thegentle wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:03 pm
DeepFriedRat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:23 pm
thegentle wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:16 pm
DeepFriedRat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:00 pm
thegentle wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:49 pm
Needless to say, a ginormous win for Edgar, whose tour card is now a good 90% safe I'd say. Kuivenhoven could have done without it, obviously he's far from safe, if Hunt and Kleermaker win their first round games (which they'd probably both be favourites for given they'll be up against a non-ProTour qualifier), Maik would need to win his first round game or else he's relying on snookers
I fancy Kuivenhoven to blow it. He's been chucking turds non-stop since the Euros and there are a couple of banana skins more than capable of beating him
I reckon McGeeney is toast. Wilson is in dire straits but has a glimmer of hope via A. at least two qualifier withdrawals or B. Kando and Reyes packing it in.
All depends on the draw, there are as always some really good players in the international/invitational field, but unlike in the last few years, there are a considerable number of players there who would be considered real minnows.
McGeeney has a bit of breathing space in the sense that even if Kuivenhoven and Kleermaker win their opening round games, Hunt and everyone below him would need to win at least two games to overtake him, so he's probably odds on to keep his tour card (assuming that they will be giving the tour card to 65th)
100% agree about the international qualifiers. On one hand, the 'big five' to avoid imo are Sedlacek, Keane Barry, Boris Krcmar, Nico Kurz and David Evans, with Ilagan, Lim, Meikle, Ashton, Baggish and the other PDPA guys being capable banana skins.
On the other hand, the rest are either unheard of or complete statistical garbage.
The likes of Kurz, Barry, Baggish, Campbell, Krcmar, Sedlacek and Zonneveld are the cream of the international crop, all quality players on form, they'd fancy their chances against anyone and could even be a threat in round 2 if they make it past round 1. The rest of the tour card holders plus the Oceanic lads, Lauby and Portela are solid enough, would probably give it a good go but would be underdogs whoever they play. Then you've got the likes of Lim, Ilagan, Carolissen, who have clearly got talent, but I've got no idea how they'll do given the lack of experience (in the case of Carolissen) or match practice this year, and then the others are varying degrees of minnow
Forgot about Matt Campbell, he was very impressive vs Dimitri at the World Cup. I've never been convinced about Portela, he's played shit every time I've watched him except his Worlds debut vs Wright where he was decent enough. Puha seems like he should do better as he has potential but often flops on tv, he could benefit from the Challenge Tour.
I fancy Krcmar and Kurz to beat any one of the ProTour players to be honest, except for Heta and Van Duijvenbode, and Searle and Joyce if they show up.
There are lots of the ProTour players who were great before lockdown and have since hit a brick wall. These could include Razma, Kuivenhoven, Lowe, J Smith, Hamilton, Telnekes, Keegan Brown and Beaton. Any of those you listed at the start would have to be favourite against these.
The only ones that played themselves into the spots are Labanauskas, Murray, Hunt, Boulton and Jones. Darius has form at Ally Pally but the rest have little to no tv pedigree whatsoever, except Jones, who frankly it's a miracle he even made it (off the back of one fluke PC semi-final).
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