The Statman
30th July 2006, 04:09 PM
Ian McCulloch, who joined the top 16 at number 16 in 2005-06, became the first top-16 player who was not exempt from qualifying for tournaments in which the top 16 seeds gained automatic entry to the first round (and required to play in the first round when the top 16 seeds gained automatic entry to the second).
This is beacuse 2005-06 was the first season in which the current World Champion (Shaun Murphy) was rankied outside the top 16. The World Champion is seeded 2 in all ranking events (behind the defending champion of the event concerned), meaning that the world number 16 was the 17th seed for the event.
This is beacuse 2005-06 was the first season in which the current World Champion (Shaun Murphy) was rankied outside the top 16. The World Champion is seeded 2 in all ranking events (behind the defending champion of the event concerned), meaning that the world number 16 was the 17th seed for the event.