Welsh Open Review

John Higgins remember gold times, but the event was more likely a disaster for World Snooker

John Higgins won this Tournament for a Record-Breaking 4th Time

Results       Final Report: 1st Session       Final Report: 2nd Session

Last year the Welsh Open was played in Newport, with 128 players. The city held the high quantity of players like no other city does and the arena played 127 matches very nicely.

If we look for venues like the Barbican in York, where the UK Championship is played, we notice there are cities and venues which can't really support 128 professionals, and York is just an example, we rarely see successful events with 128 players.

This is why when World Snooker announced the Welsh Open was going to move to Cardiff, I was surprised, why change something that's going well?

But I thought it should still be good because they're going to the Capital!

But the point is the arena, big arena, but not big enough to create an atmosphere of a large Ranking Event in an 11 table set-up, it looked like an European Tour, and the players couldn't take it so seriously.

Ronnie O`Sullivan complaint after win his first match, saying you can't take it serious and the arena was like a Shopping Mall.

But he wasn't the only, eventual champion Higgins said you can't get frustrated with your game because there are a lot of distraction and you cannot play your own game.

We never like to see players talking bad things about venues, but for me it didn't really sound like a Ranking Event and something has to be done. But if a player with small knowledge talks about, nobody cares, so I'm pleased that O`Sullivan said and it had a nice buzz over the UK, because it can warm the WPBSA to do something about.

If Ronnie did not say those things, it should never change.

Rob Walker made a video later Ronnie's interview showing the backstage's but honestly, it doesn't means anything for me, the European Tour's have the same structure, and they're just minor events, the Welsh Open can't seems like an European Tour. And anyway, it's just the backstage, it's there just behind the principal arena, where the principal happens: the game!

Well, about the players, it wasn't really a proper tournament to analyze their forms because nobody played what they could, anyway it was a nice tournament for a few players, like Matthew Stevens who beat Ronnie for the first time in 12 years, and might get confidence from it and try to play again near his best.

Luca Brecel (semi-finalist) and Ben Woollaston (finalist who beat Home Favorite Mark Williams in the semis) also will have a nice boost after this tournament, it's the first time they appear at this stage of a Ranking Tournament and who knows they can now keep at the Top, which is an important thing because we got to go back to 2011 to see when a young face came out reaching later stages of a tournament and went on to keep up in the World Ranking.

Woollaston is already in the Top 32 and have beat Big Names of the game like Ronnie O`Sullivan, but Brecel still got to make a few nice runs to get a Top 32 spot but at least they have the confidence now, they know they can.

And of course Scot John Higgins, who won his first Ranking Event in unbelievable 29 months, will now have a big boost of confidence ahead of the World Championship, tournament he won last in 2011, for a fourth time.

I personally think that wasn't a great championship from Higgins, he maybe just won it because he is the greatest ever safety player, and there's a lot to work on yet if he wants to tie Ronnie O`Sullivan's 5 World Titles, but surely this tournament gives him an extra motivation to practice hard, and a big self belief.

Keep alert, as next month I'll be posting the 2nd Place for Favourite Player and Greatest Matches in "The Crucible Quiz".

We'll have a lot of tournaments yet up to the Crucible, as always you can follow everything going on the Snooker World via Ronnie O`Sullivan Brasil on Facebook.