The 2016 Q School was a series of two snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2016–17 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 2016 at the Meadowside Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, England with a total 12 players qualifying via the two tournaments and the Order of Merit.
Format
The 2016 Q School consisted of two events. The two events had 182 entries competing for 12 places on the main tour, four players qualifying from each of the two events, with a further four places available from the Q Tour Order of Merit.[1] All matches were the best of seven frames.[2]
A Q School Order of Merit was produced for players who didn't qualify automatically from the two events. Four places on the main tour were given to the leading four players in the Order of Merit, Craig Steadman, Jamie Curtis-Barrett, Ian Preece and Adam Duffy.[6][7] The Order of Merit was also used to top up fields for the 2016–17 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 two Q School events. Players who received a bye into the second round were awarded four points for round one. Where players were equal, those who won the most frames in the first event were ranked higher.[9]
The leading players in the Q School Order of Merit are given below, those with Q in brackets were awarded places on the main tour.[10]
The following table shows the rankings of the 12 qualifiers from the 2016 Q School, at the end of the 2017–18 snooker season, the end of their two guaranteed seasons on the tour, together with their tour status for the 2018–19 snooker season. Players in the top-64 of the rankings retained their place on the tour while those outside the top-64 lost their place unless they qualified under a different category.[11][12]
