The qualifying rounds for the German Masters 2017 were played in Barnsley, UK, from December 6 to December 9, 2016 and it’s fair to say that it was carnage among the top players, with only 9 of the top 16, among them only 3 of the top 8, booking their place for the television stages in Berlin early February. Neil is the only Grove player who will play in the Tempodrom.
All detailed results are on Cuetracker as usual

York Barbican, November 22nd 2016 – December 4th 2016
Neil Robertson was de Defending Champion, and had chosen to skip the Northern Ireland Open in order to prepare for his defence, but surprisingly he was knocked out in the last 128 by Peter Lines who beat him by 6-3. Judd also made an early exit at the hands of the Lines family: Oliver beat him by 6-2 in the last 64 … Oliver went on to reach the last 16 where his run ended at the hands of Marco Fu.
Yu Delu …

The tournament was held at the Titanic Exhibition Center in Belfast from November 14 to November 21, 2016 and was won by Mark King, who beat Barry Hawkins by 9-8 in the final. Neither Judd nor Neil took part, both wanting to take a break in order to prepare for the all important UK Championship. None of the Grove players involved went past the last 32, Luca and Zhang Anda being the only two who reached that stage.
All the tournament detailed results are on Cuetracker as usual

The International Championship proper was played in Daqing, China, from Sunday 23 October to Sunday 30 October and was won by Mark Selby who beat Ding Junhui by a severe 10-1 in the final. Once again it was Judd who got the best result among the Grove players: he reached the semi finals where he lost by 9-4 to Ding Junhui. Neil lost in the last 16, Li Hang in the last 32, Luca Brecel and Oliver Lines – who had to play Neil – in the last 64.

Judd reached the final of the first event of the Home Nations Series, the English Open 2016, played in Manchester from October 10 to October 17, 2016, his second final in 8 days. He lost by 9-6 to Liang Wenbo. This defeat put an end to a 14 consecutive wins run. Although Judd was certainly disappointed, he should be able to take a lot of positives from the last 3 weeks: he demonstrated outstanding consistency, remarkable stamina and a very solid all-round game. He is now third in the World …

The last 128 qualifying round for the International Championship 2016 was played in Preston from 26 to 29 September, 2016. All Grove players entered. Neil, Judd, Luca, Oliver and Li Hang won their match and will be in Daqing at the end of October

The last 128 and last 64 rounds of the European Masters 2016 were played in Preston, from 26 to 28 September 2016. The European Masters is a new event and the final stages will be played in Bucharest next week. All Grove players were involved but only Judd, Neil and Luca managed to book their place in Bucharest. It was unfortunate that Oliver Lines and Neil had to clash in the last 64.
All detailed results are on Cuetracker as usual

The qualifying rounds of the Shanghai Masters 2016 were held in Barnsley from August 30 to September 2, 2016. These are the only qualifiers still played under a true tiered system. None of the Grove players involved managed to book their place in the final stages. Neil and Judd, of course, will be in Shanghai as top 16 seeds. All the results, as always, are on cuetracker.

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 …