The famous old snooker tournament, the Masters kicks off for its annual renewal on January 13th. This is one of the biggest events on the snooker scene despite it being a non-ranking event.
The small tournament is an elite invite-only affair for those who are sat inside the top sixteen in the world rankings. It means that there is no easy path to the title at this prestigious event and that for me, makes it one of the most fascinating snooker events there is.
Can Allen defend?
I actually couldn’t start off with anything other than a look at Mark Allen who is the reigning champion. Yes, most people would have expected me to be talking about Ronnie O’Sullivan at this point, but no. Allen came from nowhere really twelve months ago to grab the title for himself as he beat out Kyren Wilson in the final at the Ally Pally. There have, of course, been many one-hit wonders in the history of the Masters, but there is a case for Allen getting more.
Allen has already been to three finals in the 2018/19 season, more than any other player. From those, he picked up two titles at the International Championship and the Scottish Open. The latter was the most recent ranking tournament on the circuit so the Northern Irishman has form. In the tournament before that win in Scotland, he had reached the final of the UK Championship where he lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan. It means that Allen has been to the final in three of the last four ranking events.
Rocket to return to winners’ circle
Ronnie O’Sullivan has won three of the last five editions of the Masters. He is the all-time title leader at the famous event having won it a record seven times (from a total of twelve appearances in the Final). The ‘Rocket’ bombed early in last season’s renewal though as he was out looking to complete a hattrick of three straight Masters win. He couldn’t do it but he is still in form.
O’Sullivan has been to the final of two Ranking events this season and the got a win in one of them, the big one too at the UK Championship. History was made there by him with that title, O’Sullivan becoming the most successful player in the history of that tournament. He is the 9/4 market leader with the top bookmakers for the 2019 Masters.
Other main challengers
It is interesting that only two other people besides Ronnie O’Sullivan are heading into the tournament in single figures in the outright winner market. Those other two are Mark Selby and Judd Trump. Selby has won the Masters three times before in his career and has produced a great affinity for the event.
But the last time that the got the win was back in 2013. So it has been a bit of a drought that he’s been on. But still, you can never rule out the ‘Jester from Leicester’. He earned a title success at this season’s China Championship and is a five-time finalist at the Masters.
Then there is Judd Trump, the recent Northern Ireland Open winner. Trump is looking to create a bit of history for himself in winning his first Masters title. The ‘Juddernaut’ reached the semifinals for the second time in three attempts last year, but against came up short. That was the third time in his career that he has lost in the final four of the Masters. He keeps knocking on the door, but can he break through?
Other Former Masters winners
It is a great field. The Masters always is, given what needs to be achieved to reach it. There is just the one player making their debut this season and that is Jack Lisowski who is a big 33/1 odds option to cause a massive shock in his first attempt. The field is, once again littered with former winners alongside O’Sullivan, Selby and Allen who I’ve already covered. Former winners appearing in the sixteen-man tournament this year are Mark Williams, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy.
The Triple Crown Factor
The Masters is a who’s-who of snooker really. It is part of the Triple Crown of snooker, sandwiched in between the UK Championship and the World Championship. As mentioned already O’Sullivan, has the first leg of the Triple Crown in the bag as he collected this season’s UK Championship. Can he get the second leg on the board? Doing so he would take a step towards becoming just the fourth man to win the Triple Crown.
Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry (twice) and Mark Williams are the only other three to have won the Triple Crown in a season. Looking back over the last nine Triple Crown events, between them O’Sullivan and Selby have won seven of them (O’Sullivan 4, Selby 3). That shows the power and the threat that they have in these elite events. But then again as shown twelve months ago, Allen proved that an underdog can have his day.
