Judd Trump's 2018/19 Season - Shorts Thoughts

Four tournament wins, three ranking titles, 1 Masters and 1 World Championship. With a 100% final success rate in this season, Judd Trump reaches 11 ranking titles as well as achieving his best season yet. Let’s recap some of the highlights.

Displaying strong performances in the early beginnings of the season already, the first of Trump’s ranking titles came at the Northern Ireland Open 2018 against Ronnie O’Sullivan. Although it was one of their closer matches, Trump kept a strong foothold in order to get himself over the winning line.

Fast forward to the New Year, in January Trump displayed in my opinion his most dominant and convincing performance yet. Again, O’Sullivan was at the receiving end of Trump’s incredible first Masters win with a 10-4 hammering. This win included a 7-1 lead for the victor. Although O’Sullivan wasn’t playing well, Trump was playing far too well to be stopped at any point.

No more than 1 month later, Trump added the World Grand Prix to his list of wins this season, surviving an Ali Carter comeback. And then this past April/May, Trump claimed the top prize, with a considerable victory over one of snooker’s top match players, John Higgins.

The main takeaway from Trump’s season this year is not just how many titles he has won, or even the nature of the titles he has won; it’s the manner in which he won them. And also, how he has been performing in general all season. Previously, we have seen Trump playing tremendously well during a given season, but going into the big events with such high expectations set by everyone, he tended to fall short.

Now, I think we’re seeing a change in the tide. With multiple victories over O’Sullivan, Selby and Robertson this season alone (and then of course, Higgins); we could be seeing the start of a dominant few years over the horizon.

In my personal opinion, Trump had one of the top 3 matches of the season in his semi-final against O’Sullivan in the inaugural Tour Championship. And also, one of the best safety shots (alongside Gary Wilson’s) this season against Neil Robertson (if you know, you know).

But can Trump win the UK Championship later this year to claim all the Triple Crown titles within the same year? No one’s doubting him now.

What is the Tour Championship (and Coral Cup)?

Back in late March, you may remember a new ITV tournament which Ronnie O’Sullivan won 13-11 against Neil Robertson. This was the inaugural Tour Championship and the first of its editions. So, what’s the deal with this new ranking event?

Not much, to be honest. An addition to the Coral Cup, which already consists of the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship, the Tour Championship was added for the top of the top of the top. The Grand Prix consists of the Top 32 in the one year ranking list; the Players Championship consists of the Top 16; and now the Tour Championship exists for the Top 8 players.

Unlike most other tournaments, where finals are contested in a best-of-19 frame match, the Tour Championship recognises a slightly longer format where the finalists must try to reach 13 frames to take home the trophy. Not to mention, a prize of £150,000.

Much like the Tour Championship, the Coral Cup is something newly introduced in the 2018/19 snooker season. Starting from next season, whichever player collects the most money from the collective tournaments in the Coral Cup will also net a £100,000 bonus. If this bonus was in effect this season that would have gone to ROS with his considerable wins at the Players and Tour.

I had always been quite fond of the Players Championship especially because you were basically guaranteed top matches every single time where players go all out. But now the Tour takes things to the next level with an increased prize pot and the highest echelon of players. I mean, this was clearly evident in arguably the match of the season with ROS trailing from 6-2 down to beat Trump in the semi-final decider.

All that being said, February to March is a great time to be watching snooker in the coming seasons.

Top Ranking Events in 2018/19 Season

Obviously, we all know that the World Championship is definitely (and monetarily) the top prize in the sport of snooker. And it always has been/will be. Most consider prize money to be one of the main factors to determine the ‘importance’ of an event. If this is the way we view it, what were the most ‘important’ events this season, based on prize money?

Let’s just get WSC out of the way to begin with – top prize worth £500,000. By the way, this just considers top prize winnings as opposed to total tournament prize fund. However, they both tend to go hand in hand. This is followed by the China Open, with a winner’s prize of £225,000. Not surprising, considering the impressive and growing viewership of the Chinese audience. Also, even though it isn’t a ranking event, it’s always worth mentioning the Masters and the £200,000 winnings.

So that’s just top 2. Third place (but only by £5000) goes to the International Championship with top prize of £175,000 then the last of the triple crowns in a calendar year; the UK Championship with a taking of £170,000 for the champion.

If you wanted to win £150,000, you go to either the World Open, China Championship or the newly introduced Tour Championship. The next high prize tournaments rest with the rest of the Coral Cup events: the Players Championship and Grand Prix with first places taking £125,000 and £100,000 respectively.

Next, we have what the Top 16 probably consider as the peasant tournaments, where top prizes take less than £100,000. Firstly, the German and European Masters which award £80,000 and £75,000. Then, you have the home nations, each providing their winners £70,000 for victory.

Lastly, you have the Riga Masters and Indian Open, both with £50,000 winnings; then the Shoot Out, Gibraltar Open and Paul Hunter Classic with winnings of £32,000, £25,000 and £20,000 respectively.

Now, prize monies and funds are subject to change – in general, they are on the up for certain tournaments whereas, in others (i.e. home nations) it has mainly stayed constant. But this gives a pretty reasonable idea as to the top tournaments in a season, with the exception of the Triple Crown.

Should 147 prize money be increased (Part 2)

Barry Hearn just held a press conference in which one of the key announcements were the changes to the 147 prize system. Staring next season, there will no longer be a rolling prize system. Instead, there is a £1 million prize pot which gets activated once 20 maximums are made in a season; then the pot is shared among those who were made the perfect break.

One major concern with this is the closest there have been to 20 maximum breaks in a single season has been 13. So, let’s say standards rise and 19 maximums get made in a season: then that means all of the players that hit the magical 147 will not get any money. So, there isn’t any financial benefit to players after making a 147? Unless there still is a high break prize.

This could potentially change the dynamic of players going for the pattern of red and black as opposed to trying to win frames and matches. Maybe this is a ploy from Hearn to reduce the pay-out for 147’s, just like his £1 million bonus to whoever can win all the home nation tournaments. But who knows.

I think considering that snookers prize fund is rising quite nicely every year, then that should help with putting aside a little more money for those times that maximums are achieved, But I’m not going to delve into the economics of 147’s and say I’m on one side more than the other.

To me, making a 147 in competitive play should be a goal for every snooker player on the tour; especially in a bigger arena where the crowd and players themselves can really appreciate the atmosphere where the cheers get louder as each shot progresses. But there should absolutely be something for the player for being able to provide such a spectacle for the audience and tournament.

What do you think? Will the new system be better than the soon-to-be former rolling system?