Form Outweighs Higgins’ Odds in Snooker’s Champion of Champions
Author:
Roy Brindley
The 2024 Champion of Champions snooker tournament gets underway on Monday in the University of Bolton Stadium. The ITV televised competition will conclude next Sunday when an elite field of 16 players will have been whittled down to a winner.
John Higgins won the Champion of Champions in 2016. Can he take the title for a second time in 2021? ?GettyImage
In 2018 Ronnie O’Sullivan landed this prestigious title for the third time. 2019 saw Neil Robertson take the honors for the second time in his career. Last year Mark Allen won the tenth edition of this event. The Northern Irishman will not defend his Champion of Champions title in 2024 – he withdrew from the competition citing “personal reasons” last week.
Qualification for the Champion of Champions tournament has been assembled by inviting the winners of key competitions staged last season. There are additional places for World Championship runner-up, Shaun Murphy, plus the highest-ranked four players who did not take a title last year. They are Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Maguire, Ding Junhui and Stuart Bingham.
Brown and Lilley – Favorites Amongst the Neutrals
Essentially, no big name is missing from this ￡450,000 competition. The players are vying for a ￡150,000 first prize but even first-round casualties will collect ￡12,500. For two journeyman players that have made it into the line-up, this will be a meaningful payday.
A case in point is Jordan Brown. He became the lowest-ranked player to win a ranking event since 1993 when taking last year’s Welsh Open. It came with a ￡70,000 first prize. He had never won more than ￡10,000 during his ten-year career until that point.
But the biggest feel-good story of all would be a deep run for David Lilley. In May 2019, after 30 years as an amateur, the 46-year-old finally earned professional status. 12 months later Lilley won the World Seniors Championship beating Jimmy White 5-3. That success gave him his ticket into the Champion of Champions.
Trump Is Short, Robbo Is In-Form
Giving these players hope is a quick ‘best of seven frames’ first-round format. In snooker, a dash to four frames can and does throw up shock results. However, even at Unibet’s industry top price, Judd Trump is a prohibitive 1/18 to dispatch David Lilley in the very first round.
Trump has never won this competition. Nonetheless, the 2014 and 2019 runner-up is a strong favorite to put his name on the trophy in 2024. 9/4 does seem exceptionally short about the ‘Juddernaut’ given he was a third-round casualty in the British Open and could not progress beyond the quarter-finals of the recent Northern Irish or English Opens.
Seeded number one, if the competition goes to form Trump is on course to meet Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. The Australian can only be described as an ‘in form player.’ Last year’s runner-up maintained his sequence of winning at least one ranking tournament every season since 2006 when taking last week’s English Open.
Another player that has been on a roll is John Higgins. The 2016 Champion of Champions winner lost to Robertson in the deciding frame of the English Open. The Scotsman, who has recently lost an amazing four stone in weight, had also missed out by a single frame in the Northern Ireland Open final three weeks beforehand.
Will the Rocket Take Off?
The ante-post lists found at the best online betting sites show Robertson and Higgins are priced around 5/1 and 9/1 respectively. Between the pair, available at 11/2, is Ronnie O’Sullivan. The enigmatic six-time world champion withdrew from the Championship League at the start of the season. He also skipped the British Open.
Looking distinctly uninterested when contesting a qualifier for the German Masters during October – losing 5-0 to Iran’s Hossein Vafaei – ‘The Rocket’ was beaten by the odd frame in his latest appearance in the English Open semi-final.
Recording eight century breaks during that week of action, the green shoots of form recovery were evident. Ultimately, the 45-year-old is never a safe bet. But at his very best, no player could come close to beating him in the Champion of Champions ‘best of 19 frame’ final.
Opposing the Jester – No Joke
Another to treat with caution is reigning world champion, Mark Selby. The proclaimed ‘Jester from Leicester’ traditionally produces his best form during the spring prior to the World Championship.
He has failed to make the final table in eight appearances at the Champion of Champions. Furthermore, Selby’s overall record in elite small-field tournaments is uninspiring. It is nine years since he last won The Masters and he never made an impression on the once valuable Shanghai Masters.
Take 2/1 About Higgins Clearing Two Hurdles
With the question marks over O’Sullivan and Selby, John Higgins looks the best bet at the prices on offer. The slimmed-down 31-time ranking tournament winner recently declared “I think I’m a better player now than I’ve ever been.”
His first-round opponent is Ding Junhui, a player Unibet quote as a 6/4 match underdog. Success here will lead to a showdown with Stuart Bingham or Ronnie O’Sullivan. Higgins has won 19 of his 27 previous meetings with Bingham. He has also won three of his last four clashes with O’Sullivan.
Resultantly, it is easy to see Higgins reach the semi-finals where Selby, Shaun Murphy, Yan Bingtao or Dave Gilbert will be waiting. If you too believe he can make this stage, you may wish to head to William Hill. The betting giant is offering a standout 2/1 about ‘The Wizard of Wishaw’ winning the third bracket/group of the 2024 Champion of Champions.
