Neal Foulds snooker column: ITV and Eurosport pundit looks ahead to Welsh Open and Players Championship

I’m heading to Wales this week for the Welsh Open, an event steeped in history and one of the highlights of the calendar long before it became part of the Home Nations Series.

The great Stephen Hendry won the inaugural running of the Welsh Open back in 1992, and the likes of John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson have claimed first prize in recent years.

And there is an added dimension this year, with the high-profile trio mentioned above desperately needing to go deep in Wales if they are to qualify for the prestigious Players Championship, which follows straight after.

Higgins needs to win the whole thing after a dreadful season thus far, as does O’Sullivan, or at least make the final. Robertson has more breathing space, and having knocked hard on the door in the first three Home Nations events, another quarter-final would probably suffice.

I think we’ll see Robertson defend his title next week, one he won in tremendous style when hammering Barry Hawkins in last year’s final.

Should those three go on a run this week, it will certainly provide a fascinating sub-plot to the main story, and it’s not a stretch to think any of Higgins, O’Sullivan and Robertson could win the Welsh Open and then roll with that impetus to follow up at the Players Championship.

As always, much of the focus will be on O’Sullivan who has endured a strange campaign in many ways. He’s earned a huge amount of prize money from winning the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions, but it’s been a non-starter as far as ranking events are concerned.

From what we’ve seen of him recently, when making little impact at the Masters and World Grand Prix, it would be some feat were he to go all the way and win in Wales this year – but this is O’Sullivan we’re talking about here.

I know the fans will want to see the Robertsons and O’Sullivans at the Players Championship, as will ITV and the sponsors, but the Welsh Open is a big event in its own right, and a coveted one, and those big names will have to earn whatever comes their way in the coming days.

The final point to make about O’Sullivan is that I’m still of the belief that he’s working back from Sheffield and at a tilt at a possible eighth World Championship title. He said earlier in the season that he was going to use some of these events to get himself right for the spring and it’s definitely true that there is no substitute for match practice.

As such, perhaps we won’t see him at his best until Sheffield, but if he’s up for it, and with such a strong record in ITV events you’d have to think he will be, then he’s always a big contender. You wouldn’t discount him, anyway.

That’s all in the future, but it’s only a couple of weeks since Chris Wakelin won his first ranking title when crowned Shoot Out champion at the end of another drama-filled few days.

The Shoot Out might not be for everyone but you can’t question the merits of the recent winners. Wakelin was brilliant all weekend and won the final with a magnificent century against Julien Leclercq, just as Thepchaiya Un-Nooh did in the 2019 final. Hossein Vafaei won last year’s final in one visit, too.

The winner is usually the best player of the week, and I’m really pleased for Wakelin who has been something of a nearly man but is a very good player.

Readers might remember Wakelin losing a brutal match against Judd Trump in the 2018 World Championship, when both men struggled badly in a tortuous deciding frame. He’s made no secret of how that defeat left its mark, and he hasn’t been the same player since.

That’s behind him now and there are hopefully a few more big days in him.

Ali Carter is another who has plenty to celebrate having won the German Masters last week with a series of top-class displays through the week, most notably when proving much too strong for Tom Ford in the final.

That result has been coming for a while. He’s played well all season, even in the Shoot Out before losing to Ford in a close match, and again at the English Open when reaching the last eight.

Carter is still a very, very good player – perhaps as good as ever – and he’s back in the top 16 now, where he belongs. He’s been something of a forgotten man, but he shouldn’t be, and his victory in Germany was very much deserved.

The main thing is that he’s fit and healthy, thankfully, but he will have got a big kick out of Berlin and will be eyeing a strong finish to the season.

Carter has been around for a while now, not so Stan Moody who secured his two-year Tour Card by winning the WSF Junior Championship in Sydney, beating Liam Pullen 5-1 in the final.

Moody is a big talent, so much so that at the time of writing, the 16-year-old is looking forward to contesting the final of the WSF Championship, which is the equivalent of the World Amateur Championship, having beat another fine, young player in Liam Davies in the semi-finals.

This event has been won by the likes of Jimmy White and Ken Doherty in the past, so to complete the double after his earlier triumph in the juniors would be quite an achievement.

Like Moody, Davies and Pullen should have plenty to look forward to. For all three, these tournaments are learning curves for what is to come, but it’s nice to see such talent coming through the ranks when most of our attention is focussed on the likes of O’Sullivan and Robertson ahead of a massive week in Wales.

Related links

• Welsh Open draw & schedule
• Neal Foulds' perfect snooker player