wildJONESEYE wrote:ive always known barry interested in the elite its what he does tgntg has always been a fan of the 48 man tour me personally would go for 64 with players rank 49-64 having to play one match in the summer to maintain their card against players on a secandary tour,international tours or pios call it what you want....but forget wild cards and do it on merit.but it will not stop the likes of campbell,burnett or whoever winning their summer match and stay on tour and younger more fluent players losing.
i think 48 is to few and the tour could lose out on some potential great matches by culling it that low.
a 64 man tour may work, and everyone could enter the tournament in round 1 on a seeded basis, 1st in the rolling rankings would play 64th, 2nd v 63rd and so on. The tournaments would take longer and it may be that round 1 wouldnt be on tv?
Another option may be an 80 man tour, the top 16 in the rolling rankings after a tournament gaining entry into the next torunament and the remaining 64 players (ranked 17-80) entering a seeded qualifying process in round 1 (64 players 32 winners) then round 2 (32 players and the 16 winners joining the top 16 at the event)
Come the end of the season, the non top 32 players would all drop off and go to qualifying school with the PIOS equivalent players, amteurs etc.
Looking at this 80 man tour im talking about, its perhaps not a million miles away from the current set up but qualifying for tournaments is fairer plus rolling rankings would be a great boost to the sport. This would be my very minimum change to how things are currently run. It sounds like Hearn is going to be ruthless and cut to the chase with his plans though.