Royal London Grand Prix Qualifying

[Alex0paul]

Dissapointing qualifying campaign for some of the unlikely stars of last years event with semi finalist Greene and quarter finalist Song crashing out early. I hope Trump can qualify as he needs to get more matches out in an arena to get used to it as he has already said he seems to freeze.

[Rane]

So third day has taken off. Doherty already two frames down against Parrot
And everybodys darling Dave Harold has started where he left and is two frames up
Simon Bedford is looking to go two frames up against Mark Williams. Is there anyone who has some information on this guy ?

[Ellena]

Kendo is 4-0 down while my "fav" Harold is 4-0 up against Jin Long.
Mark Williams also 3-0 down ..Simon Bedford ..sounds familiar his name tho dont remember ever seein him playing.
Other results:
Joe Swail 2-2 R. Walden
M Holt 2-1 M. Judge
D.Dale 2- 3 J. Michie
S. Davis 3-1 T. Ford
A, Hamilton 2-2 A.McManus

Edit: Mark just won the 4th frame so 3-1 now for Bedford. Mon Mark!

[Matt_2745]

Ken

Bedford is 32 now, has been on the tour in the past.

[matoski]

I'm surprised that Steve Davis is leading against Tom Ford 3-1.
Bad news for all Harold haters. Dave is 4-0 up against Jin Long. By the way, is there going to be round robin again in the Gran Prix? I hate that!

[Matt_2745]

No round robins but it's going to be an open draw. Tomorrow the qualifiers will be randomly drawn against the seeds and then from the last 16 anyone can play anyone else. It's like the FA Cup basically.

[Ellena]

Davis leading 4-1 now.
I had no idea GP changed its format of playing..again.

[Monique]

No, no round robin. And it's a shame because it favours consistency and therefore it's the real measure of players form and quality. The usual complains about dead matches can be countered by appropriate ranking points reward for any "rank" in the league phase.

Look at my last thread about the order of play and you will see how the "random draw" is planned. ... I hate it! The chances of big names meeting early and falling out while other go though are rather big with this set-up and in a way it distords the ranking system.

[Rane]

Breaking news. Harold is through. All here on the forum is looking forward for the televised matches.

[Monique]

Breaking news. Harold is through. All here on the forum is looking forward for the televised matches.

Well I am! he's very sympathetic ... and you don't miss too much action if you need to take a p** in the middle of a frame!

[Rane]

And Parrot wins 5 - 0 against Doherty. That was a surprise to me. I had expected Doherty to take some confidence from his match against O´Sullivan.

[Monique]

John Parrott is through also ... 5-0. Ken Doherty really in trouble it seems. Although I must say I was impressed by the way Parrott played in Duffel. He was unfortunate to play Mark Selby in the last 32...

[João]

Don't tell me Doherty is finished..

[Rane]

I can see, that Simon Bedford has been around for a while. See the text from World Snooker below. Career earnings 25.000£ in twelve years. It´s certainly much better to be a golfplayer. I guess players like him must have some other jobs.

Bedford regained a place on the pro Tour by finishing third in the 2007/08 Pontin’s International Open Series rankings.
The Yorkshireman won the opening tournament of the campaign, beating Gary Wilkinson 6-3 in the final.
Bedford, who achieved his highest world ranking of 63 in 2005/06, won nine matches at three different venues to qualify for the televised stages of the 1998 World Championship - booking his place at the Crucible with a 10-9 defeat of Gary Wilkinson. He lost to six-times champion Steve Davis in the first round proper.

[Monique]

Mark Williams clawed his way back to 3-3 ... ain't finished yet!

And Steve Davis is through!