European Tour event this year so we know he’s in good form but I’m prepared to take him on with Mark Allen.
Allen looked good in Shanghai last month where he made the semi-final and he is another one who goes well in these sort of events. He will expect to win a big tournament this season and he can warm up for the events to come with a solid run this week. The Northern Irishman can complete my squad this weekend.
Back B.Woollaston to win Ruhr Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back K.Wilson to win Ruhr Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back R.Walden to win Ruhr Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back M.Allen to win Ruhr Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Blog snooker YTD: +52.57pts
