The 2012 Q School was a series of three snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2012–13 snooker season. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following two seasons. The events took place in May 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England with a total 12 players qualifying via the three tournaments.

2012 Q School
Tournament information
Dates13–29 May 2012 (2012-05-13 – 2012-05-29)
VenueWorld Snooker Academy
CitySheffield
CountryEngland
FormatQualifying School
Qualifiers12 via the 3 events
2011
2013

Format

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The 2012 Q School consisted of three events with 12 qualification places available.[1][2] The two events had 115 entries competing for the 12 places on the main tour, four players qualifying from each of the three events. All matches were the best of seven frames.[3]

Event 1

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The first 2012 Q School event was held from 13 to 17 May 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Martin O'Donnell, Sam Baird, Ian Burns and Chen Zhe qualified.[4][5] The results of the four final matches are given below.[3]

Event 2

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The second 2012 Q School event was held from 19 to 23 May 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Daniel Wells, Jamie O'Neill, Sean O'Sullivan and Paul Davison qualified.[6][7] The results of the four final matches are given below.[8]

Event 3

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The third 2012 Q School event was held from 25 to 29 May 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England. Rod Lawler, Michael Wasley, Joel Walker and Robbie Williams qualified.[9][10][11] The results of the four final matches are given below.[12]

Q School Order of Merit

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A Q School Order of Merit was introduced for players who didn't qualify from the three events. The Order of Merit was used to top up fields for the 2012–13 snooker season where an event failed to attract the required number of entries. The rankings in the Order of Merit were based on the number of frames won in the three Q School events. The precise details are not known but a section of the Q School news says that "A new Q School ranking list will also be introduced, with players earning one point for every frame won. During the main tour season, should any of the tournament draws fall below a total entry of 96 (or 128 in 2013/14) then the field will be topped up to 96 or 128 with the highest ranked players from the Q-School list."[2]

Two-season performance of qualifiers

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The following table shows the rankings of the 12 qualifiers from the 2012 Q School, at the end of the 2013–14 snooker season, the end of their two guaranteed seasons on the tour, together with their tour status for the 2014–15 snooker season. The rankings given here are the prize money rankings which replaced the points based system at the end of the 2013–14 season. Players in the top-64 of the prize money rankings retained their place on the tour while those outside the top-64 lost their place unless they qualified under a different category.[13][14][15]

Player End of 2013–14 season Status for 2014–15 season
Money Ranking
  Martin O'Donnell (ENG) 17,968 92 Amateur
  Sam Baird (ENG) 42,993 67 Qualified through the European Tour Order of Merit[16]
  Ian Burns (ENG) 39,537 73 Qualified through the European Tour Order of Merit[16]
  Chen Zhe (CHN) 21,123 89 Amateur
  Daniel Wells (WAL) 12,263 100 Amateur
  Jamie O'Neill (ENG) 14,377 97 Amateur
  Sean O'Sullivan (ENG) 9,209 102 Amateur
  Paul Davison (ENG) 27,601 82 Amateur
  Rod Lawler (ENG) 88,294 39 Retained place on tour
  Michael Wasley (ENG) 40,782 72 Qualified through the European Tour Order of Merit[16]
  Joel Walker (ENG) 31,512 80 Qualified through the European Tour Order of Merit[16]
  Robbie Williams (ENG) 49,375 62 Retained place on tour

References

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  1. ^ "Guide to Q School". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b "2012 World Snooker Q School - News". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Qualifying School - Event One (2012) - snooker.org". www.snooker.org.
  4. ^ "MOD Ready To Rock". World Snooker. 17 May 2012. Archived from the original on 20 May 2012.
  5. ^ "O'Donnell delighted to be living dream". Snooker chat. 19 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Wells Digs Deep To Regain Tour Card". World Snooker. 23 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Quartet secure tour cards". Eurosport. 24 May 2012.
  8. ^ "Qualifying School - Event Two (2012) - snooker.org". www.snooker.org.
  9. ^ "Full List Of Q School Qualifiers". World Snooker. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012.
  10. ^ "Q-School Final Event: Finals Day". Snookerbacker. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012.
  11. ^ "Walker qualifies for tour". Eurosport. 30 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Qualifying School - Event Three (2012) - snooker.org". www.snooker.org.
  13. ^ "Prize Money Rankings: The Tour 2014/2015 season qualification criteria" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  14. ^ "Prize Money Rankings: After the World Championship 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  15. ^ "2014/15 List of Tour Players". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d "Order of Merit after the Gdynia Open (ET8) 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. 10 February 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 February 2014.