NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
There has been a significant change to the UK Championship this season and it seems to have polarised opinion among players.
The UK has adopted the format of the World Championship, with the top 16 in the world rankings going straight to the main stages in York, and 16 qualifiers coming through to join them.
Those 16 qualifiers have come through tiered qualification stages at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, with the lowest-ranked players having to win four matches to make it to York, while those closer to the top 16 only having to win two games.
In recent years, all 128 professionals came in at round one, with number one playing number 128, two playing 127 and so on. Now the top 16 are drawn at random against the 16 qualifiers.