The Paul Hunter Classic 2016 was held in Fürth, Germany, as usual and ran from August 24 to August 29, 2016. It is now a full ranking event, but still involves amateurs and still has the same format as the former PTCs. It was a rather down-key event, as most of the top 16 players gave it a miss, including Judd and Neil, and it wasn’t on television, only on streaming. It was won by Mark Selby, but the highlight of it was probably Jimmy White reaching the QF for …

Yushan, China – 25-31 July, 2016. It proved to be a bit of a strange tournament with a lot of top players going out as early as the last 64 or 32, one of them being Judd who was outplayed by former Grove player Zhang Anda. Neil was the only Grove player who had a deep run in the tournament: he reached the semi finals where he lost by 5-2 to an exceptionally brilliant Joe Perry.
The tournament was won by Ali Carter, his first ranking win since he beat cancer …

The Preston Guid Hall hosted a full week of qualifiers from May 28 to June 4, 2016: the first rounds (last 128) of the Indian Open, the World Open (to be played in China) and the Riga Masters saw most players kick-off their season.
Only Oliver Lines qualified for the Indian Open main event. Neil and Judd didn’t enter.
Cao Yupeng, Neil, Yu Delu, Judd, Oliver Lines and James Cahill qualified for the World Open main event.
James Cahill, Neil, Judd, Li Hang and Chen Zhe qualified for the Riga Masters main …

Ponds Forge, Sheffield, 6-13 April 2016.
Every player outside the top 16 had to win three matches to qualify for the television stage of the World Championship 2016. This means that, of course, Judd and Neil qualified automatically, but all other Grove players had to compete in Ponds Forge. Only Zhang Anda managed to win his three matches and will play at the Crucible as a qualifier. The players don’t know their opponents yet, the draw will be made today.

All detailed results are on cuetracker.net as usual

Beijing, China – 28 March – 3 April 2016.
Judd won the China Open for the second time this week-end, beating Ricky Walden by 10-4 in the Final. Congratulations Judd! And Ricky too who played in his second final in just over a week …
Only Judd Trump had survived the first two days of the China Open television stage in Beijing and in fact he didn’t even play: his opponent, Stuart Carrington had to withdraw with ill-health. Neil, Cao Yupeng (who’s first round match was held over), Li hang and …

The Gdynia Open 2016 was the last of the European Tour events and a very important one for some players who were trying to secure their tour card via the ET Order of Merit or those in the balance for the World Grand Prix or the Players Tour Championship. But a number of big boys weren’t that interested and Judd and Neil were among those who didn’t make the trip, despite the fact that Neil was the defending champion. It wasn’t a great tournament from Grove’s point of view: only …

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales – 15-21 February 2016
Neil made it to the final of the tournament but lost by 9-5 to Ronnie O’Sullivan. Judd and Yu Delu progressed to the last 16, losing to Joe Perry and Ronnie O’Sullivan respectively. None of the other Grove players went past the last 64.

The fast and furious event was held in the Hexagon, in Reading on the 12,13 and 14 February 2016. The top 64 players qualify automatically for it but a number of top players declined, among them, Neil Robertson. Oliver Lines, Yu Delu, Li Hang, Cao Yupeng and Judd Trump competed. Only Judd won a match but he lost in the next round, the last 32, to the eventual winner, Robin Hull.

The last 128 qualifying round for the China Open 2016 was played in Barnsley from 9 to 11 February 2016. Cao Yupeng got his last match carried over to the venue in March as he will play the World Champion. Judd, Neil, Li Hang and Yu Delu qualified for the event proper and will be in Beijing come March.
All the detailed results can be found on cuetracker.net

The German Masters 2016 qualifying rounds took place in Wigan from 15th to 19th of December 2015. The players had to win 2 matches to book their place in the tournament proper that will be played in the Tempodron, Berlin, early February. Judd, Wenbo and Anda will be in Berlin, having won their two matches. The biggest surprise of those qualifiers was probably Neil’s defeat to an amateur, Ashley Hugill. Neil wasn’t alone in his fate though, as as many as 7 out of the top 16 failed to qualify. …