2020 Tour Championship

The 2020 Tour Championship was a professional snooker tournament, taking place from 20 to 26 June 2020 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, it was the second edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the second season of Coral Cup. It was the 16th and penultimate ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the Gibraltar Open and preceding the 2020 World Snooker Championship. The event was originally planned for 17 to 22 March 2020. However, on the morning of 17 March the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following advice by the UK government, it had been decided that no spectators would be permitted at the event.

2020 Coral Tour Championship
Tournament information
Dates20–26 June 2020
VenueMarshall Arena
CityMilton Keynes
CountryEngland
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£380,000
Winner's share£150,000
Highest break Stephen Maguire (SCO) (139)
Final
Champion Stephen Maguire (SCO)
Runner-up Mark Allen (NIR)
Score10–6
← 2019

The draw for the Tour Championship comprised the top eight players based on the single year ranking list, taking part in a single elimination tournament. Each match was played over a minimum of two sessions, with the final taking place over the best-of-19 frames. The winner of the tournament won £150,000 out of a total prize fund of £380,000. The event was sponsored by betting company Coral.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion after defeating Neil Robertson 13–11 in the 2019 final, but he failed to qualify for the 2020 event, placing 18th on the one-year ranking list at the cut-off date. Stephen Maguire defeated Robertson and Judd Trump; whilst Mark Allen defeated Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby to reach the final. Maguire won the final, 10-6 to win his sixth ranking event, his first for seven years. Maguire was a replacement for China's Ding Junhui, who was unable to travel to the event. In winning the tournament, Maguire also won the Coral Cup.

Overview

The 2020 Tour Championship was the third and final event in the 2020 Coral Cup series, first introduced in the 2018–19 snooker season, after the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship. It will be the 16th and penultimate ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season and organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.[1][2] The players qualified for the series by virtue of their placement on the one-year ranking list, rather than by world ranking. The event featured the top eight players from the one-year ranking list taking part in a single elimination tournament. In the Tour Championship, every match was played over multiple sessions, with two in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and in the final.[3] The final will be played as a best-of-19 frames match.[4]

The tournament will be primarily broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom.[5][6] It also aired on Sky Sport in New Zealand, NowTV in Hong Kong, and Superstars Online in China. Eurosport will not broadcast the event, despite covering all but one of the other snooker tournaments this season.[6] The event was sponsored by sports betting company Coral.[7] The draw for the event was made on 15 March 2020.[8] The Tour Championship was due to be played from 17 to 22 March 2020 in Llandudno, Wales.[9] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, following advice by the UK government no spectators were to be permitted at the event, and postponed.[10][11] On 5 June 2020 the event was organised to be played between 20 and 26 June 2020 and moved to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England.[12] It will be the second professional tournament to be played after the season was halted due to the pandemic after the 2020 Championship League. All players, and staff being admitted into the arena are checked for COVID-19 and put into isolation for the duration of the event.[13]

Prize fund

The event will have a prize fund of £380,000, with the winner receiving £150,000. The only difference from 2019 is a slightly increased prize for the highest break. The breakdown of prize money for the event was as below:[14]

  • Winner: £150,000
  • Runner-up: £60,000
  • Semi-final: £40,000
  • Quarter-final: £20,000 (Prize money at this stage do not count towards prize money rankings)
  • Highest break: £10,000
  • Total: £380,000

Summary

First round

The first round of the tournament was held from 20 to 24 June, with matches played as the best of 17 frames. Each match was played over two sessions in the same day.[15] The first match was held between Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire. Maguire was a replacement for Ding Junhui who could not travel to the event from China.[15] The pair had met previously in the season at the Masters, where Maguire trailed 1–5, but won the match 6–5.[16] Maguire took three of the four opening frames to lead 3–1, before Robertson made breaks of 100 and 103 winning the next three. Maguire levelled the score at the end of the opening session at 4–4, with both players having made two century breaks.[17] In the evening session, Robertson won frame 9, but scored only four points in the next four frames, as Maguire made breaks of 103, 135, 111 and 115 to lead 8-5. Maguire made a break of 59 in frame 14 to win the match 9-5.[16][18]

Maguire made a total of six century breaks during the match, with a total of eight between both players.[19] Both amounts were new records for centuries in a best-of-17 frames match.[19] Desmond Kane writing for Eurosport wrote that the performance was the "greatest performance of [Maguire's] 22-year career",[20] to which Maguire agreed.[21] Post-match, Robertson commented that the match table was playing easy, and likened the pockets to that of nine-ball, where they are significantly larger.[20]

The second match was played between reigning world champion Judd Trump and John Higgins. The pair had met in the final of the 2019 World Snooker Championship. Due to qualifying for the event, Trump was guarenteed to surpas £1 million in prize money for the season.[22] Trump - the world number one - won both of the opening two frames, but Higgins won frame three on the final black ball.[22] Trump won the next two frames, and led 5-3 after the first session.[22]

Seeding list

The seedings are conducted on the basis of the one-year ranking list up to and including the 2020 Gibraltar Open.[23] Fifth seed Ding Junhui withdrew prior to the tournament due to travel complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was replaced by Stephen Maguire, who was ninth on the one-year ranking list.[24]

