The Longest Day
The first day of the bright new snooker calendar witnessed seventeen hours play at the EIS in Sheffield
Friday was the new dawn for snooker under the leadership of Barry Hearn, but by the time the first day's play finished Saturday's sun was already dawning in the eastern sky, as exhausted players, officials and guests left the EIS at 3am, after the marathon day's play.
The first comment Ronnie O'Sullivan made on arriving for his 10am match on Saturday was "I think we need a shot clock!", to which he added to Global Snooker's reporter "you don't look like you've slept!" He knows how to flatter a lady!
O'Sullivan then made short work of his first match in the PTC, beating Welsh professional Andrew Pagett 4-1 in little over an hour, with breaks of 82, 55 twice and 58.
Dominic Dale was even quicker in his opening match, disposing of David Bailey (not that one) 4-0. Dale rattled in runs of 87, 94, 56 and 77, while his opponent accumulated on 25 points in the match and it was all over in 43 minutes.
Both those matches were completed comfortably within the one and half hour time frame allocated to each session. However it's the long 4-3 games which threw the schedule into chaos on Friday.
The theory that professional players will complete matches quicker than the amateurs is nullified when two experienced match players get embroiled in long tactical exchanges.
One example of this on Friday was the Last 64 match between Justin Astley and Matthew Couch which went to the final black in the decider, giving a total match time of four hours and one minute, the final frame lasting fifty minutes.
These contrasts in match lengths pose a huge dilemma for World Snooker officials trying to juggle a complicated schedule.
Overall, despite the scheduling problems, the players are upbeat about the events and the opportunities presented to both the professionals and amateur for earning opportunities, playing opportunities and the implications for the rankings.
Mark Selby echoed most players' sentiments saying "It's great for the amateurs to come in and draw the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Of course for the higher seeds it's the reverse, we're on a hiding to nothing as we're expected to win."
Selby did win his opening match, 4-2 against former English Amateur Champion David Grace. But not without a mid-match scare. Selby compiled 50, 62 and 57 to take a 2-0 lead, but Grace fought back, getting snookers in both the third and fourth frames to level the match.
Grace got chances in the next two frames but missed the boat and Selby stepped up a gear with 99 and 129 to close out the match.
The Masters Champion was happy to get a win under his belt at the first attempt.
"Last season I barely won a match before Christmas.
"Today I started with good breaks against David, but he played well to get the snookers and come back at me. So I was very pleased to make two good breaks to finish the match off."
Selby acknowledged that the shake up in the ranking system presents both opportunities and pressure.
"Having the three cut-off points will keep us on our toes throughout the season. I can't afford to have the sort of bad start I did last year because I'd fall rapidly down the list. But I've won my first match so already I'm off to a better start!
"I'd have to agree that we were too protected in the past and now it's up to us to get the results and compete in all the events.
"I've spoken to some of the lads slightly lower in the rankings and they're really excited about these PTC events. If they have a good run in the PTC they can pick up the sort of ranking points they'd get for winning a major ranking event before."
Ryan Day was another of the top players to crash out to amateur opposition. He led Gloucester's Michael Wasley 2-0 before the former European Under 19 finalist retaliated to lead 3-2. Day forced the decider but Wasley held on to secure victory on the colours.
Wasley is a member of the rapidly expanding OnQ Promotions stable, aka The "Pink Army", based at the new South West Academy in Gloucester.
