Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Mark Williams face uphill battle to qualify for Tour Championship snooker

Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Mark Williams need a minor miracle to qualify for the Tour Championship after missing out on this week's Players Championship. The knock-on effect of failing to make the cut-off point for the Players in Wolverhampton – contested by the top 16 on the one-year list – means the world champion trio, with 11 Crucible crowns between them, only have one more counting ranking event before the eight-man Tour Championship is held in Hull (27 March-2 April).

Ad Mark Williams is 17th on the one-year list on 71,500 points with Robertson (68,500) in 20th spot and O'Sullivan (60,500) a further place behind in 21st before the inaugural World Snooker Tour Classic is staged in Leicester (16-22 March). Welsh Open'Humiliating' — Wells responds to 'damaging' O'Sullivan commentsYESTERDAY AT 10:12 The WST Classic has replaced the Turkish Masters in Antalya which was called off due to funding problems.

Robertson missed out on qualification to defend the Players Championship and faces a similar scenario ahead of the Tour Championship after lifting the trophy in 2021 and 2022. He is 58,500 points adrift of Shaun Murphy, who holds the eighth and final spot on 127,000 points, with the chance to strengthen his position after a 6-3 win over Mark Selby at the Players Championship on Tuesday.

Murphy meets British Open winner Ryan Day in the quarter-finals on Thursday evening. With a WST Classic first prize of £80,000, two of the three out of O'Sullivan, Robertson and Williams are guaranteed to have another key week off with the other one needing to win the event and hope results go their way to force their way into the £380,000 Tour Championship starting line-up.

World No. 1 O'Sullivan is due to play in the