Mark Allen has leapt 19 places up the one-year ranking list with victory at the BetVictor Shoot Out to make sure of his place at next month’s World Grand Prix.
Allen beat Cao Yupeng in the final in Swansea on Saturday and the £50,000 top prize boosts him from 30th to 11th. Only the top 32 players on the list at the end of this week’s BetVictor Scottish Open (December 11-17) will qualify for the World Grand Prix which runs from January 15 to 21 in Leicester. So it’s all to play for this week in Edinburgh, with several big names in need of a deep run.
Cao received £20,000 as runner-up in Swansea and he leaps from 58th to 26th which could be enough to earn him a place in Leicester.
World Champion Luca Brecel is 38th with so needs at least two wins in Edinburgh – or more likely three – to have a chance of climbing into the top 32. He starts his bid on Monday afternoon against Iulian Boiko. Kyren Wilson is in 42nd and needs at least three wins – starting at 7pm tonight against Mostafa Dorgham. Gary Wilson is defending the title in Scotland but after a slow start to the season he must reach at least the semi-finals this week to qualify for Leicester, and he took the first step with a 4-3 win over Elliot Slessor on Monday morning.
BetVictor Scottish Open prize money:
Winner: £80,000
Runner-up: £35,000
Semi-finals: £17,500
Quarter-finals: £11,000
Last 16: £7,500
Last 32: £4,500
Last 64: £3,000
At the end of the BetVictor Scottish Open, the draw for the World Grand Prix will be confirmed (subject to players entering the event) with number one to play number 32, number two to play number 31, and so on. The match schedule for the event will be confirmed soon afterwards.
Allen moves up to third in the BetVictor Series rankings, with three counting events to go: the BetVictor Scottish Open, BetVictor German Masters and BetVictor Welsh Open. Judd Trump still has a vast lead of £98,500 over Barry Hawkins at the top of the list and in fact it’s possible he could guarantee the £150,000 bonus this week if he lands the title in Scotland and other results go his way.
On the official two-year list, Allen moves ahead of Brecel into third place behind Ronnie O’Sullivan and Trump while Cao is up from 49th to 43rd.
This list will now be used for seeding for the 2024 BetVictor German Masters, with the draw to be announced soon.
Tickets for all of these tournaments are on sale now – for details click here.
