Ssb - hendry and o'sullivan enter ptc4...but no ding

[MySockPuppet]

Stephen Hendry will face his teenage compatriot Anthony McGill in the opening round of the fourth Players Tour Championship event of the season next month.

Hendry is making his debut in the series having sat out the first three tournaments.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, a quarter-finalist in the first PTC event, also returns and will meet world no.12 Ryan Day in the last 128.

But Ding Junhui has once again not entered and is thus ineligible for the grand finals next March.

Players have to have competed in a minumum of three UK PTC events and three in Europe to be able to qualify for the big money finals.

In the standout ties in PTC4, world champion Neil Robertson faces Malta's Tony Drago, PTC2 winner Mark Selby takes on Zhang Anda, who qualified for the Crucible last season, and Matthew Stevens tackles James Wattana.

I counted 92 professionals in the field, meaning only three - John Higgins is still suspended - have opted out.


More...

[snoopy2608]

I think Carter and Burnett are the other two - but haven't properly gone through draw yet.

I wonder if the Shanghai draw is being delayed as late as possible to see if a conclusion on the Higgins case could be made in time..........

[ferret]

Not entering will be;
John Higgins (Because of suspension)
Ali Carter
Ding Junhui
Steve Davis
Jamie Burnett

168 entries in all;
76 amateurs
92 Main Tour players

[goldengirl]

Says on previous post that Lui Song will take Higgins' place. Can't understand why the draw is so late as the closing date for entries is well gone. And the draws for the PTC events are out. WS have e-mailed me to say the draw will be sent out to players and put on the website next week - not much time for those travelling. Hope they haven't extended the closing date waiting for players entries.

[Mr P]

What a complete disappointment Dign Junhui is, I thought he'd be one of the first to enter these events.