Rank Player Total Points
1  Judd Trump (ENG) 706,500
2  Shaun Murphy (ENG) 383,000
3  Mark Selby (ENG) 285,500
4  Neil Robertson (AUS) 274,500
5  Ding Junhui (CHN) 261,250
6  Yan Bingtao (CHN) 206,500
7  Mark Allen (NIR) 165,500
8  John Higgins (SCO) 158,500
Replacement  Stephen Maguire (SCO) 152,000

Coral Cup
Main article: Coral Cup (snooker)

The 2018–19 snooker season introduced the Coral Cup series, featuring three events: the World Grand Prix, the Players Championship, and the Tour Championship.[25] For all three events, qualification was based on players' rankings on the one-year ranking list.[26] The top ten players with the most prize money won in total over the three events is shown below:[27][lower-alpha 1]

Rank Player World Grand Prix Players Championship Tour Championship Total
1 Stephen Maguire 0 30,000 150,000 180,000
2 Judd Trump 7,500 125,000 40,000 172,500
3 Neil Robertson 100,000 0 0 100,000
4 Mark Allen 0 15,000 60,000 75,000
5 Mark Selby 0 15,000 40,000 55,000
6 Yan Bingtao 0 50,000 0 50,000
7 Graeme Dott 40,000 0 0 40,000
8 Shaun Murphy 0 30,000 0 30,000
9 John Higgins 12,500 15,000 0 27,500
= Joe Perry 12,500 15,000 0 27,500

Main draw
Quarter-finals
Best of 17 frames 		Semi-finals
Best of 17 frames 		Final
Best of 19 frames
         
1  Judd Trump (ENG) 9
8  John Higgins (SCO) 4
1 Judd Trump 6
R Stephen Maguire 9
4  Neil Robertson (AUS) 5
R  Stephen Maguire (SCO) 9
R Stephen Maguire 10
7 Mark Allen 6
3  Mark Selby (ENG) 9
6  Yan Bingtao (CHN) 6
3 Mark Selby 2
7 Mark Allen 9
2  Shaun Murphy (ENG) 8
7  Mark Allen (NIR) 9

Final
Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Rob Spencer.
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, England, 26 June 2020.
Stephen Maguire (R)
 Scotland		 10–6 Mark Allen (7)
 Northern Ireland
Afternoon: 19–69 (50), 0–76 (76), 89–1 (89), 75–50 (Maguire 69, Allen 50), 56–45, 0–125 (125), 31–62, 71–18
Evening: 139–0 (139), 77–23, 38–69 (64), 74–36, 78–9 (78), 73–0 (53), 0–107 (107), 80–72
139 Highest break 125
1 Century breaks 2
4 50+ breaks 4

Century breaks

Total: 22[28]

References
  1. Prizes in bold denote an event win
  1. "Calendar for the 2019/20 season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  2. "Coral Tour Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  3. "Tour Championship Draw and Preview". SnookerHQ. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  4. "Snooker: Tour Championship Live". Sky. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  5. "Coral Tour Championship To Run In June On ITV4". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. "Tournament Broadcasters 2019–20". World Snooker. 28 June 2019. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  7. "Coral Tour Championship". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  8. "Coral Tour Championship Draw And Format". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  9. "Calendar for the 2019/20 season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  10. "Snooker news - Tour Championship, World, coronavirus, Trump, Robertson, O'Sullivan, draw, odds, TV". Eurosport UK. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  11. "Coral Tour Championship Postponed". World Snooker. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  12. "Coral Tour Championship to run in June on ITV4". World Snooker. 5 June 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  13. "Tour Championship Coverage Available Worldwide". SnookerHQ. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  14. "Tour prize money ranking points schedule 2019-20" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  15. "Coral Tour Championship Draw And Format". World Snooker. 12 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  16. "Tour Championship snooker results: Stephen Maguire beats Neil Robertson 9-5". sportinglife.com. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  17. "'Best display of my life' – Stephen Maguire stuns Neil Robertson with SIX centuries in nine frames". Eurosport UK. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  18. "Four-Midable: Maguire Joins Elite Group - World Snooker". World Snooker. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  19. "Tour Championship snooker results: Stephen Maguire beats Neil Robertson 9–5". Sporting Life. UK. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  20. "Neil Robertson claims more records will tumble on 'exhibition table' – WST deny pockets are bigger". Eurosport UK. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  21. "'Best display of my life' – Stephen Maguire stuns Neil Robertson with SIX centuries in nine frames". Eurosport UK. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  22. "Trump Shades First Session - World Snooker". World Snooker. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  23. "1 Year Ranking List". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  24. "Ding pulls out of Tour Championship". BBC Sport. 10 June 2020. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  25. "The Coral Series – Everything You Need to Know". WPBSA. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  26. "Coral To Sponsor New Snooker Series". World Snooker. 21 November 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  27. "2020 Coral Cup". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  28. "Centuries | World Snooker Live Scores". livescores.worldsnookerdata.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
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